Common Schema Rules

Rules that apply to every Declart declaration file.

Required fields

FieldTypeDescription
kindstringOne of: flow, tier, hierarchy, timeline, matrix, hub_spoke, venn, comparison

Optional fields

FieldTypeDescription
titlestringDisplay title rendered above the diagram. Omit to suppress.
viewstringRendering intent within the kind. Valid values depend on kind. Omit to let the engine select automatically.

Item arrays

  • Items are declared as [[items]] TOML array-of-tables.
  • At least one item is required for flow and tier. The matrix kind uses [[quadrants]]; hierarchy uses [[nodes]]; timeline uses [[events]]; hub_spoke uses [[spokes]]; venn uses [[sets]]; comparison uses [[columns]] and [[rows]].
  • Item order in the file is rendering order.

Forbidden fields

Any field not listed in a kind's spec document is forbidden. Forbidden fields cause a parse error. This includes but is not limited to: color, fill, stroke, font, size, x, y, width, height, style, class.

Emphasis (shared optional item field)

When a kind supports item-level emphasis, it uses this field:

ValueMeaning
primaryMost important item in the diagram
secondarySecondary importance

The engine decides visual representation. Omitting emphasis means default weight.

  • primary: white outline stroke + bold text
  • secondary: lighter color tint