# The Map Is the App: a workflow map language for building software

> Source: <https://github.com/SymbolGroundingFramework/SGF-manifest/tree/main/wml-spec>
> Published: 2026-06-18 10:04:57+00:00

*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](/SymbolGroundingFramework/SGF-manifest/blob/main/wml-spec/what-makes-wml-a-formal-language.md)

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: