plugin-ui-class-reference 0.4.0
One reference presentation per device class, written as data in this standards family. One class reference is the single source for three consumers: the pattern-library class page, an SDK expander that turns a class-conformant descriptor into a normal plugin-ui 0.4.0 manifest set, and an SDK gate that renders the result through the real preview host and compares the rendered component inventory against the reference’s expect block. The gateway application is untouched.
Design records: .claude/deep-review/2026-10-14-classref-logic-analyser-design.md (the founding program), .claude/deep-review/2026-10-16-classref-l5-plugin-ui-0-4-0-design.md (the 0.2.0 MINOR), .claude/deep-review/2026-10-18-classref-l11-dc-psu-design.md (this bump — the L11 dc_psu class, gateway issue #463) and .claude/deep-review/2026-10-20-classref-composition-gate-design.md (the cross-class composition gate, gateway issue #500). .claude/deep-review/2026-10-22-issue541-classref-composition.md (the three-layer action resolution — this bump’s program) and .claude/deep-review/2026-10-22-issue541-s2-standards-design.md (this bump).
From-predecessor note (0.3.0 → 0.4.0, MINOR)
One new schema plus the re-stamp; nothing existing widens. The new composed-action-class.schema.json defines the layer-2 document of the three-layer action resolution (gateway #541): a vendor-authored action class claiming action URNs no served catalog describes and supplying the catalogue side of the D13 intersection (see the normative section below). Its documents carry their OWN dialect version (contract_version const 0.1.0), decoupled from this directory’s version on purpose: a composed class is pinned by digest in a descriptor’s contracts[], and a family bump must not invalidate pinned bytes (the descriptor/otdp_version precedent). The eight class files and the two family schemas re-stamp with zero content change (exactly the contract_version line — the L5 shape).
Copy-never-move: 11 new corpus rows — the ten re-stamps cite standards/plugin-ui-class-reference/0.3.0/* as source (README.md is prose and never a row), the new schema cites its authoring staging path docs/plugin-ui-class-reference-v3/composed-action-class.schema.json (the founding source-provenance convention; the staging tree was never committed, and source is provenance, never required to resolve on disk); digests moved only by benchweave.standards repin; the predecessor trees are untouched and their 16 rows verified frozen by the same command. The served range widens >=0.1.0,<0.4.0 → >=0.1.0,<0.5.0; a NEW cross-constraints row names 0.4.0 (floor unchanged — the composed schema consumes no plugin-ui vocabulary beyond what 0.3.0 already requires).
From-predecessor note (0.2.0 → 0.3.0, MINOR)
One vocabulary widening plus the second class file; everything else the re-stamp. page_template.plot.kind widens from the digital_lanes const to the enum ["digital_lanes", "time_series"] with per-kind conditionals: digital_lanes keeps its group machinery exactly as it was (group_size 8, label pattern D{first}-D{last}, radix hex/decimal — and may not carry series), time_series requires the one structural field series: "numeric_variables" (the closed derivation rule: every numeric scalar variable of the over-slot’s dataset becomes a series) and may not carry the group machinery. waveform was NOT admitted in the L11 slice (the oscilloscope class widens on its own evidence) and the L13 oscilloscope class landed it in the same unreleased window (see the L13 note below). The founding reference re-stamps with zero content change (exactly the contract_version line — the L5 shape).
The new class-dc_psu.json is the first scalar/readings-shaped class: the otdp.dc_psu/1.0.0 profile with source-role output channels, a measure dataset (one numeric variable per channel and declared quantity), preset-mediated configure, and the output energy toggle as a declared deviation at birth — the directional §C.1 presentation (energise stages then confirms; de-energise is one ungated action) is beyond the per-action control vocabulary, and renderer enforcement belongs to the safety-behaviours slice. The expansion-side arms (dataset variables by shape, observation bindings on readings pages, plot emission, reading layout nodes, the widened expect inventory and census) are the SDK widening’s work and ride that train; this corpus lands the vocabulary and the reference first.
