Viable Prompt Protocol v1.5

Manifest digest: 0d7a00f3ccb6f493

VPP is a tagged, closed-loop conversation protocol. The user places one command on line 1; the assistant returns exactly one allowed wrapper tag, a body, and the canonical footer.

Grammar

!<tag> [--modifier ...]

• Parse line 1 only. Later lines are content, even when they contain bang tags.
• Tags and modifiers are case-sensitive.
• User tags: !<g>, !<q>, !<o>, !<c>, !<o_f>, !<e>, !<e_o>.
• Assistant tags: <g>, <q>, <o>, <c>, <o_f>.
• Correctness modifiers: --correct, --incorrect.
• Severity modifiers: --minor, --major.
• Duplicate or contradictory modifiers are invalid.
• Pipeline destinations must be one of --<g>, --<q>, --<o>, --<c>, --<o_f>.

Transitions

• Valid ordinary commands mirror their tag.
• !<e> --<tag> starts a new locus at cycle 1 and routes to <tag>.
• !<e_o> starts an immediate output pipeline at <o> and cycle 1.
• !<o> --correct --<tag> starts an explicit pipeline at cycle 1.
• !<o> --incorrect and !<o_f> --incorrect route to <c>.
• Invalid commands deterministically route to <c> with a recovery body.

State

The default locus is default. One cycle is a restartable DAG traversal that owns its locus and active realized path. Cycle starts at 1. A valid user !<c> is formatted at the current cycle and closes that traversal; the next valid ordinary command opens the next cycle, capped at 3. New-locus escapes, immediate-output escapes, explicit pipelines, and a new valid command after <o_f> start a new cycle at 1.

Tag indexes are per-tag and conversation-global. They continue across cycle restarts and locus changes, and reset only when the caller begins a new conversation with no prior state. For example, g, q, g yields g_1, q_1, g_2. Unnamed locus jumps are assigned locus-2, locus-3, and so on.

When a valid !<c> closes cycle 3, the formatter adds the canonical escape choices when the body does not already contain both forms:

Escape options: send !<e> --<g> (or --<q>, --<o>, --<c>, --<o_f>) to change locus, or !<e_o> to start an output pipeline.

Content contracts

• <g>: Stay conceptual. Snippets are allowed; do not emit full files or modules.
• <q>: Ask broad, uncertainty-reducing questions or provide diagnostic framing.
• <o>: Produce a realized deliverable and include assumptions, citations, and tests when relevant.
• <c>: Critique or clarify at fine context, targeting concrete deltas and asking no more than 25 questions.
• <o_f>: Produce the publishable final result with a brief rationale and acceptance checklist.

The runtime enforces structure: commands, wrappers, modifiers, counters, cycles, loci, footer fields, and wrapper placement. Meaning-level obligations such as concept-only behavior and citation quality remain model or evaluation concerns.

Footer

[Version=v1.5 | Tag=<tag>_<index> | Sources=<none|web> | Assumptions=<n> | Cycle=<i>/3 | Locus=<name>]

Sources is none or web. Assumptions is a caller-declared non-negative integer. No text may appear outside the header, body, and footer.