Use the shortest path that matches what you are trying to do. The author guides explain the product; the developer guides explain extension points; architecture and specifications define implementation boundaries.

Make a video

../README.md — understand Narratage and run the first provider-free commands.
quickstart.md — install the checkout, compile a complete video graph and set up a project outside the repository.
quickstart/script.md through quickstart/composition.md — author Script, style, generation, timing, Tracks, Film and rendering.
quickstart/run.md — choose Targets, configure the Runtime, build, inspect, reuse and retrieve results.

The website publishes these pages at narratage.hypit.ai.

Extend Narratage

guide/develop.md — repository setup and guide index.
guide/packages.md — package layers, facets and dependency rules.
guide/author-packages.md — add author vocabulary and graph lowering.
guide/providers.md — implement an external capability endpoint.
guide/runtime-profile.md — assemble Schedulers, Stores and Providers.

Understand the system

architecture.md — current Author Graph, Run Graph, Satisfaction, Runtime and package boundaries.
../spec/core-kernel.md — compact normative Kernel laws for the current @1 wire data.
implementation-status.md — what actually executes today.
roadmap.md — remaining domain-neutral, environment and video-package work.
open-source-distribution.md — packaging facts and release gates.

Domain-neutral implementation records

graph-first-value-boundary.md — graph edges own dependency truth; values contain only intrinsic meaning.
model-input-ports.md — models declare the inputs they accept; Providers only map those ports onto their own wire.
node-package-activation.md — trusted installed package locking, contributions and Host-selected facet activation.
local-developer-runtime.md — local SQLite/filesystem Runtime, recovery and environment replacement.
runtime-execution-control.md — target durable Build dispatch, Worker lifecycle, transparent queue inspection and unambiguous Build/Operation cancellation.
runtime-provider-scheduling.md — explicit Provider Authorities, exact capability Routes, immutable Runtime Revisions and atomic resource tickets.
cli-experience.md — complete human/CI/machine terminal design, command hierarchy, visual language and decentralized Endpoint authentication.
runtime-adapter-loading.md — separately locked Provider and Store activation, physical-code identity, diagnostics and explicit Artifact maintenance.
validation-boundaries.md — the single-owner validation gates; what is mandatory, what stays optional and what must never be revalidated downstream.
build-archive-and-egress.md — Targets, durable Records, Artifact retention and optional Host materialization as four separate concerns.
speech-alignment.md — the Script and the recording as two independent observations, and what locating guarantees.
demo-assets.md — distribution boundary and provenance gate for documentation media.
source-and-run-compilation.md — mandatory Source Header, peer Author/Run graphs, deterministic composition and compilation data gates.
package READMEs under ../packages — executable APIs and ownership.

Video-domain specifications

../spec/script-surface.md
../spec/author-surface-binding.md
../spec/caption-program.md
../spec/caption-fine.md — implemented first field-free Caption Style family and its completed browser evidence.
../spec/track-authoring.md — shared package-authoring discipline; its temporal projection and occurrence-expansion laws are implemented across the current Track packages.
../spec/spatial-layout.md — shared Canvas/Frame/Point/Path geometry, two-frame fitting, alignment and explicit backing-layer boundary.
../spec/typography-track.md — complete two-dimensional Text model, old-system and editor attack audit, terminal-IR gaps and Caption feedback.
../spec/ranking-track.md — old Ranking audit, separate official components, triggered group schedule and executable renderer-neutral lowering.
../spec/media-track.md — unified Item/Sequence media model, ordered layers, playback, motion, internal handoffs, audio projection and Speech reuse.
../spec/deck-track.md — independent depth-stack Deck Track, collection state, visible neighborhood and deterministic whole-group reflow.
../spec/audio-track.md — explicit normalized audio inputs, temporal placement, sample occupancy, mixing boundary and old-system migration.
../spec/screen-overlay.md — self-contained full-canvas visual contributions and the hard boundary against cross-Track adjustment effects.
../spec/track-composition.md
../spec/track-expressiveness.md
../spec/visual-ir.md

The finite seven-member Seedance Kit family is complete as data-only Text Templates. Low-level Seedance invocation, Estimate, media utilities and final Blob flow remain shared and must not be reopened as Kit-specific execution code. Superseded migration ledgers live in Git history rather than the current documentation tree.

The shared svml.visual-track@1 / svml.visual-ir@1 terminal waist is frozen inside the repository before publication. Individual author Surfaces remain pre-release unless their own specification says otherwise.

Video execution records

kie-generation-modules.md
media-inspection-and-normalization.md
media-execution-boundary.md
hyperframes-aws-runtime.md — recoverable Endpoint semantics, deployment resource review and the live AWS canary.
image-transform.md — transforms, ordered composition and external cutout boundaries
caption-gemini-provider-contract.md
../services/whisperx/README.md
../examples/talking-head-aroll/README.md — current four-take live acceptance and explicit historical-Candidate reuse witness.
../examples/talking-film-live/README.md

Documentation rules

spec/ states normative laws and versioned contracts.
docs/architecture.md states current ownership and boundaries.
docs/implementation-status.md states repository reality.
docs/roadmap.md states planned work and non-goals.
package and example READMEs explain one executable unit.
docs/public/ contains documentation media cleared for redistribution; its provenance rules are tracked in demo-assets.md.

Do not preserve a superseded design in the current tree merely as a discussion log. Keep durable decisions in the current architecture/specification, and rely on Git history for rejected drafts.