# iinventedlight Open Project Folder Spec, v0.1 (draft) *Published by iinventedlight (iinventedlight.com).* *Author: Cole Withington (corrow). Status: draft for comment, October 2026. License for this spec text: CC BY 4.0 (suggested).* *Disclosure: drafted with AI assistance from Cole's notes, to be reviewed and edited by Cole.* ## 1. Purpose This spec is a plain, tool-neutral way to ship a creative work as a **project folder** instead of a single render. The folder records: - what the work is made of (stems, sessions, layers, sketches), - the **musical grammar** (tuning table, ratio and tempo map), - **who did what**: per-edit human vs. AI authorship, with kept and rejected AI proposals, - the **license** (including whether AI training is allowed), - a plain-language **disclosure**. It is meant to be readable by people, by any DAW or paint program, and by language models. Everything is JSON, Markdown, or CSV. Audio and images are standard files. Design rules: 1. **Additive, not proprietary.** A Starweave session, FL Studio project or Krita file sits inside the folder untouched. The manifest describes it. 2. **Every AI action is an edit record.** It is never just "AI was used." 3. **Human-readable first.** `NOTES.md` should make sense to someone who never opens the JSON. 4. **Optional signing.** v0.1 uses SHA-256 hashes only. Cryptographic signing could later align with [C2PA Content Credentials](https://spec.c2pa.org/). ## 2. Folder layout ``` / ├── manifest.json # required: provenance manifest (this spec) ├── NOTES.md # required: human notes + disclosure line ├── LICENSE.md # required: license text, incl. AI-training terms ├── tuning/ │ ├── tuning.json # tuning table (cents and/or ratios) │ └── tuning.scl # optional: Scala file for interop ├── time/ │ └── ratio-map.json # tempo / meter / polyrhythm ratio map ├── session/ # native project files (Starweave, DAW, .kra, .psd ...) ├── stems/ # rendered stems (WAV/FLAC), one per layer ├── midi/ # optional: MIDI or event exports ├── sketches/ # optional: drafts, thumbnails, process images ├── renders/ # final mix / final image (the "one-shot" is just one file here) └── history/ └── edits.jsonl # optional: full edit log, one JSON object per line ``` Minimum valid folder: `manifest.json`, `NOTES.md`, `LICENSE.md`, plus at least one file in `session/` or `stems/`. ## 3. `manifest.json` ```json { "spec": "open-project-folder/0.1", "id": "corrow-2026-example-01", "title": "Example Study No. 1", "kind": "music", "created": "2026-10-08", "modified": "2026-10-08", "creators": [ { "id": "h1", "type": "human", "name": "corrow (Cole Withington)", "roles": ["composer", "producer"] }, { "id": "a1", "type": "ai", "name": "Starweave Co-Pilot", "model": "", "roles": ["drafting assistant"] } ], "tools": [ { "name": "Starweave", "version": "1.0.1", "file": "session/example.starweave" } ], "tuning": { "file": "tuning/tuning.json", "summary": "31-EDO" }, "time": { "file": "time/ratio-map.json", "summary": "5:7 against 3:4; no shared downbeat after bar 16" }, "stems": [ { "file": "stems/01-bass.wav", "layer": "bass", "sha256": "", "author": ["h1"] }, { "file": "stems/02-perc-hi.wav", "layer": "high percussion", "sha256": "", "author": ["h1", "a1"] } ], "edits": [ { "n": 1, "at": "2026-10-08T14:02:00-07:00", "by": "a1", "action": "proposed", "target": "track:perc-hi bars 17-32", "summary": "Continue 5:7 figure, alternate accents", "decision": { "by": "h1", "result": "kept-with-changes", "note": "Kept rhythm, rewrote accents by hand" } }, { "n": 2, "at": "2026-10-08T14:10:00-07:00", "by": "a1", "action": "proposed", "target": "track:bass bars 33-48", "summary": "Walking line in 31-EDO", "decision": { "by": "h1", "result": "rejected", "note": "Collapsed the pulse back to 4/4; against the piece's rule" } } ], "authorship_summary": { "method": "count of kept edits by creator, plus human judgment", "human": "composition, tuning choice, ratio map, all final decisions", "ai": "drafted high-percussion figure (bars 17-32), kept with changes" }, "disclosure": "AI assistance: Starweave Co-Pilot proposed 2 edits; 1 kept with human