Predicate Propose

Authors a new Predicate node that codifies a proposed addition to the graph's predicate vocabulary. A predicate used without a backing Predicate node is provisional drift — the author introduced it, but the community has not yet seen the distinctions it carries, the near-neighbors it contrasts with, or the node shapes it connects. This skill is the gate between provisional use and codified vocabulary: walking it produces a Predicate node conforming to Predicate Form Contract, which the project can accept into the vocabulary or refuse after review.

The skill is deliberate, not mechanical. Terms Become Common Through Unanimity, Not Precedent asks that a term become shared only when the community agrees to it; an agent silently introducing a predicate across several nodes is exactly the failure mode this Conviction guards against. Predicate Propose is slower than silent usage, and the slowness is the point. Each predicate earns its place by having its Carries stated positively, its Crescent drawn against its near-neighbors, its Typing declared, and its contrasts_with edges pointing at the adjacent vocabulary the new predicate does not cover.

Steps

Step 1: Establish the axis the predicate answers

Ask the author: what single question is this predicate the answer to? A predicate that answers "how does this relate" is too broad and will fail predicate atomicity. A predicate that answers "is this source-side provenance or dependent-side provenance for a bidirectional substrate edge" is precise.

Name the axis explicitly before drafting. The axis is what ## Carries will articulate; vague axes produce vague Carries sections. If the author cannot state the axis in one sentence, the predicate is not yet ready to propose — the underlying distinction needs more clarity first.

Step 2: Check existing vocabulary

Survey the existing predicates: read each Predicate node under nodes/Predicates/ at identity-block-plus-Carries scale per Node Read. For each, ask whether the axis the author named is already covered.

If an existing predicate already covers the axis with a distinction the author can live with, stop — use the existing predicate rather than inventing a synonym. Synonym predicates are the primary mechanism of vocabulary drift per No Generic relates_to Predicate's rationale.

If the axis is close to an existing predicate but carries a distinction the existing predicate does not, continue to Step 3. The new predicate's Crescent against that existing one will carry the distinction explicitly.

Also check the base-contract predicates — conforms_to, authored_by, has_lifecycle, has_curation, has_commitment, decided_on, has_epistemic_status, serves_as, extends_contract, extended_by — introduced by Contracts rather than Predicate nodes. A new predicate that duplicates a base-contract predicate's axis should not be proposed as a Predicate node; the form Contract that reserves that predicate is the authority.

Step 3: Identify near-neighbors

List the predicates whose axis is adjacent to the proposed predicate's axis. A near-neighbor is a predicate whose territory overlaps with the new predicate's territory enough that a reader could plausibly use either — and whose Crescent against the new predicate carries a load-bearing distinction.

For each near-neighbor, name what the proposed predicate carries that the neighbor does not. This will become the ### Against [[neighbor -- sense]] H3 subsection in the Crescent. If the author cannot name the distinction, the adjacency is not real or the new predicate is actually a synonym — return to Step 2.

A predicate with no near-neighbors is permitted but should carry a sentence in its Carries section noting that no adjacent predicate has yet emerged, per Predicate Form Contract's Crescent Requirement.

Step 4: Draft the Predicate node

Invoke Node Create with form=Predicate. The filename is <predicate> -- <one-clause sense>.md; the concept side is the predicate name without the trailing ::.

The body requires: - ## Carries — the positive sense of the predicate, what claim it makes when attached as an edge, what web of associations it activates. Positive, not comparative. Two to four sentences typical. - ## Crescent — one H3 subsection per near-neighbor, each headed ### Against [[neighbor -- sense]] using the full-filename bare form per Markdown Node Contract's structural-context refinement. Each subsection states what this predicate carries that the neighbor does not — the distinction the merge would destroy. - ## Typing — the subject and object shape. If the predicate expects a specific node form as subject or object, name it. If polymorphism is intentional, state it explicitly. - ## Instances (optional) — concrete examples of the predicate in use in the graph. - ## Relations — contrasts_with::[[neighbor -- sense]] per Crescent subsection (required by Predicate Form Contract); composes_with:: edges for routinely-paired predicates (optional); grounded_in::[[Vocabulary Diversity Is a Feature]] when the Crescent is a direct instance of that Conviction.

Step 5: Validate against Predicate Form Contract

Invoke /node-validate against the draft. The walk covers: - Filename pattern <predicate> -- <one-clause sense>.md. - H1 is the bare predicate name (no ::, no definition appended). - Identity block includes conforms_to::[[Predicate Form Contract]]. - ## Carries present, positive, non-empty. - ## Crescent present with one H3 per contrasts_with:: edge. - Each ### Against [[neighbor -- sense]] heading resolves to a real Predicate node (or is a ghost link marked as such). - ## Typing present with subject and object shapes named. - ## Relations pairs each Crescent subsection with a contrasts_with:: edge.

Findings get fixed before proceeding. A Predicate node is a vocabulary commitment; shipping it non-conforming sets a precedent the next author will imitate.

Step 6: Consider declaring the contrast on the neighbor

Per Predicate Form Contract, the Crescent content on two adjacent Predicate nodes is NOT required to be symmetric. The proposing node carries its own account of the distinction; the neighbor may or may not add a mirror account. Offer the author the choice:

The second is usually more complete but adds authoring cost on a neighbor the author may not feel empowered to modify. If unsure, leave asymmetric; the graph tolerates it, and later contributors can add the mirror account.

Step 7: Commit and note the vocabulary addition

Commit the new Predicate node as its own commit. The commit message names the predicate, the axis it answers, and the near-neighbors its Crescent is drawn against. The commit is the public act by which the proposal enters the graph's vocabulary.

The Predicate node's existence in nodes/Predicates/ is the registration — this graph holds its vocabulary in the Predicate nodes themselves rather than in a separate registry file.

Note: committing is not unilateral acceptance. A Predicate node at Seed Stage / Working Draft is a proposal; subsequent use (or non-use) by the community is the actual test of whether the predicate joins the vocabulary. A Predicate node with zero edges using it after multiple sessions is a signal that the proposal did not meet a live need — demotion, revision, or removal may be appropriate.

Relations