HELIOS AGENTS AND GOVERNANCE
SYSTEM OVERVIEW

Helios is an autonomous software system developed using a vision driven architecture.

Autonomous agents do not invent work.
They resolve deltas between documentation and code.

Documentation defines gravity.
Code moves to reduce the delta.

When no delta exists, agents must idle.

Idling is success.

CURRENT STATE SUMMARY

Helios V1 goals are largely complete.

Core rendering, player infrastructure, and local workflows are stable and feature complete relative to V1 documentation.

Recent stalls indicate gravitational equilibrium, not failure.

The purpose of this document is to define Helios V2 and reintroduce intentional gravitational pull.

ROADMAP PHASES
V1 COMPLETION

V1 focused on:

Local rendering workflows

Browser native animation and capture

Player and developer ergonomics

Core engine stability

These goals are considered complete unless explicitly reopened under V2.

V2 PLATFORM DIRECTION

Helios is transitioning from a local developer library into a distributed video platform with a component economy.

V2 is defined by the following explicit deltas.

DISTRIBUTED RENDERING

Helios must support distributed rendering suitable for cloud execution.

Key constraints:

Stateless workers

Deterministic frame seeking

No reliance on replaying prior frames

Output stitching without re encoding where possible

Local only rendering is insufficient for V2 goals.

PROMPT TO COMPOSITION

Helios must support workflows where:

A structured prompt produces a valid composition specification

The composition can be rendered without manual code assembly

This is a platform concern, not just an AI feature.

COMPONENT REGISTRY

Helios will support a Shadcn style component registry.

Constraints:

Components are copied into user repositories

Users own and modify component code

Registry distributes source, not opaque binaries

The registry is part of the product surface, not core rendering logic.

PRODUCT SURFACE PRIORITY

Studio, CLI, and examples are first class product surfaces in V2.

Core and renderer stability are prerequisites, not areas for speculative refactoring.

MONETIZATION READINESS

Helios V2 must be structurally compatible with future monetization.

No monetization logic should be implemented prematurely.

Architecture must not preclude paid registries, hosted rendering, or platform services.

DOMAIN POSTURE
CORE

Posture: STABLE AND FEATURE COMPLETE

Allowed work:

API clarity

Stability

Enabling distributed rendering and component consumption

Forbidden work:

Cosmetic refactors

Dependency churn

Rewriting stable logic without a V2 requirement

RENDERER

Posture: MAINTENANCE WITH V2 EXPANSION

Allowed work:

Deterministic rendering

Stateless frame seeking

Distributed execution enablement

Forbidden work:

Non blocking refactors

Performance work not tied to V2 goals

STUDIO

Posture: ACTIVELY EXPANDING FOR V2

Primary product surface.

CLI

Posture: ACTIVELY EXPANDING FOR V2

Primary interface for registry, workflows, and deployment.

EXAMPLES

Posture: ACTIVELY EXPANDING FOR V2

Examples are a core teaching and validation surface.

INFRASTRUCTURE

Posture: ACTIVELY EXPANDING FOR V2 WHEN PRESENT

Includes cloud rendering and governance tooling.

GOVERNANCE LAWS
DEPENDENCY GOVERNANCE

Agents are prohibited from manually synchronizing internal package versions.

Rules:

External dependency updates are handled by deterministic tooling

Internal version propagation is handled by release tooling

Version mismatches are governance issues, not coding tasks

Dependency churn must not appear as agent work.

NOTHING TO DO PROTOCOL

When a domain is aligned with this document:

Agents must not:

Invent refactors

Chase dependency noise

Create work for activity alone

Allowed fallback actions:

Regression tests

Examples

Documentation clarity

Benchmarks only if performance is a selling point

Agents are allowed to conclude that no work is required.

BACKLOG RELATIONSHIP

docs/BACKLOG.md exists to track concrete deliverables derived from this document.

Backlog items must:

Map directly to sections in this document

Represent real architectural deltas

Avoid speculative polish

Backlog items must not exist solely to keep agents busy.

README RELATIONSHIP

README.md is informational only.

It must:

Describe what Helios is today

Explain installation and usage

Market the project to humans

It must not:

Contain roadmaps

Contain future planning

Describe work to be done

README may only reference AGENTS.md as the source of project direction.