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Reference

The Reference section provides authoritative, lookup-oriented documentation for the Electric Barometer ecosystem. It is intended for readers who already understand the conceptual framework and need precise definitions, structures, or cross-links.

Unlike Guides, which are task-oriented, and Concepts, which explain why the system is structured as it is, Reference pages focus on what exists and how it is defined.

What belongs in Reference

Reference documentation includes:

  • Canonical definitions and terminology
  • Structural overviews and schemas
  • Enumerations of components or layers
  • Stable contracts and interfaces
  • Cross-cutting lookup material

Reference pages prioritize clarity, completeness, and stability over narrative flow.

What does not belong in Reference

Reference documentation intentionally avoids:

  • Step-by-step instructions (see Guides)

  • Conceptual motivation or philosophy (see Concepts)

  • Policy decisions or tradeoff rationale (see Optimization)

  • Implementation details or code-level APIs (see repository-specific documentation)

Reference sections

The Reference section includes the following areas:

Glossaries and terminology

  • Glossary — canonical definitions of core terms used throughout the ecosystem

Metrics reference

  • Metrics — definitions and interpretation of evaluation metrics
  • CWSL — reference documentation for Cost-Weighted Service Loss

Optimization reference

  • Optimization — policy, tuning, and decision logic structures

Ecosystem structure

Research and formal definitions

  • Papers — formal technical notes and theoretical foundations

How to use the Reference section

Use Reference pages when you need to:

  • Confirm the meaning of a term
  • Verify assumptions encoded by a metric
  • Understand how components relate structurally
  • Locate the authoritative definition of a concept
  • Cross-reference documentation across sections

Reference pages are designed to be consulted repeatedly, not read linearly.

Stability and governance

Reference documentation is treated as stable and authoritative.

Changes to reference material should:

  • Be deliberate and reviewed
  • Preserve backward interpretability where possible
  • Be aligned with released versions of the ecosystem
  • Avoid silent or informal updates

This stability supports governance, auditability, and long-term maintainability.

Where to go next

If you are:

  • Looking for how to do something → see Guides
  • Looking for why something exists → see Concepts
  • Looking for how decisions are made → see Optimization
  • Looking for formal theory → see Papers

The Reference section exists to ground the rest of the documentation in precise, shared understanding.

Electric Barometer documentation is designed to separate explanation, instruction, and reference. This section is where definitions live.