Assemblies

An assembly is a logical composition of related Sigils. It is the larger structure that the puzzle model describes: a set of pieces, connected through references and interpreted together.

#An assembly is derived

An assembly is not stored as a separate onchain object. It is computed by an indexer from the Sigils that compose it. This mirrors the rest of the protocol: the chain stores pieces, and structure emerges from interpretation.

Deriving assemblies rather than storing them means:

• No additional transaction is needed to form an assembly.
• An assembly can grow as new pieces reference it.
• Any party can recompute an assembly from chain history and check an indexer's result.

#Anchored and open assemblies

Two shapes are under consideration.

Anchored assemblies begin with a root Sigil that declares the assembly. Other Sigils join by referencing the root with a part-of relation. The root's ID becomes the assembly's ID.

Open assemblies have no root. Any connected set of Sigils linked by references forms a structure. This is more flexible but harder to bound, name and validate.

The current proposal favors anchored assemblies, because a root gives the structure a stable identity and a natural place for a standard to declare membership rules.

{
  "p": "saelis",
  "v": 0,
  "std": null,
  "meta": { "name": "Collection root" },
  "refs": [],
  "body": { "kind": "assembly" }
}

#Possible uses

The puzzle model is deliberately general. Assemblies could describe:

• Collections. A set of related pieces grouped under one root.
• Documents. Content published in sections, where each section is a Sigil.
• Versioned records. A chain of Sigils, each referencing the previous version.
• Application state. Configuration or registries built from individually published entries.

These are illustrations of the model's scope, not implemented features.

#Validation considerations

Assembly validation is the least settled part of the protocol. Open questions include:

• Whether membership can be restricted, for example to the root's creator.
• Whether a piece may belong to more than one anchored assembly.
• How an assembly's state is defined when a member is invalid under its standard.
• Limits on assembly depth and size, to keep reconstruction bounded.