the language
run
The run's entropy and clock declaration · every source of randomness and of time is declared, never ambient. The two dimensions couple: only `ambient × system` (the status quo) and `none | seeded × virtual` (the deterministic states) are legal, and a declared contradiction refuses at parse (NEP-0010). One of 62 words the served contract declares, projected from workflow.schema.json, the same file your editor validates against.
- 1surfaceenvelope
- optionaleverywherea choice, never a miss
- objecttypethe declared shape
- 1skeletonscarry this key
the contract
1 declarationDescriptions are the schema's own; the deeper invariants (value languages and regexes) ride the same projection. A miss is a nika check finding before anything runs.
- envelope
objectThe run's entropy and clock declaration · every source of randomness and of time is declared, never ambient. The two dimensions couple: only `ambient × system` (the status quo) and `none | seeded × virtual` (the deterministic states) are legal, and a declared contradiction refuses at parse (NEP-0010).the file itself
in a real file
from the fanout skeletonrun: # A `timeout:` is a deadline, and a deadline needs a clock. Declaring it says # out loud which one: `system` is the ambient wall clock (the honest default); # `virtual` drives a simulated clock for deterministic tests. clock: systema verbatim slice, real line numbers from fanout.nika.yaml, conformance-gated upstream on every spec push. open the full skeleton →
cross-references
skeletons that carry it
defined by
the block it lives in
The whole grammar in one place: the four verbs · the standard library · the spec. Try it in the playground. Read the reference →