An engineering-grade grammar for declaring AI software workflows as maps.
WML lets you declare AI software as a workflow map (the "what") instead of prompting an agent to generate it (the "how"). The map is the application; source code is a derived, ephemeral artifact.
A workflow map composes fifteen versioned primitives (call_llm
,
read_file
, loop
, if
, assert
, …) connected by frozen contracts. The runner executes the map deterministically. If the map parses and the primitives are wired correctly, the generation behavior follows from the grammar — not from the mood of the model.
Most AI-coding tools treat the model as the substrate: the model is asked to generate code, reason about code, and decide what to do next, all in free-form character space. This conflates model with infrastructure and produces three structural failure modes: nondeterministic memory, non-restartable execution, non-auditable reasoning.
WML inverts this. The model becomes one primitive (call_llm
) among fifteen. Control flow lives in the map, not in prompts. Every action is versioned, timed out, and audited. The runner enforces the grammar, not hope.
Start here: [CLAIMS.md](/SymbolGroundingFramework/SGF-manifest/blob/main/wml-spec/CLAIMS.md) — the argument in 2 minutes
Read the article: [the-map-is-the-app.md](/SymbolGroundingFramework/SGF-manifest/blob/main/wml-spec/the-map-is-the-app.md)
See also:
What Makes WML a Formal Language WML is one component of its broader parent project, the Symbol Grounding Framework (SGF).
SGF is a multi-layer architecture for grounded machine meaning. It defines:
Core Lexicon of sense-disambiguated concepts grounded in ~65 semantic primes- Synapses: hub-and-spoke event structures with 15 fixed semantic roles Wire protocol– a versioned, machine‑to‑machine message format that lets services exchange grounded semantics without prior integration contracts.- HFF: a wire format for sealed, signed, provenance-tracked meaning
- AFP: an act protocol (INFORM, QUERY, COMMAND, etc.) with receiver sovereignty Omega: a formal governance grammar with 13 primitives and a deterministic Safety Kernel** WML**is a workflow-map language for composing AI software from primitives.
See also: