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Zinc

Zinc is the host runtime for Circuitry shapes.

Circuitry describes value boundaries: in, out, grouping, and $value references. Zinc decides which of those boundaries become package surface calls, builds the YAML request, invokes the package, routes the returned YAML fields back into the run, and records what happened.

Start here

• Shapes — YAML shapes, Markdown front matter, and executable surface entries.
• Packages — package manifests, neighbors, and package-owned surfaces.
• Package Surfaces — what Zinc sends, what packages return, and how surfaces run.
• Configuration — runtime parallelism and per-package packet limits.
• Manifest Navigation — reading installed package manifests and files through zinc://.
• Executor — how Zinc advances ready entries and records history.

The boundary

Circuitry  = YAML format + value boundaries
Zinc      = package navigation + execution + history
Packages  = behavior + settings + policy + response meaning

Zinc does not infer a default package surface. If an entry should run a package surface, the entry says so:

answer:
  surface: openai-responses.responses
  in:
    question: $question
  out:
    answer: $answer

History

Zinc stores package installs and surface invocations in ~/.zinc/zinc.db. The database is history and package records, not live run state.