Running an organization

Circuits as graphs

A circuit is a running participant: a party occupying a position, discharging commitments by appending events. Seen as a graph, a circuit is the path from what it observes, through the powers and obligations addressed to its position, to the acts it may validly append, and to whoever inherits the work when it can't.

The scaling circuit in Meridian

One circuit, read from the definitions and the log. Solid accent edges are valid authorization paths; the dashed red edge is where an act without authority lands.

Text description of this diagram

Nodes:

Claims pv.utilization, pv.demand, pv.price (from the monitor and bills, status T).
Position OpsController (eligible: ag.Program).
Power ScaleEnvelope: authorize execute pv.Scale when n ≤ 40 and price × n ≤ 24,000 USD per month.
External event execute pv.Scale(n) via the bound Compute realization.
Event misfire recorded, then propose pv.ScaleRequest.
Obligation EnvelopeFinding: 3 requests in 30 days → propose widening the envelope (amendment route → Compiler → envelope v2).
Position OpsLead (eligible: pp.Person).
Obligation ScaleApproval.Duty: a commitment to decide within 1 business day.
Obligation ScaleApproval.Escalation: on violation the Owner decides.

Edges: claims → OpsController (reads); OpsController → ScaleEnvelope (acts under); ScaleEnvelope → execute (condition T: valid); ScaleEnvelope → misfire (condition F or N); misfire → EnvelopeFinding (counted); misfire → ScaleApproval.Duty (detaches a commitment); OpsLead → Duty (debtor); Duty → Escalation (or-else); Duty → execute (decide(approve) authorizes the execute).

PositionPowerObligation / commitmentClaimExternal event

Reading it: the controller reads utilization, demand and price claims; it acts under the envelope; if the envelope's condition holds, its authorize is valid and the execute goes through the bound Compute realization. If the condition is false or unknown (say, the provider's new price hasn't been confirmed by a bill), the act misfires, the controller proposes a scale request, and ScaleApproval detaches a commitment on the OpsLead. A violated commitment escalates to the Owner. Three requests in 30 days oblige the controller to propose widening its own envelope, which it can't do itself.

Reference run: 47 authorize attempts under the envelope, 44 valid; 22 scale requests; 5 envelope widenings materialized.

Node and edge types

Node	From	Edges it has
Position	IR-D; occupancy from appointments	debtor of commitments, bearer of norms, incompatible with
Power	IR-D (norm, deontic P)	covers an act type, conditioned on claims, constrained by immunities
Obligation → commitment	IR-D norm; commitment detached at runtime	detached by an event, fulfilled by / violated at, or-else to the next norm
Claim	the log	supports, attacks, derivedFrom, read by a condition
Event	the log	under a power, authorizedBy an institutional act, via a realization
Realization	binds in the log	realizes a requirement, offered by a party, grounded in adapters

A graph view is always a projection at an index: edges appear when a norm is enacted or a commitment detaches, and disappear when a norm is repealed, a commitment closes or a realization is unbound. Scrubbing the index animates the organization.

Process falls out

There's no process primitive. Sequence is a chain of response norms; parallel work is independent commitments detached by the same event; synchronization is a power whose condition needs several claims to hold; escalation and compensation are or-else norms on a different bearer. The workflow you'd draw in BPMN is the observed trace through this graph, which means partial compliance, deviation and rule changes mid-flight are all representable.