The Mineral Path
Zenzic releases follow the Mineral Path — a naming tradition that selects geological materials representing precision, transparency, and structural durability. Each version name is not decorative: it carries a material metaphor for the engineering work done in that cycle.
The Philosophy
Documentation tooling is infrastructure. Infrastructure must be:
- Hard to break — like minerals under compression
- Transparent — so users can see exactly what it does and why
- Precise — no ambiguity in what it detects, reports, or rejects
The Mineral Path communicates that Zenzic is built for duration. We choose materials that have proven themselves over geological timescales, not marketing cycles. When a version is named after a mineral, that mineral's physical properties describe the engineering priorities of the release.
The Roadmap
| Version | Mineral | Age | Engineering Focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| v0.6.x | Obsidian | The Age of Fire and Crisis | Sharp, volcanic, born from the MkDocs integration collapse. The Shield, the Blood Sentinel, and the first SARIF output — precision instruments forged under extreme pressure. |
| v0.7.x | Quartz | The Age of Clarity | Piezoelectric precision: transparent, self-oscillating, the standard for timing and frequency. A stable, auditable core — finding codes, exit code contracts, Virtual Site Map. |
| v0.8.x | Basalt | The Age of Foundations | Dense, volcanic, used for high-tensile reinforcement in construction. Focus: Plugin SDK and performance at scale. |
| v0.9.x | Graphite | The Age of Connectivity | Highly conductive — the bridge between systems. Focus: third-party integrations, public API, and ecosystem expansion. |
| v1.0.0 | Diamond | The Age of Indestructibility | The hardest natural material. Focus: Long-Term Support, stability guarantees, and full maturity. |
The Obsidian Origin
The first stable Zenzic release was named Obsidian deliberately. Obsidian is volcanic glass — formed under extreme heat and pressure, at the boundary between liquid rock and the atmosphere. The v0.6.x cycle was exactly that: the collapse of the original MkDocs plugin architecture, a forced rewrite, and the emergence of the Safe Harbor model from the wreckage.
Obsidian is also the sharpest natural material. It was the material of the first surgical instruments — blades that could make cuts thinner than a modern scalpel. Zenzic v0.6.x introduced the Shield (credential detection), the Blood Sentinel (path traversal enforcement), and the first SARIF output. Precision instruments, forged in fire.
The Quartz Standard
Quartz is chosen for v0.7.x because it is the geological material of precision timekeeping. Quartz oscillators are the foundation of every clock, every GPS receiver, every digital circuit that needs to know exactly when something happens.
Zenzic v0.7.x brings that same standard to documentation analysis:
- Finding codes (
Zxxx) — stable, machine-readable, version-invariant identifiers - SARIF output — compatible with every major security scanning platform
- Exit code contract — deterministic, non-suppressible for security incidents
- Virtual Site Map — a precise in-memory projection of the final site, validated before any build
Quartz does not bend. Quartz does not lie. Quartz tells you exactly what time it is.
Beyond Quartz
The Mineral Path continues. Basalt, Graphite, and Diamond are not promises — they are coordinates. They tell contributors and users what kind of engineering work each cycle prioritizes. The names will not change unless the engineering direction changes.
The Mineral Path is also a statement about what Zenzic is not: a product whose versions are named after cities, animals, or arbitrary brand keywords. Every name on this path has a physical referent in the earth. Every physical referent has properties that map to code.
If you want to contribute to a specific milestone, the Engineering Ledger holds the active sprint context and architectural decisions in progress.