State, Sessions, and Accumulation

The UOR State namespace models the mutable side of the UOR framework. While the kernel is immutable and the bridge is purely computed, state captures what happens when a resolver accumulates bindings across a sequence of queries.

Contexts and Bindings

A Context is a bounded set of populated UOR addresses — the parameter space for a resolution cycle. Each Binding associates a datum value with an address, and a Frame determines which bindings are visible to a given resolution step.

State changes are modeled explicitly: a Transition records the transformation of one context into another through binding or unbinding.

Sessions

A Session is a bounded sequence of query/response pairs sharing a common context. As queries arrive, the BindingAccumulator appends bindings to the session context, progressively narrowing the set of free sites.

Sessions can end for several reasons, each classified by the SessionBoundaryType vocabulary: explicit caller reset, convergence (no further progress possible), or contradiction (a new binding conflicts with an existing one).

Grounding

The goal of accumulation is grounding — the point at which every site is pinned and no free coordinates remain. The GroundedContext represents a context that has reached full grounding, with grounding degree sigma = 1, freeRank = 0, and residual entropy S = 0.

The grounding process is tracked through GroundingPhase phases: Open (sigma = 0), PartialGrounding (0 < sigma < 1), and FullGrounding (sigma = 1). The GroundingWitness records step-by-step evidence of how grounding was achieved.

Shared State and Composition

Multiple sessions can share state. A SharedContext is visible to more than one session simultaneously, with ContextLease providing exclusive claims on site coordinates. Sessions themselves can compose: the SessionComposition records when a session was formed by merging the binding sets of predecessors.

Connection to Resolution

State is the bridge between the Resolution & Queries pipeline and the certification layer. As a session accumulates bindings, the resolver uses the current context to guide its search. When grounding is reached, the result can be certified — connecting state management to the Certification and Verification workflow.