bjacobso · Oct 4, 2026
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
@@ -572,6 +572,16 @@ compose storage and query layers with a validated database scope and explicit ca
 `@triplex-build/triplex/internal` remains unstable implementation support for legacy adapter code.
 Public exports resolve only to built `dist` files.
 
+## Triplex and WorldVM
+
+Triplex is a standalone database: it has no dependency on WorldVM, and you do not need WorldVM to
+use it. It is also the temporal fact store in [WorldVM](https://worldvm.com), a TypeScript runtime
+and standard library for software that models the world, reasons about it, and acts on it. There,
+Triplex answers one question: what is true, and what was true? Triplex owns facts, time, the
+journal, configuration, and provenance; WorldVM owns actors, permissions, programs, threads, and
+external effects. WorldVM's `@worldvm/*` packages are not published yet. See
+[Triplex and WorldVM](docs/worldvm.md) for the exact boundary.
+
 ## Documentation
 
 | Document                                                      | Purpose                                                      |
@@ -592,6 +602,7 @@ Public exports resolve only to built `dist` files.
 | [Custom runtimes](docs/custom-runtimes.md)                    | Public runtime builders, capabilities, and backend contracts |
 | [Architecture](ARCHITECTURE.md)                               | Package boundaries and dependency direction                  |
 | [Roadmap](docs/roadmap.md)                                    | Release gates and future work                                |
+| [Triplex and WorldVM](docs/worldvm.md)                        | Relationship to WorldVM and the API boundary                 |
 | [Source provenance](docs/provenance.md)                       | Imported repository history                                  |
 
 The focused configuration explorer remains under [`examples/config-explorer`](examples/config-explorer),

diff --git a/docs/.vitepress/config.ts b/docs/.vitepress/config.ts
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ const sidebar: DefaultTheme.SidebarItem[] = [
     items: [
       { text: "Custom runtimes", link: "/custom-runtimes" },
       { text: "Roadmap", link: "/roadmap" },
+      { text: "Triplex and WorldVM", link: "/worldvm" },
     ],
   },
 ];

diff --git a/docs/datalog-performance.md b/docs/datalog-performance.md
@@ -102,8 +102,8 @@ for facts whose `value_type` is `number` or `datetime`. It matches the compiler'
 expression: both storage types compare numerically, and equal numeric values still collapse in
 Datalog projections. The existing number-only index remains available for typed storage reads.
 
