ICN Project Index

For current project truth, defer to `docs/STATE.md` and `docs/PHASE_PROGRESS.md`. This index is navigation, not state.

This directory is a show-ready orientation layer for the ICN repository. Its job is to let an outside reader — organizer, cooperative developer, contributor, or agent — figure out what ICN is, where its real surfaces live, and what to read next, without having to crawl the entire repo first.

What this is

• An orientation map: short routing docs from "I am role X, where do I start?" to the right canonical doc, source tree, or external URL.
• A retrieval guide: each map points at the canonical truth-bearing files (STATE.md, PHASE_PROGRESS.md, registry, source) rather than restating them.
• A show-readiness layer: helps callers tell the difference between what is real now, what is in progress, and what is intentionally off-limits to demo.

What this is not

• Not current truth. Truth lives in docs/STATE.md and docs/PHASE_PROGRESS.md. Those are re-bumped with every state-changing PR. The maps here describe the shape of the project, not the day-to-day record.
• Not a replacement for docs/STATE.md.
• Not a generated file inventory. Listing every file is a job for tooling (git ls-files, registry summary), not for hand-maintained docs.
• Not a sales pitch. Public messaging lives on the website (website/ and intercooperative.network). This directory speaks to readers who already opened the repo.

Truth layer / claim discipline

ICN already has several truth- and freshness-tracking systems. This index does not replace them, and there is deliberately no separate docs/truth/ tree — a parallel truth root would be a competing source of truth, the exact thing the meaning-firewall and source-precedence discipline exist to prevent. Instead, here is which existing system answers which question:

Discipline (for humans and agents):

• Orientation maps are not canonical state. Everything in this directory is Canonical: no. Defer to code/tests first, then STATE.md/PHASE_PROGRESS.md, then accepted ADRs/RFCs — the full ranking is in `source-of-truth-map.md`.
• Bound every claim by its proof level. Do not describe an L0–L1 design as implemented, or an L4 fixture/demo as live. Public claims must not exceed what show-readiness-map.md plus current canonical state support.
• Use the existing implementation-status labels (from source-of-truth-map.md); do not invent new ones: implemented · implemented but partial · feature-gated · fixture-backed · gateway-backed · docs-only / design-direction · package-local · private-boundary · stale / historical · unknown / needs local verification.
• Proof ladder (from proof-level-taxonomy-capability-matrix.md): L0 named/design-only → L1 schema/contract → L2 unit-tested → L3 integration-tested → L4 local proof loop → L5 live daemon/gateway → L6 multi-node/devnet → L7 partner/organizer rehearsal → L8 production hardening.

Start here by role

All maps

Vocabulary the maps use

ICN is described as digital public infrastructure for cooperatives, communities, and federations. The maps use the project's preferred vocabulary:

• Avoid: payment, currency, wallet, balance.
• Prefer: settlement, unit, identity, position, obligation, allocation.

This is regulatory framing, not aesthetic preference. ICN is not a financial product, not a token system, not a platform.

When to update these maps

• The shape changes: a new top-level directory, a new crate layer, a new app, a new control-plane doc.
• A surface listed here moves, is renamed, or is retired.
• Phase or pilot framing changes (NYCN status, action-card source paths, etc.) — the deltas belong in STATE.md and PHASE_PROGRESS.md first; if they reshape what is show-ready, also update `show-readiness-map.md` and `current-truth-map.md`.

The maps here are intentionally short. If a map starts growing into a runbook or a spec, that material belongs under docs/guides/, docs/spec/, or docs/architecture/ instead.