Copy-never-move: 4 new corpus rows — the three re-stamps cite standards/plugin-ui-class-reference/0.2.0/* as source, the new class file cites its authoring staging path docs/plugin-ui-class-reference-v2/class-dc_psu.json (removed in the same pull request — the founding convention); digests moved only by benchweave.standards repin; the predecessor trees are untouched and their rows verified frozen by the same command. The served range widens >=0.1.0,<0.3.0 → >=0.1.0,<0.4.0 (multi-serving; the cross-constraints row amends in place with the floor unchanged — the widening consumes vocabulary plugin-ui 0.4.0 already ships — evidence re-cited to this bump’s design record).
L13 note (in-window: the waveform widening + the oscilloscope class)
The 0.3.0 window was still open when the L13 class landed (the batch’s promotion leg unbuilt), so the one vocabulary motion joined the same bump: page_template.plot.kind admits waveform, with a conditional mirroring time_series (series: "numeric_variables" required, the group machinery banned). The semantic difference from time_series lives in the DATASET kind at expansion — the waveform dataset’s trace variables are array-valued numeric variables (one per channel and declared quantity) over an explicit time axis — never in a new series rule. The class-oscilloscope.json reference rides the same bump, its row citing the authoring staging path docs/plugin-ui-class-reference-v2/class-oscilloscope.json (removed in the same pull request — the founding convention).
L14 note (in-window: the function_generator class, nothing widened)
The 0.3.0 window was still open when the function_generator class landed (the batch’s promotion leg unbuilt), so the fifth class file joined the same bump with ZERO vocabulary motion — no schema byte, no count expression beyond the closure the 0.2.0 bump already carried, no layout block, no numeric literal. The profile is measurement-free (required configure + output, optional upload, source channels only), so the reference owns TWO pages (Configuration, Device features): no observation binds, no plot template names an over-slot, and an output-shaped third page would render panels and a mode-banner around two REPORTED deviations — placement-by-anticipation, refused. upload is the when_declared seam’s second use and its first non-lifecycle optional action. Its row cites the authoring staging path docs/plugin-ui-class-reference-v2/class-function_generator.json (removed in the same pull request — the founding convention).
L15 note (in-window: the electronic_load class, nothing widened — not even a settlement)
The 0.3.0 window was still open when the electronic_load class landed, so the sixth class file joined the same bump with ZERO vocabulary motion — and unlike L11/L12/L13, which each carried a schema motion inside the window, this slice moves NO family-schema byte at all: the load is dc_psu’s mirror (the same configure/output/measure action triple over sink-role channels — where_role is a free string, so "sink" widens nothing), its page is dc_psu’s own composition over inverted-role channels, and the class’s one hard question is DIRECTIONAL, not presentational: which side of ui-contract §C.1 the input-enable sits on. The reference pins the ruling in data — output is a declared deviation with the input-control cannot_derive row naming the inversion (engage is the energy-admitting, flow-starting direction: stage then confirm naming effect, values and target; disengage is the one ungated action, R-DEENERGISE-1), forbid carries intermediated-energy-removing-action with its second true home (the never-intermediated action is the DISENGAGE — a bulk-energy flow-stop), and the output slot marks the OTDP conditional (configuration_id required iff enabled: true) structural via host_supplied: ["configuration_id"]. Its row cites the authoring staging path docs/plugin-ui-class-reference-v2/class-electronic_load.json (removed in the same pull request — the founding convention).
L16 note (in-window: the smu class, nothing widened — and the sweep block DEFERRED BY NAME)
The 0.3.0 window was still open when the smu class landed, so the seventh class file joined the same bump with ZERO vocabulary motion — L12’s zero-surface result, second application and stronger: not even a settlement-class schema edit rides here, because the post-batch vocabulary expresses the whole birth surface. The class is the PSU’s shape over a THIRD channel role (source_measure — where_role is a free string, so the role widens nothing; the generic slot key channels names a role that both sources and measures), its required-three is dc_psu’s action set verbatim, and its page is dc_psu’s own composition. The class’s one hard question is the profile’s five-action SWEEP BLOCK (configure_sweep/arm/trigger/fetch/ abort), and it is deferred AS A UNIT with the deferral named in the reference’s own deviation ledger (sweep-surfaces): the fetch dataset is table-kind — a derivation arm this train has designed nowhere; the signature I-V presentation needs a plot kind whose x axis is a measured variable, which plugin-ui 0.4.0 does not carry; and the block’s composition is procedure-owned by device-classes §10’s own sentence (completion and abort must execute the commissioned source-safe transition). Until the sweep landing slice, the declared sweep actions of a full descriptor surface via the Device features page (the vendor_actions coverage home) — REPORTED, never silent — and the sweep-absence arm in tests/ui_html/test_classref_smu.py makes the absence a live assertion over the real expansion. Its row cites the authoring staging path docs/plugin-ui-class-reference-v2/class-smu.json (removed in the same pull request — the founding convention).
