---
id: SCH-42
family: GR-SCHEMA
level: extended
profiles: [storage-api, editor-client]
posture: normative-target
added: "1.0"
changed: "1.0"
source: https://flowdrop.io/spec/rules/gr-schema/sch-42
specification: FlowDrop Workflow Specification 1.0-draft
licence: CC BY 4.0
---

# SCH-42 — A shape is a named JSON Schema, and the shape id is the lane id

*GR-SCHEMA (Part I) · level: extended · profiles: storage-api, editor-client · added in 1.0*

Shapes let a lane say what it carries (an order, an entity, a remote contract) without adding a second vocabulary an editor would have to reconcile with lanes.

## The rule

> **Normative.** This is the rule.
>
> 1. A port shape is a named JSON Schema whose id is a lane id: one id space, no second vocabulary axis.
>
> 2. A shape is declared in one of two places, and the difference is whose it is.
>
> 3. A shape that belongs to code ships and updates with the ports that wear it, needs nothing installed alongside it, and may compute its schema, so one declaration can yield a family of lanes; a derived member's id is `base:derivative`.
>
> 4. A shape that belongs to the site is declared in the site's own configuration, added without writing code, and travels and diffs with that configuration.
>
> 5. Every shipped lane that is not a primitive has a shape.
>
> 6. A shape names a value; it does not check one.
>
> 7. Nothing validates a value against a shape.

## Related rules

- Names: SCH-41, SCH-43, SCH-44, SCH-46
- Referenced by: SCH-41, SCH-43, SCH-44, SCH-46

---

Rule identifiers are permanent and are never renumbered. This specification carries
no implementation status: each implementation publishes its own standing against
these rules. Licensed CC BY 4.0.