Public component classification

Status: Accepted

Context

Components needs an architecture vocabulary that says what kind of ownership each public component requires. Capability profiles such as Foundation, Advanced React, and Spatial answer a different question: they group subpaths by adoption shape and dependencies. They do not determine whether a component is a leaf, owns interaction behavior, coordinates a larger workflow, or exists only as an adapter.

Without a separate classification, a high-order composition can be mistaken for a replaceable renderer slot, while an element-bounded primitive can inherit unnecessary framework policy. The classification must cover every React component exported by the package’s current public barrels exactly once.

Decision

Every public component belongs to exactly one of these architecture categories:

• Visual primitive — an element-bounded or static leaf. It owns Components markup and styling but does not coordinate a larger workflow or reusable interaction system. Native element behavior does not by itself make a visual primitive an interaction primitive.
• Interaction primitive — a reusable surface that owns interaction behavior such as overlays, focus, keyboard navigation, selection, picking, or range manipulation. Dialog, Dropdown, DatePickerInput, and Tooltip are representative behavior owners.
• Arc/high-order composite — an Arc-bound component or a larger composition that coordinates data, state, children, contexts, slots, commands, queries, or several primitives. Declarative marker and provider components belong with the composite whose contract they configure.
• Interop-only — a component whose sole public purpose is translating between Components and an external renderer or framework contract. It owns no independent Components interaction or workflow contract. This category is empty today; using Pixi internally or delegating behavior to React Aria does not make a component interop-only.

The permanent non-slot composite boundaries are DataTables, Canvas, PivotViewer, SchemaEditor, TimeMachine, Toolbar, ObjectContentEditor, CommandDialog, CommandForm, Notifications, and Chat, together with repository-grounded peers DataPage and ObjectNavigationalBar. Their roots and contract-specific composition pieces remain Components-owned high-order contracts rather than renderer slots.

This classification is intentionally independent of the Foundation, Advanced React, and Spatial capability profiles.

Public component inventory

The inventory follows the setup root and every JavaScript component subpath in Source/package.json, including transitive exports from their public barrels. A symbol re-exported by more than one subpath appears once and names both paths.

