Architecture

RIF has two input phases and one output phase.

Target Definition

main.rif describes the target:

main.rif -> CompiledRuleSet

The compiled Rule Set contains resolved instruction operands and references to tokens, tables, and other Rules. It is reused for every external MIR program compiled against the target.

External MIR

The external MIR is the program that the target consumes:

CompiledRuleSet + program.asm -> program.bin

Its first token on each line selects a Rule. The remaining tokens are passed to that Rule. RIF can tokenize the file itself or receive tokens from another compiler through the direct Python API.

Internal Components

Component	Responsibility
`Frontend.syntax`	Declares the Gram grammar for RIF definitions.
`Frontend.processor`	Materializes configuration, tables, defines, Rules, and loads.
`MIR.compiler`	Converts parsed instruction nodes into flat internal instructions.
`MIR.semantic`	Resolves token, table, Rule, and reservation references.
`MIR.runtime.RIFMachine`	Executes instructions against MIR tokens.
`MIR.bitbuffer.BitBuffer`	Stores and rewrites arbitrary bit ranges.
`MIR.output.AssemblyImage`	Owns one output buffer per configured section.
`pack.py`	Creates and validates reproducible `.pack` archives.

State Ownership

The root target owns global definitions, tables, configuration, and Rules. RIFMachine owns execution state such as token position, saved tokens, selected rows, datastack values, reservations, and traces. A machine can be created for a section of an AssemblyImage without changing the target definition.