Self-Describing Architecture / Metadata Drift
Kind: tension
Record: tension:metadata-drift-self-describing-architecture
Canonical: Schema
"self-describing-architecture" (declarative-core layer) is traded against "Metadata Drift" (declarative-core layer) — a principle cannot be scope-separated from a quality, metric, or cost it competes with; resolve by measuring "Metadata Drift" and choosing an explicit operating point.
Listed in Tensions, after Standardization / Innovation/Autonomy and before Self-Describing API / Payload Verbosity.