ObjectIR and DocIR

ObjectIR and DocIR

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sigMAX can separate business data from document rendering.

Separation principle

ObjectIR keeps the business state structured and typed. DocIR keeps the rendered document state explicit and traceable.

sigMAX distinguishes two intermediate representations.

Representation	Purpose	Typical output
ObjectIR	Structured business objects and typed data produced by runtime logic.	API responses, validation payloads, event data.
DocIR	Document-oriented representation for Markdown, HTML, PDF, or other rendered outputs.	Documentation, reports, generated pages.

This separation keeps generated documents traceable without mixing presentation with business state.

ObjectIR is useful for APIs and structured processing. DocIR is useful for generated documentation, reports, and user-facing documents. Both can be validated, transformed, and rendered by the runtime.

Runtime implementation

The host runtime primitives are implemented in Rust.

Some typed values use a C-compatible binary representation (c_repr) when they cross the WASM boundary. This does not mean that those primitives are implemented in C; it means the runtime and the WASM module agree on a stable memory layout for numbers, booleans and fixed-size strings.

ObjectIR and Binary Layout

ObjectIR is the structured value model used by the runtime.

When a route expects or returns a typed binary object, the runtime can translate between JSON-like ObjectIR data and a compact c_repr buffer. This buffer is suitable for WASM modules compiled from a deterministic C subset because both sides can agree on field offsets, primitive numeric types, booleans and fixed-size character arrays.

The important separation is:

Layer	Responsibility
Rust runtime	Implements host primitives, validates inputs, encodes and decodes typed values, and controls access to runtime capabilities.
c_repr layout	Defines the binary memory representation exchanged with WASM for selected typed values.
WASM module	Executes sandboxed logic and reads or writes values through explicit primitive imports.
ObjectIR	Keeps business values structured and typed before or after binary encoding.
DocIR	Keeps rendered document state separate from business objects.

So sigMAX does not split primitives into “C primitives” and “Rust primitives”. The primitives are runtime capabilities implemented by the Rust host. The C-compatible part is the ABI layout used for deterministic WASM exchanges.

ObjectIRDocIR

• typed business data;
• stable structure for APIs;
• validation-friendly payloads;
• useful for events, object responses, and runtime state.

• document-oriented structure;
• renderer-independent content model;
• useful for Markdown, HTML, PDF, and reports;
• keeps presentation traceable from generated state.

https://sigmax.dev/docs/concepts/objectir-docir/