# Numinance and numinance-spec

How the proprietary runtime and the Apache-2.0 specification relate, and what each one contains.

<FeatureStatus kind="public-spec">numinance-spec is public and Apache-2.0. The Numinance runtime is proprietary, private and not generally available.</FeatureStatus>

<SourceReference paths={["README.md", "LICENSE", "GOVERNANCE.md", "VERSIONING.md"]} />

Numinance has two parts with different licensing and different purposes. "The brain is private. The contract is open."

## The Numinance runtime [#the-numinance-runtime]

The runtime is the autonomous engineering intelligence and orchestration system. It follows a fixed understand, plan, act, verify, evidence loop. It is proprietary, private and not part of numinance-spec, and these docs do not describe its internals. Where a page describes runtime behaviour, it is marked <StatusBadge kind="designed" /> so design is never read as shipped.

## numinance-spec [#numinance-spec]

numinance-spec is the open contract. It is licensed under Apache-2.0 and is intended to be inspected and implemented independently.

| Path | Contents |
| --- | --- |
| `proto/` | Protobuf definitions: shared types, plugin and host services, ports, governance annotations, configuration kinds |
| `schemas/` | JSON Schemas and examples for configuration kinds |
| `docs/evidence/` | The normative `evidence/v1` pages |
| `sdk/` | Go, Python and TypeScript SDK sources (see [SDKs](/docs/sdk)) |
| `plugins/` | Sample and official plugins |
| `conformance/` | Conformance suites and vectors |
| `rfcs/` | Design proposals, including the evidence chain format |
| `cli/` | The open `numi` CLI |
| `GOVERNANCE.md`, `VERSIONING.md` | Project rules |

## Three distinct objects [#three-distinct-objects]

| Object | What it is | Licence |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `numi` | The open CLI for validating configuration and verifying evidence | Apache-2.0 |
| numinance-spec | The repository that holds the contract, SDKs, plugins, conformance and the CLI | Apache-2.0 |
| The runtime | The autonomous engineer | Proprietary, not generally available |

Installing `numi` does not install an autonomous engineer.

## Why the split matters [#why-the-split-matters]

A third party can build an adapter, generate a client, validate configuration or verify an evidence export using only the open contract. None of these requires the runtime. Build once against the contract. Bring your own capabilities.

See [Open vs proprietary components](/docs/concepts/open-vs-proprietary) for the boundary in detail and [Status](/docs/status) for what is claimed today.

<Cards>
  <Card title="Project" href="/docs/project" description="Governance, versioning, RFCs and license." />
  <Card title="Quickstart" href="/docs/get-started/quickstart" description="Clone the spec and run the open CLI." />
</Cards>