24. Deferred

Named in the language, not built yet; the syntax is stable.

Every item below whose syntax is reachable today is an error — never silently accepted, never silently dropped (SPEC 21). That is what keeps each one a free option: a refusal can be relaxed in any later release, a quiet acceptance could not.

Core

  • flow / grid callouts — the one-ended leader (a <- "THRU") is a drawing’s (SPEC 15.7); the same shape in a flow or a schematic is an error.
  • balloon-capsule leaders — an inline capsule endpoint (p -> \|note\| "x") in a drawing, which never invents an endpoint (SPEC 15).
  • fractional / fr grid tracks — a track is a size, auto, or repeat(N[, size]); equal tracks are repeat(N) (SPEC 12).
  • gradient fills on text — gradients fill nodes today (SPEC 10.3).
  • radius on non-rect primitives (hex / diamond / slant / poly).
  • arbitrary numeric font-weight (100–900 beyond the built 400–700 set) and kerning-aware measurement — the metrics ship without shaping (≈ 1 % on a proportional line, SPEC 5).
  • bidirectional text (RTL) — measurement and outlining walk a string in the order it was written: no Unicode bidi reordering, no shaping, and no dir knob to ask for either. A live figure hands its <text> to the renderer, which may reorder an Arabic or Hebrew run visually — against a box measured without having done so; --static outlines the glyphs in written order, so the run reads left-to-right and unjoined. There is nothing to refuse here (the syntax reserves no surface for it), and nothing built: a right-to-left scene is not supported today, and full bidi + shaping can land whole in any later release.
  • a solid (fill-weight) icon variant (the built-in set is Phosphor duotone, behind a default-on icons cargo feature).
  • aria-label.

Tables & entities

  • arbitrary per-cell backgrounds in a |table| — only the header and any |footer| cells carry a fill today; a body cell that needs one is a |block| (SPEC 8).

Sequences (SPEC 13) — fragments par (parallel, with an |and| separator), break, critical, and ref; participant grouping; found / lost messages and create / destroy lifelines; explicit activation spans; message auto-numbering; dividers / delays (== / ...); and an |actor| stick-figure primitive (an actor is |icon| today).

Charts (SPEC 14)

  • legend: placement / suppression (top · right · bottom · none) — the auto legend (≥ 2 entries) is built.
  • bands / marks in radial charts — a compile error today (SPEC 21); column and row are built.
  • explicit per-axis tick text — categories: covers the x axis today (the series’ per-datum text is labels:, SPEC 14.3).
  • gauge (a partial arc for one value); stacked areas (bars: stacked extended to |area|); polar-area circular gridlines and a configurable radial start angle / direction (the polygon web and top-clockwise are the defaults).
  • per-slice explode, on-slice value / percent labels, and a centred total in a donut hole; per-segment styling (a style list mirroring a segmented fn:).
  • multi-ring pie / sunburst.

Drawings (SPEC 15)

  • per-kind dimension selectors — (o) { } / (<) { }; the family selector (-) { } reaches every dimension today (SPEC 4, SPEC 15.6), and a leader-specific selector under |-| is deferred too (YAGNI).
  • explode: — scale every directed mate’s separation along its normal for exploded views; unmated overlaid children stay put (overlay composes one part, mates relate parts — only relationships explode). Balloons follow their parts.
  • authored-segment twins — a mirror: copy of a :segment is unaddressable (the name reads the drawn original; the unary mirrored readings cover the turned-profile cases; a pattern: copy is addressed by index — SPEC 15.4).
  • routed links to authored anchors — the fixed-port routing contract is built (ROUTING.md, Fixed ports — schematic pins ride it); the flow / grid surface syntax a -> b:port onto a sketch’s authored :segments remains deferred.
  • repeated-segment counting — one :segment on several corners auto-prefixing 4× R3, as pattern: does for features; today, type it.
  • hole variants — counterbore and countersink (threads are built — thread:, SPEC 15.3, SPEC 15.4).
  • deeper sourced-view nesting — a detail of a marker inside another detail / section is gated (SPEC 21); projection construction links between views are built (SPEC 15.8).
  • angled break lines and a scope-level break: on the \|drawing\| itself; a break: station through a curve() (lines and arcs clip exactly today — move the stations off the cubic) and break: on non-sketch geometry (draw the profile with the pen).
  • the ASME text-in-a-broken-line diametral form and a horizontal-text knob (ISO aligned is the built-in; crossing halos are built — SPEC 15.7).
  • an ambient w / h bound to a node’s own size (circular against auto-sizing today — a named constant covers the workflow, SPEC 10.7).
  • balloon auto-numbering and auto-BOM from the scene’s parts.
  • \|mark\| / \|note\| in charts — data-coordinate placement (at:).

Floorplans (SPEC 15.11)

  • computed room areas — a room polygon read off the wall topology, its area the smart label; today a room name and area are authored sheet text.
  • openings on curved segments — straight runs only today (an arced wall itself is fine).
  • a north arrow / scale bar type (a \|sketch\| define covers it today).
  • more built-in fixtures (wardrobes, counter runs with an inset sink, door casings / thresholds) — the \|sketch\|-define parts library is the escape.

Schematics (SPEC 16)

  • wire-seating — placing a series chain’s parts along the routed wire; today capsule chains hoist as adjacent flow siblings and satellites seat at pins.
  • an ANSI symbol standard knob (scope-level, swapping the whole family; IEC is the built-in).
  • logic gates; transformer (T), relay (K), motor (M), speaker (LS), potentiometer (RV); crossing hop-over arcs; buses; pin electrical marks; hierarchical sheets; netlist semantics; a mid-wire tag riding a link’s [ ] at an along: fraction.

Beyond 1.0 — directions deliberately outside the release contract, listed so they reserve no premature syntax: automatic graph / DAG layout (multi-parent, cycles); a true ring-radial tree and forest (multi-root) trees (SPEC 12); view-letter arrows on sheets (of: an arrow marker composing “VIEW A (2:1)” — an arrow defines no capture, so it is title sugar over a view’s smart label; construction links are built, SPEC 15.8); imports / modules / namespaces for shared themes and part libraries; animation; native PNG / WebP export. (The blueprint theme — white linework on cyanotype blue, any diagram — shipped as a --theme builtin, SPEC 20; a floorplan’s default stays black-on-white.)