-This covers [Runfold PR #4](https://github.com/bjacobso/runfold/pull/4)'s `src/actor.ts` due-work
-query without an application index declaration or per-actor DDL:
+This covers the actor due-work query in Runfold, the engine that runs [WorldVM](/worldvm) programs,
+without an application index declaration or per-actor DDL:
 
 ```ts check
 import { Effect } from "effect";

diff --git a/docs/host-integration.md b/docs/host-integration.md
@@ -165,9 +165,9 @@ transaction, verify that the index is valid, then run the migration to record it
 `IF NOT EXISTS` checks the name, not the definition or validity: reserve `idx_attr_numeric` for
 Triplex and resolve any conflicting or invalid index before migrating.
 
-Runfold can remove its `runfold_actor_due` DDL after deploying this Triplex version and applying
-the migration to every database. Triplex does not drop that host-owned index; dropping an existing
-redundant index is a separate host migration. Older binaries can read the additive schema, but
+Hosts that added an equivalent index, such as Runfold's `runfold_actor_due`, can remove that DDL
+after deploying this Triplex version and applying the migration to every database. Triplex does
+not drop that host-owned index; dropping an existing redundant index is a separate host migration. Older binaries can read the additive schema, but
 old SQLite bulk-loading code that drops/rebuilds only its known indexes cannot suspend maintenance
 of the new index. Deploy the migration and updated runtime together when using bulk loading.
 See [numeric query plans and indexing scope](/datalog-performance#numeric-ranges-and-actor-due-work).

diff --git a/docs/worldvm.md b/docs/worldvm.md
@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
+# Triplex and WorldVM
+
+Triplex is a standalone database. It has no dependency on WorldVM, and you do not need WorldVM to
+use it. It is also the temporal fact store in [WorldVM](https://worldvm.com), a TypeScript runtime
+and standard library for software that models the world, reasons about it, and acts on it.
+
+This page describes that relationship and the contract between the two projects. WorldVM's
+`@worldvm/*` packages are not published yet; anything here that names them describes planned work.
+
+## What does not change
+
+- Triplex keeps its name, the `@triplex-build` npm scope, its MIT license, and this site.
+- The [maturity contract](/current-state) belongs to Triplex. Using Triplex through WorldVM adds
+  no guarantee beyond it: a WorldVM deployment is only as durable as the Triplex backend it runs on.
+- Triplex's public API has no WorldVM-specific surface. When WorldVM needs something from storage,
+  it lands here as a general, backend-neutral Triplex feature with its own documentation and
+  conformance tests. The [numeric range index](/datalog-performance#numeric-ranges-and-actor-due-work)
+  began as a Runfold due-work query and shipped as an ordinary Datalog improvement.
+
+## The question Triplex answers
+
+WorldVM divides a system into concepts that each answer one question. Triplex answers one of them:
+**what is true, and what was true?**
+
+| Concept       | Question                          | Relationship to Triplex                                                      |
+| ------------- | --------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
+| Open Ontology | What exists?                      | A separate project; its runtime adapter stores and queries models in Triplex |
+| Triplex       | What is/was true?                 | Bitemporal facts, the causal journal, and versioned configuration            |
+| Query         | What do I know?                   | A WorldVM concept; Triplex Datalog evaluates queries over facts              |
+| Program       | What could happen?                | A WorldVM concept; its engine stores definitions and run facts in Triplex    |
+| Change        | What would change?                | A WorldVM concept; Triplex overlays preview hypothetical facts               |
+| Policy        | What is allowed?                  | A WorldVM concept; Triplex records which release governed a write            |
+| Thread        | What is happening?                | A WorldVM concept                                                            |
+| Event         | What happened?                    | A WorldVM concept; the Triplex journal records every commit                  |
+| Connection    | How do I reach the outside world? | A WorldVM concept                                                            |
+
+WorldVM is what makes those concepts one system. Within it:
+
+- **Open Ontology** is WorldVM's world model.
+- **Triplex** is WorldVM's temporal fact store.
+- **Runfold** is the engine that runs WorldVM programs. Developers use the planned
+  `@worldvm/program` package; Runfold is the interpreter underneath it, not a separate product.
+
+## The boundary
+
+To Triplex, WorldVM is a host application. The responsibility split in
+[Core concepts](/concepts#constraints-and-responsibility-boundaries) and
+[Host integration](/host-integration) applies unchanged: Triplex records and explains state; the
+host decides who may act, what work to do, and how to reach the outside world.
+
+### What WorldVM relies on
+
+WorldVM uses only Triplex's public entrypoints. This is the surface its runtime builds on:
+
+| Area       | Triplex surface                                                                                                    | What WorldVM uses it for                                              |
+| ---------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------- |
+| Facts      | `Triples.transact`, `entity`, `match`, `history`; `EntityId`, `ref`, and typed values                              | Storing entities, facts, and relations as attributed assertions       |
+| Time       | The `{ recordedAt, validAt }` read basis, `validFrom`/`validTo`, `currentPosition`                                 | As-of reads, future-effective facts, and expiring evidence            |
+| Query      | `query`, `queryPage`, `queryAll`                                                                                   | Evaluating fact queries at one coherent basis                         |
+| Journal    | `transactions`, `transactionsForEntity`, `transactionByCommand`, `ConsumerCheckpoint`                              | Command receipts, safe retries, entity timelines, and worker catch-up |
+| Config     | `ConfigStore` (`commit`, `resolveRef`, `snapshotById`), `Attribute`, `EntityType`, `GraphConstraint`               | Publishing versioned definitions and enforcing them atomically        |
+| Provenance | Transaction `meta`: `actor`, `commandId`, `correlationId`, `causationId`, `configSnapshot`, `enforce`; `ContentId` | Recording who acted, under which release, and in response to what     |
+| Storage    | `KvTriples`, `SqliteTriples`, `PgTriples.layerFromSqlClient`, and the `runtime` subpath                            | Choosing a backend and sharing a host SQL transaction                 |
+
+Changes to this surface follow Triplex's normal release process and changesets. Nothing on it is
+reserved for WorldVM.
+
+### What WorldVM owns
+
+- **Actors and capabilities.** Triplex records the `actor` a host supplies; it does not
+  authenticate anyone or decide who may act.
+- **Programs, threads, and timers.** A derivation reports its next temporal boundary; WorldVM
+  schedules the wakeup, runs the work, and retries it.
+- **Events.** The Triplex journal records commits. Domain events such as `member.invited` are
+  WorldVM vocabulary, recorded through those commits.
+- **Connections and external effects.** Triplex never sends an email, calls a webhook, or charges a
+  card.
+- **Standard library types.** Organization, User, Membership, Subscription, and similar types are
+  WorldVM types stored as Triplex facts. Triplex has no built-in notion of them.
+
+### Ground rules
+
+- WorldVM imports public entrypoints only, never `@triplex-build/triplex/internal`.
+- `_triplex/*` entities and `:triplex/*` attributes stay reserved for Triplex. WorldVM uses its own
+  namespaces.
+- A WorldVM need that Triplex's public API cannot meet becomes a Triplex proposal, specified
+  without reference to WorldVM and tested on every supported backend.