Core documentation

14. Sense answers as-of the session baseline, with optional override

adr: 14
title: Sense answers as-of the session baseline, with optional override
status: accepted
date: 2026-06-16

Confirmed by the maintainer 2026-06-16 (was a provisional default).

§Context

Sense verbs (references/callers/symbols/…) carry no baseline field, yet the freshness rule says “answer as-of the requested baseline” — ambiguous (review SI-5). Only sense/impact and judge/act carry an explicit baseline.

§Decision

• Sense verbs answer as-of the current session baseline, issued at initialized and advanced by the host via a workspace/baselineChanged notification when the tree moves.
• A sense request MAY carry an optional baseline to ask about a specific revision (time-travel).
• validAsOf.rev MUST equal the effective (session or per-request override) baseline.
• Baselines are monotonic; a request’s effective baseline is pinned at receipt; baselineChanged affects only later requests; a request whose baseline advanced mid-flight is not a freshness rejection; a server ignores a baselineChanged older than its current.

§Consequences

• Removes the ambiguity; the common case needs no per-request baseline.
• Requires a host→server baselineChanged notification in the lifecycle.
• Per-request override kept for explicit time-travel.