L17 note (in-window: the daq class, nothing widened — the sweep’s first real consumer)
The 0.3.0 window was still open when the daq class landed, so the eighth class file joined the same bump with ZERO vocabulary motion — the cheapest member of the family: not even a settlement-class schema edit rides here, because the batch’s own widenings carry the whole birth surface (the waveform plot kind is L13’s; without it this reference is schema-invalid — the batch-state dependency is load-bearing, not decorative). The class is the oscilloscope’s action-identical sibling with a different substance: the lifecycle quartet is structurally identical while configure differs materially (per-channel quantity/unit/range plus the sampling mode, against the scope’s probe-scaled display semantics), and the family keeps TWO classes because profile_id binds exactly one OTDP profile — a merged document is not an expressible object. This is also the sweep’s first class with a real, shipped consumer: a public community plugin declares otdp.daq/1.0.0 with six analogue voltage channels and no ui/ manifest, so the L4 no-manifest fallback makes this reference the plugin’s served presentation the moment the batch lands; the conformance claim is executable and lives in tests/ui_html/test_classref_daq.py over a vendored byte-copy of the public descriptor (source commit named in-file; no network in CI). The class’s honesty row is calibration-context: the real consumer streams raw counts with calibration not_applied, and the class presents the unit the dataset carries — count, never a nicer one — until an upstream measurement-profiles layer exists. Its row cites the authoring staging path docs/plugin-ui-class-reference-v2/class-daq.json (removed in the same pull request — the founding convention).
Files
| File | What it is |
|---|---|
class-reference.schema.json |
The class-reference document schema: slots, page templates, expectations, declared gaps |
layout.schema.json |
The namespaced layout block vocabulary that rides the plugin-ui extensions seam under the key plugin-ui-class-reference:layout |
composed-action-class.schema.json |
The composed action-class declaration schema (dialect 0.1.0): layer-2 action classes, gateway #541 |
class-logic_analyser.json |
The founding reference for the otdp.logic_analyser/1.0.0 class |
class-dc_psu.json |
The reference for the otdp.dc_psu/1.0.0 class (L11) |
class-dmm.json |
The reference for the otdp.dmm/1.0.0 class (L12) |
class-oscilloscope.json |
The reference for the otdp.oscilloscope/1.0.0 class (L13) |
class-function_generator.json |
The reference for the otdp.function_generator/1.0.0 class (L14) |
class-electronic_load.json |
The reference for the otdp.electronic_load/1.0.0 class (L15) |
class-smu.json |
The reference for the otdp.smu/1.0.0 class (L16) |
class-daq.json |
The reference for the otdp.daq/1.0.0 class (L17) |
The structure rule (D2)
The reference authors structure, not data. It may name page ids and titles, slot keys, binding ids, the group label pattern, section ids and titles, and the layout spans. It may author only these structural numbers: group_size 8, plot_index (a placement index), and layout spans (at most 12). It authors no values, units, thresholds, voltage or rate limits, channel names, or parameter names. Every data item resolves at expansion time from the descriptor and the OTDP action schemas. The schema carries no data-bearing field: no default, no value, no unit, no numeric bound fields. An author who reaches for a data field gets a schema refusal, not a silently-carried value.
Class reference documents
A reference document binds one OTDP profile (profile_id) and speaks the plugin-ui vocabulary it targets (targets.plugin_ui, for example ">=0.4.0").
Slots map roles to derivation inputs. A channels slot resolves an ordered channel list from the descriptor’s declared channels with the named role. An action slot (dataset, configuration, procedure) binds an OTDP action URN; when_declared: true marks an optional action — it binds only when the descriptor declares that action. host_supplied names the input fields the host owns (the OTDP acquisition lifecycle assigns acquisition_id and the active configuration_id to host ownership) — field names, never values (D2-clean). The vendor_actions slot is the D14 coverage hook: it covers every declared action URN that no named slot claims.