changes, 1 rejected. All tuning, form and final decisions by corrow.", "license": { "file": "LICENSE.md", "spdx": "CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0", "ai_training": "reserved", "ai_training_contact": "https://iinventedlight.com/#contact" }, "consent": { "corpus_opt_in": true, "third_party_material": [], "notes": "No samples or compositions owned by others." }, "listen_for": "The hi-hat layer never lines up with the kick after bar 16." } ``` ### 3.1 Field reference | Field | Req. | Meaning | |---|---|---| | `spec` | yes | Spec id and version. | | `id`, `title`, `kind` | yes | `kind`: `music`, `visual`, `game`, `text`, `mixed`. | | `creators[]` | yes | Every contributor. `type` is `human` or `ai`. For AI, record the tool and the model or version **as reported by the tool**. Don't guess. Real people are listed only with their consent. | | `tools[]` | no | Software used and where its native files are. | | `tuning` | music | Pointer to the tuning table plus a one-line summary. | | `time` | music | Pointer to the ratio map plus a summary. | | `stems[]` / `layers[]` | yes (one of) | Files with hash and `author` ids. Visual works use `layers[]` and `sketches[]`. | | `edits[]` | yes if any AI was used | One record per AI proposal and its human decision. `result`: `kept`, `kept-with-changes`, `rejected`, `reverted`. Human-only edits may be listed but don't have to be. | | `authorship_summary` | yes | Plain-language split. Not a percentage unless you actually measured one. | | `disclosure` | yes | One sentence, the same text as the disclosure line in `NOTES.md`. | | `license` | yes | `ai_training` is one of `allowed`, `reserved`, `by-agreement`. | | `consent` | yes | Opt-in status for corpus use, plus any third-party material and its clearance. | | `listen_for` / `look_for` | no | One sentence of listening or viewing guidance (the education part). | ## 4. `tuning/tuning.json` ```json { "name": "31-EDO", "reference": { "note": "A4", "hz": 440.0 }, "period": { "ratio": "2/1" }, "steps": [ { "degree": 0, "cents": 0.0 }, { "degree": 1, "cents": 38.71 }, { "degree": 2, "cents": 77.42 } ], "notes": "Truncated example; list all degrees. Just-intonation tables use \"ratio\": \"7/4\" per step instead of or as well as cents." } ``` A Scala `.scl` export is recommended so other microtonal tools can load the same tuning. ## 5. `time/ratio-map.json` ```json { "base_tempo_bpm": 90, "layers": [ { "layer": "kick", "ratio": "3:4", "against": "bar" }, { "layer": "perc-hi", "ratio": "5:7", "against": "bar" }, { "layer": "pad", "ratio": "free", "notes": "accelerando 90 to 104 over bars 33-48, never resolves" } ], "sections": [ { "bars": "1-16", "pulse": "felt", "notes": "shared downbeat every bar" }, { "bars": "17-48", "pulse": "refused", "notes": "layers phase; no common downbeat" } ], "quantize": { "mode": "ratio", "notes": "Snap to declared ratios, not to a sixteenth grid" } } ``` ## 6. `NOTES.md` (template) ```markdown # Tuning: 31-EDO · Time: 5:7 vs 3:4, pulse refused from bar 17 Made by: corrow. AI assistance: Starweave Co-Pilot (2 proposals: 1 kept with changes, 1 rejected). ## What to listen for ## Decisions (in order) ## What the AI proposed and why it was kept or rejected ## Rights and consent ``` ## 7. Visual works The same idea applies to paintings and comics: `sketches/` (thumbnails), `session/` (layered .kra or .psd), `renders/` (final), and `layers[]` in the manifest with an author per layer. AI use, if any, is recorded as edits (e.g., "AI suggested three palette options; human chose none and mixed their own"). ## 8. Versioning and open questions - v0.1 is deliberately small. Expected v0.2 changes will come from annotating ten real pieces. - Open questions: a standard vocabulary for `roles` that matches music-credit standards (e.g., role-specific AI credits like those [Spotify describes](https://newsroom.spotify.com/2025-09-25/spotify-strengthens-ai-protections/)); optional C2PA signing; how to record AI edits when the tool doesn't expose model versions. - Comments and proposals are welcome via the contact form on iinventedlight.com.