Domains — two sides of one relation

A domain is an ontoref extension (ADR-012). Every domain has two sides, and they live in different places:

Side	Where	Owns
Authority	`code/domains/<id>/` (here)	the contract: `domain.ncl`, `commands.nu`, `repo_kinds.txt`, and either a co-located `ontology/` (e.g. `framework/`) or a `schema_cmd` that resolves schemas from an external project (e.g. `rustelo/`)
Consumer	`.domains-ontoref/<id>/` in the consuming project	the project's bond to the domain, plus its optional implementation spine

The authority declares what the domain is; the consumer declares this project's relation to it. A bond resolves against the authority (its definitions, states, capabilities), never on the consumer edge (glossary::bond).

Consumer side — `.domains-ontoref/<domain>/`

One container directory, one subfolder per bonded domain. Multi-domain membership is just multiple subfolders — it is not derived from the manifest's scalar repo_kind (carrier-only, decided 2026-07-17; formalization-vs-adoption: cardinality is uncapped and orthogonal to whether ontoref manages the project).

<project>/
  .domains-ontoref/
    rustelo/
      bonds.ncl             # REQUIRED — : BondSet   (schema: code/ontology/schemas/bond.ncl)
      ontology/schemas/*.ncl   # OPTIONAL — implementation spine (federated domain schemas)
      reflection/modes/*.ncl   # OPTIONAL — runnable modes for this implementation
    web/
      bonds.ncl             # a second, dependency-axis bond (a plane)

What every bonded project carries

bonds.ncl — a BondSet ({ domain, bonds }), importing the bond.ncl schema (the carrier is named bondS.ncl precisely so import "bond.ncl" resolves the schema and does not self-recurse). Each Bond names an axis (Governance → the project is an ontoref-node in the domain's DAG / Dependency → it inhabits an ontoref-plane), a state (None|Linked|Node|Managed), and — by axis — a resolution (Delegate|Override|Compose) or a DDD dep_kind (+ mutual, plane). This is the ONLY required file: a project may bond without being managed by ontoref (no .ontoref/ spine needed).

What a managed / implementing project additionally carries

The optional implementation spine — relocated here from the deprecated flat .{domain}.ontoref/ marker. Its shape is domain-specific (inventoried 2026-07-17):

an app/impl declaration (app.ncl) validated against the domain's schema_cmd schema (e.g. website-htmx-rustelo);
federated ontology/schemas/*.ncl when the domain authors its schema in the consumer (e.g. DD7pasos/.librosys.ontoref/ontology/schemas/);
reflection/modes/*.ncl discovered by the mode runner (e.g. jpl/rustelo-website).

Detection

domain.nu :: project-domains recognizes membership four ways:

kind	signal
`config_flag`	`domain_<id> = true` in `.ontoref/config.ncl`
`domain_origin`	`domain_origin` record in `manifest.ncl`
`impl_dir`	deprecated flat marker `.{domain}.ontoref/`
`bonded_dir`	`.domains-ontoref/<id>/` subfolder (the current layout)

impl_dir and bonded_dir are detected simultaneously during the migration window (0047); a project carrying both forms for the same id is de-duplicated (the flat form wins until removed). New projects use .domains-ontoref/<id>/ only.

Migration

The three precedent projects still on the flat form live in independent external repos and are relocated by their maintainers, not by an in-place edit from this constellation (migration 0047 documents the consumer-run step):

DD7pasos/.librosys.ontoref/ → .domains-ontoref/librosys/
website-htmx-rustelo/.rustelo.ontoref/ → .domains-ontoref/rustelo/
jpl/rustelo-website/.rustelo.ontoref/ → .domains-ontoref/rustelo/

References

code/ontology/schemas/bond.ncl — the Bond / BondSet contract
.ontoref/ontology/glossary.ncl — bond, ontoref-node, ontoref-plane
.ontoref/reflection/modules/domain.nu — project-domains detection
ADR-012 (domain extension), ADR-018/045 (level hierarchy, co-tenancy)

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