A Christopher Alexander style pattern language for frontend architecture and design.
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architectures Preserve initial frontend pattern language research scaffold 2026-09-24 07:55:34 +02:00
canon Reconcile pattern metadata and prepare contrasting primary-source inputs 2026-09-24 15:23:06 +02:00
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patterns Preserve initial frontend pattern language research scaffold 2026-09-24 07:55:34 +02:00
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sequences Preserve initial frontend pattern language research scaffold 2026-09-24 07:55:34 +02:00
technologies Preserve initial frontend pattern language research scaffold 2026-09-24 07:55:34 +02:00
templates Track pattern evidence and ongoing language learning 2026-09-27 00:00:39 +02:00
tests Measure navigation history and cache corroboration cycle 2026-09-27 00:11:21 +02:00
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.repo-classification.yaml Record classification provenance and State Hub identifiers 2026-09-23 22:44:39 +02:00
AGENTS.md Reconcile pattern metadata and prepare contrasting primary-source inputs 2026-09-24 15:23:06 +02:00
INTENT.md Track pattern evidence and ongoing language learning 2026-09-27 00:00:39 +02:00
Makefile Map classification coverage and scope authority projection research 2026-09-27 01:49:50 +02:00
README.md Track pattern evidence and ongoing language learning 2026-09-27 00:00:39 +02:00
REVIEW.md Register frontend pattern research and establish preliminary intent 2026-09-23 22:44:01 +02:00
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TREE.md Audit open work and define a bounded language 0.1 preview 2026-09-27 02:19:31 +02:00
WORK-RECORDS.md Refresh index for completed schema and active source review 2026-09-24 15:24:02 +02:00

frontend-patterns

A coherent, generative pattern language for frontend architecture and design.

The project treats frontend architecture not as a choice among frameworks or named styles, but as the progressive resolution of recurring forces concerning:

  • authority,
  • addressability,
  • projection,
  • interaction,
  • mutation,
  • synchronization and reconciliation,
  • composition,
  • execution and delivery,
  • quality boundaries.

The repository is intended as an infospace for both human and agentic reference.

Its goal is to make frontend architecture:

  1. understandable as a set of recurring design problems,
  2. navigable as a connected language of patterns,
  3. generative rather than merely taxonomic,
  4. explicit about trade-offs and failure modes,
  5. independent of framework fashion,
  6. grounded in known implementations and sources,
  7. machine-readable enough for agents to reason over.

Core proposition

Frontend architecture is the progressive resolution of forces concerning authority, addressability, projection, interaction, synchronization, composition, and execution. A frontend pattern language captures recurring resolutions of those forces and the contexts they create for subsequent design decisions.

Repository map

  • canon/ — normative vocabulary and structure of the language.
  • patterns/ — individual frontend architecture and design patterns.
  • sequences/ — generative sequences for common frontend situations.
  • architectures/ — named architectural configurations expressed through patterns.
  • technologies/ — mappings from technologies/frameworks to the patterns they implement.
  • research/ — research material, source reconciliation, concepts, catalogues, and cases.
  • templates/ — authoring templates for new patterns and mappings.

Design principles

Patterns before products

React, Solid, HTMX, Astro, LiveView, Vue, Svelte and similar technologies are treated as implementations and examples, not as the ontology.

Forces before preferences

A pattern should be selected because of the forces present in a context, not because a framework community considers it idiomatic.

Relations before lists

Patterns form a graph. Important relations include:

  • requires
  • enables
  • refines
  • generalizes
  • complements
  • alternative-to
  • conflicts-with
  • commonly-combined-with
  • creates-context-for
  • implemented-by
  • observed-in

Sequences before checklists

A pattern language should help generate architecture through an ordered sequence of decisions.

Failure modes are part of the pattern

Software patterns must describe when they become harmful, misleading, expensive or fragile.

Status

The corpus currently contains seventeen draft hypotheses, traceable source reviews, bounded runtime experiments and four synthetic/provisional walkthroughs. Independent human validation, canonical admission and demonstrated generativity remain open. The evolution report makes evidence, gaps, learning outcomes and unknowns visible; the method explains how the language continues learning over time.

Research entry point

Start with the research program, its protocol and validation cases. The seed investigation remains active in FEP-WP-0002: resolve the metadata contract, review contrasting sources and test a connected seed corpus. Later phases broaden coverage and evaluate retrieval against real systems.

The research bench now provides executable source investigations through infospace-bench. Run make bench-test to verify the adapter and make bench-plan to inspect the synthetic pilot. Source reviews and live pilot receipts are retained under research/. Run make evolution-check evolution-test to verify evolution records and reporting.