Official Cuddler Artifact Specification defining the shared authoring, metadata, validation, attribution, and reuse requirements for public Artifact Definitions.
Read the Artifact Specification when you already know the role your artifact plays and you need the shared rules for authoring a public Artifact Definition.
Use this when
You are defining or reviewing a public Artifact Definition and need the shared authoring, metadata, conformance, attribution, and publication rules.
What it controls
Cross-cutting rules that apply to every public Artifact Definition, regardless of whether the artifact role is Data, Template, or Process.
What it does not do
It does not decide whether your work belongs in Data, Template, or Process, and it does not define one specific artifact type by itself.
Read next
Pair this document with the relevant Document Role, then open the Artifact Definition for the specific artifact type you need.
This Artifact Specification defines the shared authoring, metadata, conformance, attribution, and publication rules that every public Cuddler Artifact Definition must satisfy.
The Artifact Specification is the shared rulebook for public Cuddler Artifact Definitions in release 1.0.0. It defines how Artifact Definitions are authored, what metadata they must expose, how they identify both their governing Document Role and the shared Artifact Specification, and what attribution and confidentiality rules apply across the publication model.
Artifact Definitions remain specific artifact-type definitions. A Document Role tells you what job the artifact plays in the system and complies with the Specification Root. The Artifact Specification tells you how to publish that artifact definition cleanly and consistently, and each public Artifact Definition must comply with both.
Treat this page as the canonical citation target for the shared Artifact Specification.
Use the governing Document Role and the shared Artifact Specification together when authoring or validating a public Artifact Definition.
Treat Artifact Documents as confidential by default unless the publisher explicitly designates a public example.
Canonical standard text
The section below is the full normative publication rendered directly from the canonical repository source. Use it for exact wording, implementation details, and citation.
Version 1.0.0
Status
This document is the canonical shared Artifact Specification for public Cuddler Artifact Definitions in release 1.0.0.
The Artifact Specification is a cross-cutting governing specification. It does not classify domains by itself and it does not define one business artifact type in full detail. Instead, it defines how every public Artifact Definition must be authored, versioned, attributed, validated, and published alongside its governing Document Role.
1. Purpose
Cuddler uses a layered publication model:
Specification Root defines the topmost canonical publication node for published Document Role standards.
Document Role complies with the Specification Root and defines the governing rules for one artifact domain.
Artifact Specification defines the shared authoring rules for Artifact Definitions across domains.
Artifact Definition defines one specific artifact type and complies with both its governing Document Role and the shared Artifact Specification.
Artifact Document is the concrete implemented artifact.
The Artifact Specification exists so that Artifact Definitions remain publishable, reusable, machine-implementable, and consistent across domains.
2. Relationship to Document Role
Every public Artifact Definition MUST comply with exactly one governing Document Role and with this shared Artifact Specification.
A Document Role complies with the Specification Root and classifies an Artifact Definition into a bounded domain such as Workflow, Data Document, or Template Document. The Artifact Specification defines the shared authoring and publication rules that apply across those domains. Neither document replaces the other.
3. Required Artifact Definition metadata
A public Artifact Definition publication MUST expose, directly or through its canonical page and machine-readable bundle, at least the following metadata:
Artifact Definition title
Artifact Definition identifier
Artifact Definition version
artifact type
status
governing Document Role title and canonical version URL
governing Artifact Specification version and canonical version URL
source URL for the canonical published Artifact Definition bundle
exact canonical publication bundle file inventory
publisher or author
copyright and attribution notice
The machine-readable bundle SHOULD also preserve a stable implementation identifier and output metadata when the domain requires them.
When an Artifact Definition bundle contains multiple schemas, manifests, or examples, it MUST identify each canonical published file and state what that file validates or governs.
4. Authoring and conformance rules
A public Artifact Definition is valid only when all of the following are true:
it complies with exactly one governing Document Role,
it complies with this shared Artifact Specification,
its machine-readable schema files and page metadata agree about identity, version, and governing documents,
its example artifacts bind to the exact canonical schema identifiers they claim to implement,
it does not widen optionality, counts, enumerations, or publication bundle shape merely because examples omit or conflict on a business fact,
no Artifact Document published as an example contradicts the governing Artifact Definition, this Artifact Specification, or the governing Document Role.
Artifact Definition pages MUST state clearly that the Artifact Definition defines what Artifact Documents must implement. They MUST NOT present themselves as the shared Artifact Specification.
5. Versioning and extension rules
The Artifact Specification version is part of the Artifact Definition publication contract. Artifact Definition pages and machine-readable bundles MUST identify the Artifact Specification version they follow.
Additive clarifications may ship as patch or minor revisions when they do not invalidate already complying Artifact Definitions. Breaking changes to required metadata, conformance rules, or authoring structure require a new major Artifact Specification version.
6. Publication, openness, and confidentiality
Document Role, the Artifact Specification, and Artifact Definitions are open source and publicly shareable.
Artifact Documents are confidential by default unless the owner or publisher explicitly designates them otherwise.
Public examples MAY be published as illustrative Artifact Documents, but those examples do not change the default confidentiality rule for real operational instances.
7. Attribution and source-URL requirement
Third parties may use, implement, adapt, and modify Document Role, the Artifact Specification, and Artifact Definitions provided they preserve attribution and include the public URL of the original source document they are using.
Modified redistributions SHOULD clearly indicate that they are derived works and MUST NOT be represented as the canonical Cuddler publication.
8. Artifact Definition page requirements
Each public Artifact Definition page MUST:
name the governing Document Role,
name the governing Artifact Specification version,
link to the canonical URLs for both,
describe the Artifact Definition as the definition document for one artifact type,
link to the canonical machine-readable bundle and examples,
list the exact canonical publication files and what each file validates or governs,
display the applicable attribution and reuse notice.
