What Topogram Is

What Topogram Is

Topogram is a living app map that gives humans and agents bounded context, contracts, ownership, and proof before they change software.

Status: current Audience: evaluators, developers, agents, and technical decision makers Use when: you need the shortest explanation of what Topogram is, what it is not, and why it is useful.

Topogram helps a team answer: what does this app do, who owns each output, which contracts matter, what can be generated, what must be maintained, and which proof commands show the change is safe?

What It Does

• Creates a topo/ app map with data, API, UI, CLI, runtime, rule, and SDLC records.
• Extracts reviewable candidates from brownfield code without mutating the source app.
• Promotes only reviewed candidates into canonical topo/ source.
• Gives agents focused slices, write scope, rules, and verification commands.
• Emits contracts, migration plans, reports, and proof artifacts.
• Generates app/runtime output when ownership is generated.
• Guides maintained app edits when humans or agents own the source.

What It Is Not

• Not just a code generator. Generation is one output of the app map.
• Not a no-code tool. Humans still review, adopt, and maintain source.
• Not a framework replacement. Generators and maintained apps still use normal framework code.
• Not a project manager. SDLC records exist to connect work to requirements, proof, and agent context.
• Not a promise of pixel-perfect UI parity. UI beta proof is semantic: contracts, display fields, markers, compile checks, and realization reports.

Best First Demo

Use the brownfield proof when you want to see the main differentiator quickly:

git clone https://github.com/attebury/topogram-proof-content-approval-brownfield-v3.git
cd topogram-proof-content-approval-brownfield-v3
git checkout proof-03-adopt-app-map
npm install
npm run verify

That checkpoint shows existing React/Express/Prisma code becoming reviewed topo/ source. Extraction evidence stays separate, the original app remains maintained, and agents get focused packets before feature work.

When To Use It

Use Topogram when agents or humans need to make app changes from a smaller, verified operating surface than the full repository. It is especially useful for brownfield discovery, generated-to-maintained workflows, database migration planning, UI contract proof, and teams that want change work tied to explicit requirements and verification.