Dreamineering Symbols

How can an agent compress shared meaning without losing the decoder?

Dreamineering Symbols are the readable home for DML and A&ID notation. DML is the wire-format language. A&ID is the diagram grammar. Both compress DDL terms so agents can coordinate with less token cost and less ambiguity.

In the OKF meaning graph, symbols compress a DDL concept without replacing it. The graph should always be able to expand a symbol back to a named concept and a readable route.

Symbol Families

Agent symbols:

• digital agent.
• human authority.
• physical actor.
• orchestrator.
• human-in-the-loop boundary.

Instrument symbols:

• alarm.
• controller.
• gate.
• monitor.
• recorder.
• selector.
• transmitter.
• validator.

Loop symbols:

• closed loop.
• cascade.
• open action.
• learning return.
• feedforward path.

Decision symbols:

• pass.
• fail.
• timed condition.
• event condition.
• quality threshold.
• approval condition.
• kill condition.

Operating Rule

A symbol is valid only when the reader can expand it back to a DDL term.

Use symbols when compression helps coordination. Use prose when the reader lacks the decoder.

Checks

• The symbol has one expansion.
• The expansion maps to a DDL term.
• The family is clear.
• The authority level is explicit when action can affect spend, identity, or trust.
• Unknown symbols fail closed.

Failure Modes

• Pretty diagram — the symbol looks useful but does not govern action.
• Undecoded pack — compressed text saves tokens but loses meaning.
• Authority gap — action symbols omit who can approve or override.
• Collision — one mark points at two meanings.

Context

• depends-on DDL Nomenclature — symbols compress the readable vocabulary.
• pairs-with Language Crosswalk — the crosswalk binds terms, codes, and symbols.
• applies-to Open Knowledge Format Mapping — compressed terms still need graph-readable edges.
• applies-to Agent Operating Model — the operating loop needs compact but auditable signals.
• proved-by Performance — compression is useful only when it improves retrieval, action, or audit quality.

Questions

Which symbol needs a better decoder?

• Can the reader expand the symbol?
• Does the symbol change an action?
• Is authority visible?
• Does the family prevent collision?
• Should this be prose instead?