Pages are page templates. binding_slots lists the slot keys a page binds; optional-action slots bind only when the descriptor declares them. A binding_slots entry that names no key in the reference’s slots refuses at expansion (classref_unknown_slot:). vendor_features: true marks the page that hosts the Device-features section. The plot block declares the page’s plot: a digital_lanes plot over a dataset slot (group of 8 with label pattern D{first}-D{last}, radix hex (default) or decimal; labels are decimal positional always, the radix formats rendered values, never labels), a time_series plot over a dataset slot (the 0.3.0 widening; series: "numeric_variables" names the closed derivation rule), or a waveform plot over a dataset slot (the L13 widening; the same series rule — the waveform dataset’s trace variables are array-valued numeric variables over an explicit time axis; the group machinery is banned exactly as for time_series).
Expect declares the gate’s assertions. components maps a component name to a count — an integer or a closed expression ({n_lanes}, {n_groups}, {n_decoders}, {n_run_actions}, {n_configure_fields}, {n_pages}, the L11 counters {n_source_channels}, {n_scalar_variables}, {n_reading_tiles}, the L13 counters {n_analogue_channels}, {n_trace_variables}, integer literals, +); attribute maps a "name=value" selector to a count expression; the selector set is closed: the three data-bw-lane-kind selectors (channel, group, decoder) and nothing else. per_page names a page id, or * for every page, or is absent for a count pooled across the render. controls maps a class action URN to its reachability level: button (L1, no required inputs after host-owned fields), staging (L2, required inputs in {numeric, text, enum, boolean}), preset (L3, configuration-shaped), deviation (a declared deviation at the reference level). forbid names the gate’s closed check set: confirm-wrapped-run-action (D7 — the de-energising action is one action, never confirmed), color-role-hint-on-lane (belt over the manifest schema’s own refusal), untraceable-lane-label (every lane label traces to the descriptor or the group pattern), intermediated-energy-removing-action (any intermediating control on an energy-removing action).
Composed action classes (normative, gateway issue #541)
A composed action class is a versioned JSON document validated by composed-action-class.schema.json (dialect 0.1.0). It exists so a plugin whose device is mostly a class but carries vendor operations no served catalog describes gets those operations derived — styled, gated, provenance-labelled — with no refusal and no upstream request. It is layer 2 of the three-layer action resolution: layer 2 is layer 1 with the catalogue side supplied by the composed document.
What claims may name. A claim is a versioned action key: ^[A-Za-z0-9][A-Za-z0-9._:-]*/[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+$. This vocabulary is deliberately at least as permissive at the naming seam as the two layers it sits between — the OTDP descriptor puts no pattern on its action keys, and a layer-1 pinned vendor catalog serves any key shape — so com.vendor.op/1.0.0, urn:otdp:acme:op/1.0.0 and otdp.acme.op/1.0.0 all claim. A stricter pattern here would have made the composed path unusable for exactly the naming conventions found in the wild, and would have forced an already shipped plugin to rename its descriptor actions. Class-action URNs in a reference’s expect.controls stay otdp.-namespaced: that set is the family’s own vocabulary, not a vendor’s. (Owner ruling, 2026-10-23.) The D13 narrowing intersection, the reachability ladder and the field-row derivation run unchanged; the plan row carries resolution: "composed" and the class it resolved through.
The document. urn (otdp.action.<name>/<version>) names the class; the name is globally unique by convention (a vendor prefixes its namespace, for example otdp.action.<namespace>_<name>), and corpus promotion refuses a class urn a served class already carries. claims names the action URNs the class presents — explicit binding, never a name-derivation guess; one class may claim many actions (that is what “composed” buys), at most 64, unique. A claim naming an URN a served catalog row (OTDP or a pinned vendor catalog) already describes, an URN another composed class claims, or a second pinned document carrying one class urn refuses typed (classref_composed_claim_conflict) — sort order never picks a winner. input_schema is a JSON Schema object, carried loose exactly as the OTDP catalog carries action input schemas: the closed field-row vocabulary lives in the consuming derivation, not in this schema, so a vocabulary widening never invalidates pinned documents. side_effect states the class’s claim about what its actions do, from the closed set below.
