ADR-003: Foundational Isomorphic Architecture

Status: Proposed
Version: 1.0
Date: 2025-12-25
Supersedes: N/A
Related ADRs: N/A
Related PRDs: N/A

Context

The need for a consistent, scalable, and semantically grounded enterprise architecture that supports both human and AI cognition.

Decision

Adopt an Isomorphic Architecture principle, where meaning defined in the Semantic Core is consistently projected across all layers of the Sentient Enterprise Architecture (SEA™).

Rationale

This ensures semantic consistency, reduces cognitive load for developers and users, and facilitates AI-driven generation and validation across the entire system. It promotes a unified understanding of the business domain.

Constraints

TBD

Quality Attributes

TBD

Bounded Contexts Impacted

TBD

Consequences

TBD

Additional Notes

Accepted

2025-10-01

The core insight is that isomorphism is a guarantee that a chosen set of invariants survives translation:

This distinction is critical because:

1. Analogy-level reasoning (what LLMs do) preserves semantic continuity but not invariant integrity
2. Isomorphic projection (what SEA™ requires) preserves what must stay true across all transformations
3. Semantic similarity is an interpretation layered on top of invariant geometry—not a replacement for it

Isomorphism preserves what must remain true. Semantics explains what that truth means.

This is why SEA™ insists on:

• Canonical identifiers (ConceptId persistence)
• Reversible mappings (projection can be validated against source)
• Drift detection (invariant violations are caught, not silently tolerated)
• Regeneration over mutation (code is projection, not truth)

The implication: governance cannot tolerate partial preservation. If projections diverge from the semantic model, they are wrong, not “different interpretations.”

Rejected - Potential for semantic drift and increased complexity in maintaining consistency across disparate layers.

Rejected - Could lead to fragmentation and difficulty in achieving a holistic enterprise view.

• High semantic consistency
• Improved traceability
• Simplified AI integration

• Enhanced architectural governance

• Requires strict adherence to DSL and SBVR definitions
• Initial overhead in formalizing the Semantic Core

As of SDS-050, the identity strategy has shifted from UUID v5 to IFL Hash / Identity Token IDs.

• Legacy UUID v5: Deprecated and treated as an alias.
• New Canonical ID: ifl:hash:<sha256> (deterministic) or ifl:token:<chain>:<contract>:<token> (attested).

• Handling: Systems encountering UUID v5s must resolve them to the canonical ID via the Alias Registry. Future projections should prefer IFL Hash for pre-attestation identity.

• PRD-001: Unified Business Semantics
• PRD-002: AI-Driven Generative Capabilities

✅ MVP