> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.arupa.dev/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Conventions

> Understand how services use shared conventions to cooperate outside the Kernel.

A convention is a shared agreement between services about names, data
formats, metadata, URLs, or frontend behavior. The Kernel provides the
service runtime, transports, ISC, and lifecycle.

Services can build those features outside the Kernel by following the same
conventions. One service publishes a resource or capability, and another
service recognizes it by its agreed name and format.

## Why conventions matter

Conventions keep service integrations independent from a particular
provider. A service can be replaced when the replacement publishes the same
metadata and follows the same behavior. You can also add a custom provider or
consumer without changing the Kernel or extending the service protocol.

This makes conventions useful for application-level behavior such as:

* publishing discoverable resource URLs;
* exposing service pages in the application navigation;
* sharing the application's visual theme and frontend styling;
* providing optional browser-side helper behavior.

The Kernel transports and ISC mechanisms remain the foundation, but the
meaning of a convention belongs to the participating services.

## Core service implementations

The conventions in this section are currently implemented by `coreplugins`.
They are recommended conventions for services that want to integrate with the
standard application experience. They are not additional Kernel APIs, and a
service should not depend on private implementation details of the provider.

| Convention                            | Current implementation            | Purpose                                                                        |
| ------------------------------------- | --------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| [KV](./convention-kv)                 | Core resource and system services | Defines shared KV names and the metadata published for discoverable resources. |
| [Navigation](./convention-navigation) | `navigator`                       | Defines the service manifest metadata used to expose a service page.           |
| [Styling](./convention-styling)       | `web-assets` and `web-sdk`        | Defines the shared frontend theme, styling resources, and theme state.         |

The implementation may change as long as the convention remains compatible.
If you replace one of these services, preserve the keys, metadata meanings,
URLs, or browser behavior that other services consume.