No component key. The declaration supplies input_schema and nothing presentational. The ladder (_ladder_level and _row_mode in the SDK expander) still decides which section E control renders and at what reachability: a declaration that could assert “render this as a button” for an action with required numeric inputs would silently drop those inputs. “A component key from the fixed inventory” resolves to: the component inventory is the existing one, applied by the existing rule. A component field is refused by the schema (additionalProperties: false).
The closed side_effect set. none and state_change — the OTDP action vocabulary verbatim (the device descriptor’s action enum; the served catalog’s action rows carry the same field) — plus energy_removing, a refinement of state_change that names the D7 class: the gate’s confirm-wrapped-run-action, intermediated-energy-removing-action and deviation-downgrade (D7) arms protect an energy_removing claimed action exactly as they protect the abort slug today — declared evidence replacing the name-derivation guess. Against the descriptor’s own per-action side_effect declaration the class value obeys the S20 direction, applied at the class layer: over-classification is legal, under-classification refuses (classref_composed_side_effect_under) — a class may claim state_change or energy_removing where the descriptor says none, says state_change or says nothing, and must not claim none where the descriptor says state_change.
Two sources; one resolver in this version. The plugin-package source rides the existing descriptor.contracts[] pin seam: path plus sha256, resolved descriptor-relative by the SDK (_vendor_catalogs) — there a pinned document that is neither a vendor action catalog nor a schema-valid composed class refuses typed. The gateway’s admission-bytes mirror (_vendor_catalog_documents) is deferred to the named follow-on: this version’s gateway still reads only vendor action catalogs, so a composed pin’s bytes are digest-verified yet contribute no actions — derive_attachment keeps refusing classref_unknown_action for a claimed action, and a gateway today refuses what the SDK resolves. Corpus promotion is literally a file move from the plugin’s declaration directory into a corpus version directory — maintainer curation that never blocks authoring.
Versioning. The document’s contract_version is the dialect version (0.1.0), not the family version: pinned vendor bytes survive family bumps by construction. The project conformance ledger (ui/class-reference.json) records each consumed class (the composed_classes rows, each carrying the class urn and the family version it validated_against), and migrate-ui re-stamps those stamps — never a class urn’s own version, which is content — refusing (migrate_ui_composed_unresolved) whenever a claimed class’s pinned bytes cannot be re-resolved and re-validated under the target version.
The next bump must carry this line: if the closed side_effect set widens — energy_admitting is the expected candidate, admissible only when a gate arm consumes it (the directional section C.1 rule belongs to the safety-behaviours slice) — the bump carries the consuming arm and the SDK cross-check in the same change, and its cross-constraints row re-cites the evidence. A value with no consumer is not admissible.
Cross-class composition (normative, gateway issue #500)
Every class in this family must compose with every other class. A device may claim several class profiles — the descriptor’s profiles array has no maximum — and the gateway merges the selected references (parent §3.8): profile ids sorted bytewise, the first reference’s slot ids and page ids kept bare, every later reference’s prefixed {slug}- (the profile id’s namespace with dots as dashes: the daq class composes second as otdp-daq-capture).
Two rules bind every class reference, existing and new:
- Never author an identifier in another class’s prefixed namespace. A slot key, page id or layout page id shaped
otdp-<class>-…collides with that class’s own ids the moment both classes compose on one device. The merge overwrites such a collision silently; the schema cannot see it (the id pattern admits the literal). - Never assume the class is the only profile, or that it sorts first. An identifier that composes only when this class is the bare (first) profile breaks the device that claims it alongside any class sorting before it. An action URN belongs to one class: two classes claiming one URN in
expect.controlsis a duplicate control identifier no prefixing can separate.
The rule is enforced, not written down: tests/ui_html/test_classref_composition.py composes every unordered pair of the active family through the real selection and merge (select_references + _merge_references) and refuses any identifier the composed document would carry twice — slot keys, page template ids, authored layout page ids, and expect.controls action URNs, each refusal naming the colliding profiles. A class added to the family joins the pair set automatically. A composition gate that has never refused anything is a claim, not a guard: the refusal arms demonstrate a deliberately colliding class — schema-valid, silently accepted by the bare merge — refused from both directions (a new class colliding with an existing one, and an existing class edited so a new one collides), under either sort order.
