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# @ssot/paths

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## Purpose

`@ssot/paths` is the single derived-anchor source of truth for workspace-root filesystem paths. `ROOT` is derived once at load by an upward walk from this package's own location to the workspace-root `package.json`, the one named `banes-lab` that carries a `workspaces` field. The relative path tree authored in `paths.yaml` is resolved onto it on demand. No source hardcodes a root-relative directory fragment, and call sites resolve through `ROOT`, `paths`, `absolutePath` and `relativePath`. The `@ssot/paths/anchor` subpath exposes `ROOT` alone with no parser dependency.
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## When to use

- Node-side code needs an absolute path into a workspace member, which is any key of the `paths.yaml` tree.
- A `path.join(__dirname, ...)` climb or a root-relative string literal would otherwise appear. Resolve the path here instead.
- The code needs the workspace-relative form of a path for display, config or a manifest entry. `relativePath(dottedKey)` returns it.
- The code needs the derived repo root itself. Import `ROOT`, or import `ROOT` alone from `@ssot/paths/anchor` when the YAML parser is unwanted.

## When NOT to use

- Any runtime with no `node:fs` or `node:path`. `paths` and `absolutePath` are Node-only.
- A package that must stay host-agnostic. Those receive paths by injection, never by importing this package.
- A process with no workspace-root `package.json` above it. The walk throws there, since it is the only source of the root.
- Remote or deployment targets. A server path is a runtime destination, not a local workspace path this tree describes.

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## Architecture charts

The structure, logical-flow and dependency diagrams derived from the source AST live in [_code.info.generated/mermaid-charts.generated.md](./_code.info.generated/mermaid-charts.generated.md).
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## Install

`@ssot/paths` is a private workspace package, resolved through the root `package.json` `workspaces` entry `project.paths`. A consumer declares it as a dependency and imports from the bare specifier `@ssot/paths`, or from `@ssot/paths/anchor` for the root-only, parser-free entry. The package is authored in TypeScript and resolved directly from its `.ts` barrel under Node's type stripping. No build step or compiled output stands between a consumer and the source.

## Quick start

```js EXAMPLE: Resolve workspace paths from the derived root: `paths` is the frozen absolute tree, `absolutePath` resolves a dotted key, and `relativePath` returns its relative segment
import { ROOT, absolutePath, paths, relativePath } from "@ssot/paths";

paths.app.root;
absolutePath("govlabHost.rules");
relativePath("codebase.testing");
ROOT;

````

```js EXAMPLE: Read the root without loading the YAML parser
import { ROOT } from "@ssot/paths/anchor";

process.chdir(ROOT);
````

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## API

- `function absolutePath(dottedKey: string, ...segments: string[]): string` — takes a dotted key and optional trailing segments, and returns the absolute path.
- `const paths: Readonly<PathTree>` — the whole tree with every leaf joined onto `ROOT`, frozen.
- `enum PathTree`
- `function relativePath(dottedKey: string, ...segments: string[]): string` — takes a dotted key and optional trailing segments, and returns the workspace-relative path with forward slashes.
- `const ROOT: string` — the absolute workspace root, derived once at load by the upward walk. It throws when no matching `package.json` sits above the package.
- `const ROOT: string` — the absolute workspace root, derived once at load by the upward walk. It throws when no matching `package.json` sits above the package.

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## Configuration

- `paths.yaml` — the authored tree of relative segments joined onto `ROOT`, and the one place a host-root path is written.

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## Dependencies

The package is a leaf with no runtime dependencies.
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## AI context

- `ROOT` is derived once at load: an upward walk from this package's own location to the workspace-root `package.json` named `banes-lab` that carries a `workspaces` field.
- `paths` is the whole `paths.yaml` tree with every leaf joined onto `ROOT` and frozen. `absolutePath(dottedKey, ...segments)` returns an absolute path, and `relativePath(dottedKey, ...segments)` returns the relative segment string.
- A branch that declares `root` resolves as a location, and every key beneath it resolves relative to that location. An unknown key, a branch with no `root`, and a key that steps through a leaf each throw.
- Import `ROOT` alone from `@ssot/paths/anchor` to avoid loading the YAML parser. The anchor entry uses node builtins only.
- This is workspace infrastructure, coupled to the `banes-lab` root. A package that must stay portable receives paths by injection instead.
- Every workspace path lives in `paths.yaml` and nowhere else. The paths gate flags a declared location spelled as a literal anywhere in source, so a new path goes into the tree.

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## Domains

This package serves these software domains, which `_manifest.json` declares in `domains` from the two-tier software-domain vocabulary (`meta → sub`):

- **platform** — file-system

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## Disposal

- Restore concrete path literals, or a re-homed resolver, at every consumer import of `@ssot/paths` and `@ssot/paths/anchor`.
- Remove the `project.paths` entry from the root `package.json` `workspaces`.
- Remove the paths gate, `closure-paths-via-ssot`, which flags a declared location spelled as a literal outside this package.
- Delete the `project.paths` directory, reinstall to refresh the workspace links, then run the codebase verification gate to confirm no dangling imports remain.

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stable · 6 exports · 0 deps · 0 principles · 0 concepts
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