Wire formats

Strata defines a single canonical wire format: Strata Core Binary.

Everything else is either a transport concern or a convenience layer.

If bytes are identical, the meaning is identical. If bytes differ, the meaning differs.

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Strata Core Binary (SCB)

Strata Core Binary (.scb) is the authoritative wire format.

Properties:

• Fully deterministic

• Self-delimiting

• Unambiguous

• Language-neutral

• Hash-stable

SCB is what gets hashed, stored, transmitted, and verified.

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What SCB represents

SCB is a serialized form of the Strata value model.

Every encoded stream represents exactly one value.

There is:

• No schema

• No version field inside the value

• No implicit framing

• No implicit defaults

Decoding consumes exactly one value and must end at EOF.

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Tag-based encoding

Each value begins with a single-byte tag.

Tags define the type of the value and how the payload is interpreted.

Examples:

• 0x00 → null

• 0x01 → false

• 0x02 → true

• 0x10 → int (SLEB128 payload)

• 0x20 → string (ULEB128 length + UTF-8 bytes)

• 0x21 → bytes (ULEB128 length + raw bytes)

• 0x30 → list (ULEB128 count + values)

• 0x40 → map (ULEB128 count + key/value pairs)

The tag is part of the canonical data and is included in hashing.

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Length-prefixed structure

Variable-sized values use explicit lengths.

• Strings are length-prefixed

• Bytes are length-prefixed

• Lists are count-prefixed

• Maps are count-prefixed

There are no terminators and no sentinel values.

This makes the format safe for streaming and slicing.

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Canonical ordering on the wire

Maps are encoded in canonical order.

• Keys are strings only

• Keys are sorted by UTF-8 byte order

• Sorting happens before encoding

This ensures that semantically identical maps produce identical bytes.

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No implicit framing

SCB itself has no framing.

It represents exactly one value.

If you need to:

• Send multiple values

• Embed values in a stream

• Attach metadata

• Version a transport

You must add framing outside of SCB.

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Framed wire format

Strata defines an optional framed format for transport.

The framed format is:

• Magic bytes: STRATA1

• Version byte

• Canonical SCB payload

STRATA1 <canonical_scb_bytes>

Framing is not hashed and not part of the value.

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When to use framing

Use framing when:

• Streaming values over a socket

• Sending values over HTTP

• Embedding SCB in files or logs

• Distinguishing Strata data from other binary formats

Do not use framing when:

• Hashing

• Comparing values

• Storing canonical content-addressed data

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Transport neutrality

SCB can be transported over:

• Files

• TCP

• UDP

• HTTP

• Message queues

• Shared memory

Strata does not define or constrain transport behavior.

Only the bytes matter.

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Text is not a wire format

Strata Text (.st) is not a wire format.

It is:

• Human-authored

• Whitespace-sensitive

• Parser-dependent

• Not hash-stable

Text must always be parsed and encoded before transmission.

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Error visibility on the wire

Wire-level errors are explicit.

Decoders must detect:

• Truncated payloads

• Invalid tags

• Invalid varints

• Invalid UTF-8

• Trailing bytes

Silent recovery is forbidden.

Code

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Summary

Strata has exactly one canonical wire format: SCB.

• SCB is what is hashed

• SCB is what is compared

• SCB is what guarantees determinism

Everything else is transport, tooling, or ergonomics layered on top.