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| 1 | +<!-- |
| 2 | +SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-SA-4.0 |
| 3 | +SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2025-2026 Jonathan D.A. Jewell <j.d.a.jewell@open.ac.uk> |
| 4 | +--> |
| 5 | + |
| 6 | +# What Is This? |
| 7 | + |
| 8 | +Idrisiser is the **meta-prover** of the [-iser |
| 9 | +family](https://github.com/hyperpolymath/iseriser). It takes any |
| 10 | +interface definition — OpenAPI specs, C header files, `.proto` schemas, |
| 11 | +or bare type signatures — and generates **Idris2 dependent-type |
| 12 | +wrappers** that *formally prove* the interface contract is correct, then |
| 13 | +compiles those proofs down to a native wrapper via Zig FFI. |
| 14 | + |
| 15 | +Idris2 is the sole formal verification language in the hyperpolymath |
| 16 | +ecosystem (chosen over ATS2, Coq, Lean, and Agda for its dependent |
| 17 | +types, first-class elaborator reflection, and quantitative type theory). |
| 18 | +Idrisiser therefore sits just below `iseriser` itself in the -iser |
| 19 | +hierarchy: every other -iser that needs formal guarantees routes through |
| 20 | +Idrisiser. |
| 21 | + |
| 22 | +# Why Idrisiser? |
| 23 | + |
| 24 | +Idris2 can prove code correct at compile time, but the learning curve is |
| 25 | +brutal. Idrisiser makes dependent-type proofs accessible to developers |
| 26 | +who should not need a PhD in type theory: |
| 27 | + |
| 28 | +- **Automatic formal verification of *any* interface** — preconditions, |
| 29 | + postconditions, invariants, and totality are proved, not tested. |
| 30 | + |
| 31 | +- **Impossible states become impossible** — dependent types enforce |
| 32 | + contracts at the type level; invalid calls cannot compile. |
| 33 | + |
| 34 | +- **Zero runtime cost** — proofs are erased at compile time; the final |
| 35 | + native wrapper carries no proof overhead. |
| 36 | + |
| 37 | +# How It Works |
| 38 | + |
| 39 | +Describe your interface in an `idrisiser.toml` manifest. Idrisiser then |
| 40 | +executes a six-stage pipeline: |
| 41 | + |
| 42 | +```text |
| 43 | +idrisiser.toml ① |
| 44 | + ↓ |
| 45 | +Interface Parser <2> OpenAPI / .h / .proto / type sigs → IR |
| 46 | + ↓ |
| 47 | +Idris2 ABI Generation <3> Dependent types + proof obligations |
| 48 | + ↓ |
| 49 | +Proof Compilation <4> Totality checker, elaborator reflection |
| 50 | + ↓ |
| 51 | +Zig FFI Bridge <5> C-ABI native wrapper, zero overhead |
| 52 | + ↓ |
| 53 | +Native Wrapper <6> Statically linked, provably correct |
| 54 | +``` |
| 55 | + |
| 56 | +<div class="callout-list"> |
| 57 | + |
| 58 | +1. User writes only the manifest. |
| 59 | + |
| 60 | +2. Parser extracts interface contracts from heterogeneous sources. |
| 61 | + |
| 62 | +3. Generates `Types.idr`, `Layout.idr`, `Foreign.idr` with proof |
| 63 | + obligations. |
| 64 | + |
| 65 | +4. Idris2 compiler verifies totality, termination, and invariant |
| 66 | + preservation. |
| 67 | + |
| 68 | +5. Zig FFI implements C-ABI functions declared in the Idris2 ABI layer. |
| 69 | + |
| 70 | +6. Output is a native shared/static library with formally verified |
| 71 | + behaviour. |
| 72 | + |
| 73 | +</div> |
| 74 | + |
| 75 | +# Architecture |
| 76 | + |
| 77 | +```text |
| 78 | +idrisiser/ |
| 79 | +├── Cargo.toml # Rust CLI orchestrator |
| 80 | +├── src/ |
| 81 | +│ ├── main.rs # CLI entry point (init, validate, generate, build, run) |
