ZFC (Zero Framework Cognition) Principles

Core Architecture Principle: This application is pure orchestration that delegates ALL reasoning to external AI. We build a “thin, safe, deterministic shell” around AI reasoning with strong guardrails and observability.

✅ ZFC-Compliant (Allowed)

Pure Orchestration

IO and Plumbing • Read/write files, list directories, parse JSON, serialize/deserialize • Persist to stores, watch events, index documents

Structural Safety Checks • Schema validation, required fields verification • Path traversal prevention, timeout enforcement, cancellation handling

Policy Enforcement • Budget caps, rate limits, confidence thresholds • “Don’t run without approval” gates

Mechanical Transforms • Parameter substitution (e.g., ${param} replacement) • Compilation • Formatting and rendering AI-provided data

State Management • Lifecycle tracking, progress monitoring • Mission journaling, escalation policy execution

Typed Error Handling • Use SDK-provided error classes (instanceof checks) • Avoid message parsing