Public subpath	Component	Classification
Common	ActionMenubar	interaction primitive
Canvas	AnchoredOverlay	interaction primitive
CommandForm	AutoCommandForm	Arc/high-order composite
Display	Avatar	visual primitive
Display	Badge	visual primitive
Dialogs	BusyIndicatorDialog	Arc/high-order composite
Common	Button	visual primitive
CommandForm	CalendarField	Arc/high-order composite
Canvas	Canvas	Arc/high-order composite
Canvas	CanvasControls	Arc/high-order composite
Canvas	CanvasItem	Arc/high-order composite
Canvas	CanvasMinimap	Arc/high-order composite
Canvas	CanvasOverlay	Arc/high-order composite
Canvas	Chat	Arc/high-order composite
Canvas	ChatBubble	interaction primitive
Canvas	ChatComposer	Arc/high-order composite
Chat	ChatConversation	Arc/high-order composite
Chat	ChatMessageBody	visual primitive
Canvas	ChatMessageBubble	Arc/high-order composite
Chat	ChatSidebar	Arc/high-order composite
Chat	ChatSidebarForObservableQueries	Arc/high-order composite
Chat	ChatTopicList	Arc/high-order composite
Common	Checkbox	visual primitive
CommandForm	CheckboxField	Arc/high-order composite
Display	Chip	visual primitive
CommandForm	ChipsField	Arc/high-order composite
CommandForm	ColorPickerField	Arc/high-order composite
DataTables and DataPage	Column	Arc/high-order composite
DataTables	ColumnFilterMenu	Arc/high-order composite
DataPage	Columns	Arc/high-order composite
CommandDialog	CommandDialog	Arc/high-order composite
CommandDialog and CommandStepper	CommandStepper	Arc/high-order composite
Dialogs	ConfirmationDialog	Arc/high-order composite
@cratis/components and Common	CratisComponentsProvider	Arc/high-order composite
DataTables	DataTableCore	Arc/high-order composite
DataTables	DataTableForObservableQuery	Arc/high-order composite
DataTables	DataTableForQuery	Arc/high-order composite
Common	DatePickerInput	interaction primitive
Dialogs	Dialog	interaction primitive
Dropdown	Dropdown	interaction primitive
CommandForm	DropdownField	Arc/high-order composite
Canvas	EmojiPicker	interaction primitive
Common	ErrorBoundary	Arc/high-order composite
TimeMachine	EventsView	Arc/high-order composite
Canvas	FailedReply	Arc/high-order composite
Filter	FilterEditor	Arc/high-order composite
Filter	FilterPanel	Arc/high-order composite
Common	FormElement	visual primitive
Common	IconButton	visual primitive
Common	IconDisplay	visual primitive
CommandForm	InputTextField	Arc/high-order composite
Canvas	MentionSuggestions	interaction primitive
DataPage	MenuItem	Arc/high-order composite
DataPage	MenuItems	Arc/high-order composite
Display	Message	visual primitive
Canvas	MessageReactions	interaction primitive
CommandForm	MultiSelectField	Arc/high-order composite
Canvas	Note	Arc/high-order composite
CommandForm	NumberField	Arc/high-order composite
ObjectContentEditor	ObjectContentEditor	Arc/high-order composite
ObjectNavigationalBar	ObjectNavigationalBar	Arc/high-order composite
Common	Page	Arc/high-order composite
CommandForm	PasswordField	Arc/high-order composite
Canvas	PersonAvatarCircle	visual primitive
PivotViewer	PivotViewer	Arc/high-order composite
Display	ProgressBar	visual primitive
Display	ProgressSpinner	visual primitive
TimeMachine	Properties	Arc/high-order composite
Common	Radio	visual primitive
CommandForm	RadioButtonField	Arc/high-order composite
CommandForm	RadioGroupField	Arc/high-order composite
Filter	RangeHistogramFilter	interaction primitive
CommandForm	RatingField	Arc/high-order composite
Canvas	ReactionPicker	interaction primitive
TimeMachine	ReadModelView	Arc/high-order composite
Canvas	Region	Arc/high-order composite
SchemaEditor	SchemaEditor	Arc/high-order composite
Display	Skeleton	visual primitive
CommandForm	SliderField	Arc/high-order composite
CommandDialog	StepperCommandDialog	Arc/high-order composite
CommandDialog	StepperPanel	Arc/high-order composite
Common	Surface	visual primitive
Common	Switch	visual primitive
DataTables	TablePaginator	Arc/high-order composite
Display	Tag	visual primitive
Common	TextArea	visual primitive
CommandForm	TextAreaField	Arc/high-order composite
Common	TextInput	visual primitive
TimeMachine	TimeMachine	Arc/high-order composite
Notifications	Toaster	Arc/high-order composite
CommandForm	ToggleSwitchField	Arc/high-order composite
Toolbar	Toolbar	Arc/high-order composite
Toolbar	ToolbarButton	Arc/high-order composite
Toolbar	ToolbarContext	Arc/high-order composite
Toolbar	ToolbarFanOutItem	Arc/high-order composite
Toolbar	ToolbarFolder	Arc/high-order composite
Toolbar	ToolbarGroup	Arc/high-order composite
Toolbar	ToolbarLayout	Arc/high-order composite
Toolbar	ToolbarSection	Arc/high-order composite
Toolbar	ToolbarSeparator	Arc/high-order composite
Toolbar	ToolbarSlot	Arc/high-order composite
Toolbar	ToolbarSlotProvider	Arc/high-order composite
Common	Tooltip	interaction primitive
Canvas	TypingIndicator	visual primitive

The accepted inventory contains 21 visual primitives, 12 interaction primitives, 71 Arc/high-order composites, and no interop-only components.

Exported types and interfaces, helpers and hooks, events and messages, enum and configuration values, registries, and React context values are not components and are excluded. Examples include CanvasItemRegistryContext, DialogInitialFocus, ChatMessageAdded, NoteTextChanged, toast, useFilterState, and the *Props, event, label, parts, and model types.

Consequences

Visual and interaction primitives can evolve behind Components-owned markup and types, but classification does not authorize leaking an internal renderer’s types or DOM.

High-order composites remain owned compositions. Their declarative markers, providers, table state, Arc bindings, and nested workflow contracts are not treated as generic renderer slots merely because they contain lower-level primitives.

The inventory must change whenever a public barrel adds, removes, or renames a component. A new export must be assigned once; non-component exports remain explicitly outside the inventory.

Classification does not indicate maturity, accessibility conformance, support tier, performance tier, or capability profile.