Runtime

A complete executable presentation environment. Runtimes consume translated World contracts. They are responsible for rendering, input handling, lifecycle, performance, accessibility implementation, and platform adaptation.

Runtime instances:

• web runtime — the browser-based Elonn experience
• android runtime — the Android-based Elonn experience
• desktop runtime — the desktop-based Elonn experience
• xr runtime — the extended reality Elonn experience

"Runtime" has two additional distinct uses within the existing system and must be qualified when context is ambiguous:

World runtime (world.elonn.local) A platform adapter that renders a translated World runtime contract. Existing Web, Android, iPad, XR, desktop, and future device runtimes consume translated primitives according to their capabilities.

Presence runtime (social.elonn.local) The runtime field on a presence record identifying which client the member is currently using (e.g. web.elonn, mobile.elonn). This is a string identifier, not the execution environment itself.

Allowed:

• web runtime
• android runtime
• desktop runtime
• xr runtime
• world runtime
• browser runtime
• runtime contract (the payload from World that bootstraps every runtime)
• runtime authority (the world service's designation as the session authority)
• presence runtime (the client identifier in a presence record)

Forbidden:

• runtime alone when the meaning is ambiguous between world runtime and presence runtime
• backend (describes infrastructure; not a product term)
• server-side runtime (too technical; not a product term)
• client (too generic; use the specific runtime name)

Notes:

• The world service declares itself runtime_authority: true in its service response. This means it is the canonical source of the World model and translated runtime contracts.
• A surface may specify content_source.kind = runtime_panel and a content_source.url — the URL the runtime fetches to load that surface's panel content. This is a "runtime" URL in the sense that it is fetched at execution time, not build time.
• Runtimes execute translated contracts. They do not own translator logic or consume service payloads directly.

Related:

• contract
• world
• translator
• web
• panel
• presence (presence runtime field)