| 82 | +│ ├── lib.rs # Library API |
| 83 | +│ ├── manifest/ # idrisiser.toml parser & validator |
| 84 | +│ ├── codegen/ # Idris2 + Zig code generation |
| 85 | +│ ├── core/ # Proof obligation engine |
| 86 | +│ ├── definitions/ # Interface definition IR |
| 87 | +│ ├── contracts/ # Contract extraction from parsed interfaces |
| 88 | +│ ├── errors/ # Structured diagnostics |
| 89 | +│ ├── bridges/ # Bridge adapters (OpenAPI, protobuf, C headers) |
| 90 | +│ └── interface/ |
| 91 | +│ ├── abi/ # Idris2 ABI — formal proofs (Types.idr, Layout.idr, Foreign.idr) |
| 92 | +│ ├── ffi/ # Zig FFI — C-ABI bridge implementation |
| 93 | +│ └── generated/ # Auto-generated C headers |
| 94 | +├── verification/ # Property-based and proof verification harnesses |
| 95 | +├── examples/ # End-to-end worked examples |
| 96 | +└── docs/ # Technical documentation |
| 97 | +``` |
| 98 | + |
| 99 | +## Key Idris2 Concepts Used |
| 100 | + |
| 101 | +- **Dependent types** — types that depend on values, so a function’s |
| 102 | + return type can encode its postcondition. |
| 103 | + |
| 104 | +- **Totality checking** — the compiler proves every function terminates |
| 105 | + and handles every input; partial functions are rejected. |
| 106 | + |
| 107 | +- **Elaborator reflection** — Idris2 metaprogramming that generates |
| 108 | + proof terms at compile time from the parsed interface definition. |
| 109 | + |
| 110 | +- **Quantitative type theory (QTT)** — track how many times a value is |
| 111 | + used; enforce linear or affine resource protocols in the generated |
| 112 | + wrapper. |
| 113 | + |
| 114 | +# Use Cases |
| 115 | + |
| 116 | +- **Proving REST API contracts** — parse an OpenAPI spec, generate |
| 117 | + Idris2 types that prove request/response schemas, status codes, and |
| 118 | + auth flows. |
| 119 | + |
| 120 | +- **Safe database query wrappers** — generate wrappers that prove query |
| 121 | + parameters are well-typed and result sets match declared schemas. |
| 122 | + |
| 123 | +- **Protocol state machine verification** — prove that a protocol (TLS |
| 124 | + handshake, OAuth flow) can only transition through valid states. |
| 125 | + |
| 126 | +- **Provably-correct serialisation** — generate encoders/decoders with |
| 127 | + proofs that round-tripping preserves data identity. |
| 128 | + |
| 129 | +- **C header safety** — parse `.h` files, generate wrappers proving null |
| 130 | + safety, bounds checking, and resource cleanup. |
| 131 | + |
| 132 | +# Quick Start |
| 133 | + |
| 134 | +```bash |
| 135 | +# Initialise a manifest |
| 136 | +idrisiser init |
| 137 | + |
| 138 | +# Edit idrisiser.toml to describe your interface |
| 139 | + |
| 140 | +# Validate the manifest |
| 141 | +idrisiser validate |
| 142 | + |
| 143 | +# Generate proven-correct wrapper |
| 144 | +idrisiser generate -o generated/my-api |
| 145 | + |
| 146 | +# Build native artifacts |
| 147 | +idrisiser build --release |
| 148 | +``` |
| 149 | + |
| 150 | +# Status |
| 151 | + |
| 152 | +**Codebase in progress.** Scaffold phase is complete (CLI, manifest |
| 153 | +parser, ABI/FFI stubs, RSR template with full CI/CD). Interface parser |
| 154 | +and proof generation are the active implementation frontier. See |
| 155 | +`ROADMAP.adoc`. |
| 156 | + |
| 157 | +# License |
| 158 | + |
| 159 | +SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-SA-4.0 |
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