# Autopoietic Project Generation

**Daniel Ari Friedman** (2026) · *Zenodo*

[![DOI](https://zenodo.org/badge/DOI/10.5281/zenodo.21227869.svg)](https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21227869)

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## Abstract

template_autopoiesis is a combinatoric grammar that deterministically generates whole runnable projects — not files or snippets, but complete, independently testable child repositories with their own kernel source, tests, analysis entry point, and manuscript. A single integer seed plus a grammar of orthogonal slots (primitive domain, analytical track, section set, and three presentation/provenance slots) selects one child from a combinatoric product space of 360 nominal (45 content-distinct) configurations, via a SHA-256 digest of the seed and slot identity — with no random-number generator anywhere in the expansion path. Project generators routinely claim completeness, determinism, and traceability without making any of the three independently checkable. This exemplar treats each claim as a structural property to verify rather than a rhetorical one to assert: verify_child() recomputes a tree hash from the files actually on disk and compares it against the recorded provenance, rather than trusting a value the same run wrote down; a honesty manifest inspects the live source AST to confirm every claim in this manuscript resolves to a real function in a real file; and a per-domain mutation gate checks that the acceptance tests reject a constant-success stub before trusting that they accept the real kernel. The same discipline governs this document itself — every number below is substituted at render time from a live measurement rather than hand-typed as a literal. Across 5 heterogeneous primitive domains (- optimization - dynamics - statistics - signal - graph), 493 tests exercise both fixed ground-truth checks and Hypothesis-driven property invariants at 96.28% branch coverage, with an explicit negative control per domain distinguishing the real kernel from a deliberately-wrong one. Generation pipeline Grammar product space - Domain count: 5 - Effective product size: 45 - Total product size: 360 - Reserved slots: 3 (figure_profile, qr_profile, integrity_profile) - Grammar hash: f84a8f9dbcb18e37 - Tests: 493 · Coverage: 96.28%

## Keywords

autopoiesis · combinatoric grammar · deterministic generation · project synthesis · reproducible research · infrastructure automation

## Artifacts

| Field | Value |
|------|-------|
| **DOI** | [10.5281/zenodo.21227869](https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21227869) |
| **Published** | 2026-07-06 |
| **Version** | 1.0.1 |
| **Zenodo record** | https://zenodo.org/records/21227869 |
| **GitHub release** | https://github.com/docxology/template/releases/tag/v1.0.1 |
| **Source repository** | https://github.com/docxology/template |

## Files

- `Friedman_2026_Autopoietic_84145371.pdf` - Zenodo PDF

## Citation

> Friedman, D. A. (2026). *Autopoietic Project Generation*. Zenodo. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.21227869. URL: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21227869.

## Related

- GitHub release: https://github.com/docxology/template_autopoiesis/releases/tag/v1.0.1

- Zenodo record: https://zenodo.org/records/21227869
- GitHub release: https://github.com/docxology/template/releases/tag/v1.0.1
- Source repository: https://github.com/docxology/template
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