why

What it is

URI

majordomus://feature/why

Kind

feature

Identity

why

Path

.ai/repo/features/why.md

Provenance

declared

Media type

text/markdown

As a capability

feature.why

Front matter

{
  "schema": "feature/v1",
  "id": "why",
  "kind": "feature",
  "title": "The failure modes it answers are objects, not marketing pages",
  "short_title": "Why",
  "headline": "Every operational moment the tool exists for is one file with the signals that identify it and the mechanisms that answer it, and a reader's own symptoms resolve to a diagnosis by counting, not by inference.",
  "summary": "Moments, audiences and areas are kinds of the layer; a moment names the commands, capabilities, claims, rules and use cases that answer it, each reference validated; the catalogue, the questionnaire, the diagnosis and every page and filter are derived from those files.",
  "status": "stable",
  "weight": 170,
  "domain": "surfaces",
  "featured": false,
  "areas": [
    "documentation"
  ],
  "modules": [
    "why"
  ],
  "kinds": [
    "moment",
    "audience",
    "area"
  ],
  "rules": [
    "project.why-catalogue-is-canonical"
  ],
  "docs": [
    "docs/WHY.md"
  ],
  "adrs": [
    "adr-0018"
  ],
  "claims": [
    "why-catalogue-discovered",
    "why-references-resolve",
    "why-diagnosis-explainable"
  ],
  "use_cases": [
    "say-what-the-tool-is-for"
  ],
  "related": [
    "use-cases",
    "declare-once"
  ],
  "tags": [
    "why",
    "catalogue"
  ]
}

Content

---
schema: feature/v1
id: why
kind: feature
title: The failure modes it answers are objects, not marketing pages
short_title: Why
headline: Every operational moment the tool exists for is one file with the signals that identify it and the mechanisms that answer it, and a reader's own symptoms resolve to a diagnosis by counting, not by inference.
summary: Moments, audiences and areas are kinds of the layer; a moment names the commands, capabilities, claims, rules and use cases that answer it, each reference validated; the catalogue, the questionnaire, the diagnosis and every page and filter are derived from those files.
status: stable
weight: 170
domain: surfaces
featured: false
areas: [documentation]
modules: [why]
kinds: [moment, audience, area]
rules: [project.why-catalogue-is-canonical]
docs: [docs/WHY.md]
adrs: [adr-0018]
claims: [why-catalogue-discovered, why-references-resolve, why-diagnosis-explainable]
use_cases: [say-what-the-tool-is-for]
related: [use-cases, declare-once]
tags: [why, catalogue]
---

## What it does

`majordomus why` lists the moments, narrowed by any facet the catalogue reports; `why
diagnose` takes the signals a reader recognises and answers with the areas they weigh
towards and the mechanisms that answer them, each recommendation carrying the moments that
produced it; `why validate` refuses a reference that resolves to nothing, offering the
nearest candidate.

## What it does not do

A moment that would be fixed by a better model does not belong in the catalogue. There is
no weighting and no percentage in a diagnosis, because there is no model behind one.