- Status: approved (2026-07-18)
- Priority: P0 EXT — blocking (production rollout gated via YSD-0139)
- Decision owner: @GreyChimp
- Drafted: 2026-07-18 by Claude Code (claude-fable-5)
- Approval: approved as recommended by @GreyChimp on 2026-07-18; outcome recorded in decision-log.json; review by 2027-07-18
Question#
Which typed relation vocabulary, directionality, review states, and identity rules govern cross-references?
Recommendation#
Adopt the Section 2.6 relation set (identity, similarity, contrast, influence, analogy, shared function, transformation, sequence, evolution, support, contradiction, counterexample, avoidance, derived principle, informed decision) with per-relation directionality/inverses/symmetry (YSD-2152); review states from YSD-2005 (suggested/accepted/corrected/contested/rejected/superseded); identity is always a reviewed claim — visual/audio similarity never auto-merges entities (YSD-2155); taxonomy changes go through versioned vocabulary releases with migration rules (YSD-2035).
Options considered#
- Free-form string relations — rejected: untypeable, unfilterable, and unreviewable.
- Auto-merge on high similarity — rejected: YSD-2155 prohibition.
Consequences#
- Section 2.6 implements; Gate 16 (YSD-18145) proves provisional-until-review behavior.
Machine-enforced outcome (once approved)#
Relation-kind enum in contracts; graph invariants (YSD-2159) reject invalid kinds; identity merges require review records.