Ontology vs Topology vs Topography¶
This page keeps three similar words separate.
Ontology¶
Ontology answers: what exists, and what does it mean?
Examples:
- repo kinds
- execution objects
- governance objects
- capability sets
- contract terms
RepoGraph owns the canonical ontology vocabulary.
Topology¶
Topology answers: how are the things connected?
Examples:
- manifest consumption
- projection publication
- artifact reads and writes
- orchestration dispatch
- runtime invocation
RepoGraph owns the canonical topology vocabulary. Consumers import it; they do not redefine it.
Topography¶
Topography answers: what does the operational terrain look like in a concrete environment?
Examples:
- local paths
- ports
- compose files
- env overlays
- machine-specific runtime placement
PlatformDeployment owns concrete topography overlays. RepoGraph may define
shared topography concepts, but it does not own deployment execution.
Practical rule¶
- if you are naming things, you are probably in ontology
- if you are wiring things together, you are probably in topology
- if you are describing where things live, you are probably in topography