Mental model

UniversalToolchain has a common design principle—plan first, activate only selected components, validate boundaries—but not every language uses the same internal artifacts.

Wist model

source
-> lexer/parser
-> AST
-> Bytecode
-> AIR
-> optimizers
-> interpreter or CIL backend
-> result / compiled artifact

A .wistdialect selects Wist modules, optimizers and backends. Wist uses interpreter/CIL parity to protect shared semantics.

Generic language-authoring model

Authored packages
-> LanguageDefinition
-> LanguageCompiler
-> LanguagePlan
-> LanguageRuntime
-> typed route selected for one backend
-> result

A language chooses its own artifact contracts. A small language may route string -> SyntaxTree -> result; another may use syntax, bound tree, AIR, SSA and executable artifacts.

Important distinctions

• feature is user-selected capability;
• contribution is one implementation participant;
• slot is an ownership location;
• artifact contract is a typed boundary;
• pass preserves an artifact contract;
• conversion changes an artifact contract;
• backend owns the terminal executor;
• runtime provider owns session construction, not language semantics by itself.

Security boundary

Deterministic planning, restricted features and no-host-interop policy reduce the selected surface. They do not make hostile code or hostile extension packages safe in-process. See Security.