The layout vocabulary
A layout block composes the §E components the renderer already ships: sections (panel composition), controls (button, numeric, rotary, text, select, boolean — the 0.2.0 widening), reading tiles and data tables, text bodies (author capability only — the class reference authors no text nodes), and plot references that place a page’s declared plot.
Bounds: at most 16 sections per page and 16 children per section, section nesting depth at most 3 (by construction), grid span at most 12, text bodies at most 512 characters. The per-page node ceiling of 64 is a gate-time census: the schema bounds each array, never the page total — a block the schema admits can still fail the gate census. One vocabulary, two writers: a class reference may author structure-only layouts (its layouts entries ride the same layout.schema.json through the family schema’s cross-file $ref), and an author may hand-write the same block into a manifest’s extensions map under plugin-ui-class-reference:layout. Identical validation (A11).
The canonical plugin-ui validator is extension-blind: it validates a manifest carrying the block exactly like one without it. This family schema is the block’s only validation authority. A host that does not know the namespace ignores the block and serves the manifest’s plain pages — degrade by ignoring, never an error.
The deviation ledger contract
A project declares conformance state in an author-owned ui/class-reference.json: the references the project follows (profile_ids, with contract_version and reference_version naming the family version the document was derived against) and four inventories. The declared-deviation ledger deviations: [{expectation_id, reason}] is the conformance record proper. An expectation_id outside the reference’s expect vocabulary is refused (classref_unknown_expectation:) — an unknown id cannot launder a divergence. A declared deviation downgrades exactly that expectation’s failure to a REPORTED row in the gate output; an undeclared divergence FAILS the gate. D7-class expectations are non-downgradable: a deviation may never name an energy-removing action’s reachability — the ledger refuses (classref_deviation_forbidden:); nothing may stand between the operator and abort.
The other three inventories record what the reference never claimed, so the project’s own conformance record states it from birth and never loses it:
custom_actions: [{action, resolution: "custom", reason}]— the residual members: every declared action no served catalog and no composed class described. The reason is level-aware — it names what actually derives (controls from the descriptor’s owninput_constraints, or nothing).composed_actions: [{action, resolution: "composed", class}]— every declared action a composed class claimed, carrying the action-to-class mapping.composed_classes: [{class, validated_against}]— each consumed class urn and the family version it was validated against. The ledger records the classes the derivation applied: a class applies when at least one of its claims names an action the descriptor declares. A pinned class that applied nowhere is disclosed by the gate’s REPORTED channel on every run and stays out of the ledger by design. A class urn’s own version is content and is never re-stamped.
Both tools key to that set. verify-ui reads the authored inventories back against the derivation — both directions, including the action-to-class mapping — and reports every mismatch as a REPORTED row, never a findings failure. migrate-ui re-stamps contract_version, reference_version and each composed_classes[].validated_against to the target family version, re-resolving and re-validating every ledger-named class from its pin first, and refuses (migrate_ui_composed_unresolved / migrate_ui_ledger_drift) with nothing written whenever the ledger’s inventories disagree with set arithmetic over the current descriptor and pins. No schema governs this document’s key set — the deviation vocabulary is validated, and the inventories are read back by the tools named above.
The plugin-ui floor (cross-constraints)
The family’s cross-constraints row names the plugin-ui floor: plugin-ui >=0.4.0,<0.5.0 for family version 0.3.0 (the row amends in place with this bump, evidence re-cited; the floor is unchanged — the widening consumes vocabulary plugin-ui 0.4.0 already ships). The row is vacuous while plugin-ui serves a single version, and the family goes to review at every plugin-ui bump — a plugin-ui bump carries vocabulary the reference may silently mis-derive, so the reference re-proves its derivation per bump (design record R2).
Names
All fixture names are invented. “Veridian”, “PSU-01”, “DMM-01”, “OSC-01”, “FGEN-01”, “ELOAD-01”, “SMU-01”, “DAQ-01” and the ch1/ch2 channel naming are fixture vocabulary, not real products, vendors, or benches.