OpenDXA and Dana Design Documentation¶

This directory contains the authoritative design specifications for the OpenDXA framework and the Dana language. These documents define the agent-native architecture that enables the convergence of AI coding assistance with autonomous execution, implementation details, and design decisions that guide the project.

Organization¶

The design documents are organized into the following main sections:

Dana Philosophy: Core vision, goals, and guiding principles behind agent-native Dana and the convergence paradigm.
Dana Language Specification: Detailed definition of the agent-native Dana language itself – syntax, semantics, data types, functions, state management, context-aware execution, and pipeline composition.
Dana Runtime and Execution: How Dana code is executed within the agent-native runtime that bridges development and production, including the interpreter, sandbox, REPL, and the core POET (Perceive → Operate → Enforce → Train) execution model.
Core Capabilities and Resources: Core capabilities and resources abstraction model for Dana programs to interact with internal and external functionalities in multi-agent environments with context-aware adaptation.
Agent and Orchestration: Higher-level constructs for building intelligent agents and orchestrating complex workflows using Dana's agent-native features, self-improving pipelines, and convergence architecture.
Tooling and Developer Experience: Developer tools, IDE integration, debugging, testing frameworks, and other developer experience improvements for agent-native development that unifies assistance with autonomous execution.

Document Status¶

All documents in this directory (outside of archive/) are considered active design specifications. They define the current and planned implementation of Dana and its role within OpenDXA. These are the authoritative sources for:

Dana language syntax and semantics
System architecture decisions related to Dana
Implementation patterns and best practices for Dana components
Design rationale and trade-offs

For Contributors¶

When modifying Dana or its related OpenDXA components:

Consult relevant design documents before making changes.
Update design documents when making architectural or significant behavioral changes.
Follow established patterns and principles documented here.
Maintain consistency with the overall design philosophy.

For Users & Developers¶

These documents provide deep technical insight into:

How Dana language features work internally.
The rationale behind specific design decisions.
How to extend or integrate with Dana and OpenDXA at a deeper level.
Understanding system behavior and limitations.