BUILD ORDER - Core to Server to Client to Plugins to Demos

The dependency logic behind the sequence (user-mandated and correct): each stage produces the contract or proof the next stage needs.

Stage 1 — CORE PROTOCOL (ajar + conformance vectors)

Freeze what everyone implements: spec v0.1, schemas, golden examples, scope/error registries, conformance vectors. Gate: two independent readers hand-write a valid manifest from the spec alone (Phase-0 exit). Nothing else starts in earnest before this gate — changing contracts after code is 10x the cost. Immediately after the gate: ajar-docs-mcp v0.1. Its data source freezes at the same time as the spec, and implementation guidance should be available before server code starts.

Current status: ajar has the initial v0.1 draft baseline prepared and published. Hosted validation is active and green; the ambiguity pass is complete. The only remaining Stage 1 gate is the independent-reader manifest exercise (ajar issue #2).

Stage 2 — SERVER (ajar-gateway)

Supply side first: owners can open doors before any special client exists (curl with an Accept header is a valid consumer — that's the point of riding HTTP). Read layer only (Profile CORE): manifest, views, policy subset, console, signing. Gate: Phase-1 exit (10 diverse pilot sites, <1h owner effort, ≤20% token cost, conformance CORE green).

Stage 3 — CLIENT (ajar-kernel)

Demand side: verification pipeline, Taint Boundary, Policy Monitor, MCP surface, consensual fallback (so the Kernel is useful on the whole web from day one, not just Ajar sites). Gate: Phase-2 exit (forged-manifest vectors all rejected; injection corpus produces zero out-of-mandate requests; side-by-side benchmark published).

Stage 4 — PLUGGABLE APPS (ajar-woocommerce then ajar-shopify) + DEMOS (ajar-examples)

Distribution: the beachhead vertical (ADR-016) and the public proof. WooCommerce first (self-hosted world, pure Tier-1 harvest), Shopify second (hosted world, platform constraints). Demos in parallel: docs-site + blog-minimal need only Stages 1–3; storefront waits for Stage 5. Gate: <15-minute store onboarding recorded; docs-site benchmark table published; ajarprotocol.org live as our own first conformant site.

Stage 5 — ACTIONS → MONEY → DISCOVERY (Phases 3–5 per ROADMAP)

SIMULATE/mandates/receipts (external security review gates stability) → metering/settlement + transparency logs/index (ajar-index repo created here) → ecosystem/governance transfer.

Parallelization rules

Docs-mcp, examples specs, and integration-repo design ADRs may proceed anytime (they're markdown). Implementation code respects the gates. Conformance work shadows every stage — vectors land with the spec sections they test, harnesses land with the implementations they judge.