Terminology

Timeline

The container for your application’s temporal history. It holds the sequence of intents and manages the current position (cursor).

Intent

A structured record of a user or system action. It contains a type, payload, timestamp, and unique id. It is an Time-Traveller object, not just data.

Resolution

The process of deciding what to do with an Intent. It determines the resulting Reality.

Reality

The projected state at the current cursor position. “State” implies a static value; “Reality” implies a dynamic projection that changes as you move through time.

Fork

A parallel branch of history. Forking allows you to explore “what-if” scenarios without affecting the main timeline.

Snapshot

A static copy of Reality at a specific point in time. Used for performance optimization and potential restoration points.

Cursor

The pointer indicating the current position in the Timeline. Moving the cursor (Time Travel) instantly updates the Reality.

Supersede

When a new Intent invalidates a previous one (e.g., a new search query making the previous network request irrelevant).

Invalidate

To mark an Intent (and its effects) as no longer valid, often due to a later decision or external factor.

Defer

To pause the resolution of an Intent until a specific condition is met (e.g., waiting for a network response).