3.7 Turns
3.7.1 Issuing #
The daemon advances the conversation by broadcasting Turn:
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
seq | This turn's sequence number. |
id | Optional template identity (§3.2). |
name | Optional display title. |
class | Optional presentation hints. |
elements | The page, in order. |
seq starts at 1 and increments by exactly 1 per turn of a
conversation. Issuing a turn implicitly closes the previous one:
answers to it become stale (§3.3). A daemon MUST NOT reuse or rewind
a seq within a conversation.
The elements are an ordered list, and the order is the daemon's one presentational statement: it MUST order elements helpfully, and a surface SHOULD present them in that order — but MAY depart from it, and a daemon MUST NOT depend on the order being visible. Everything else about layout belongs to the surface. This protocol deliberately has no vocabulary for columns, grouping, emphasis or geometry, and anyone extending it SHOULD refuse the temptation: an element says what is being asked, never how it looks.
3.7.2 Turns that expect no answer #
A turn with no enabled input elements and no enabled actions expects no answer: the daemon advances past it on its own — typically a progress page, updated in place (§3.10) until the work completes and the next turn or the END follows. A surface MUST NOT be required to acknowledge such a turn, and the daemon owes it nothing before moving on.
A turn that does expect an answer stays outstanding until a valid answer is applied (§3.9) or the daemon supersedes it — the daemon remains free to issue a new turn at any time, because the flow is its own.