What It Is
GoldMaster is the named internal guide. The golden_masters directory contains the reference artifacts: curated examples that answer, "Before building this, what should it look like?"
- Golden masters are not production code.
- They are read-only references in the first implementation.
- They describe preferred structure, naming, validation, accessibility, tests, and UI behavior.
Why It Exists
PayCal has many security-sensitive and accessibility-sensitive patterns. GoldMaster makes the preferred examples explicit so humans and AI agents start from a known-good pattern rather than rediscovering the same rules in scattered files.
Operating Rules
- Consult the nearest golden master before creating or changing a similar feature.
- Mirror the example's structure only when it fits the feature.
- Mark stale examples as Needs Review before replacing them.
- Do not execute code from the GoldMaster editor.
- Do not expose the admin editor publicly.
First Reference
The first active golden master is the Calendar dialog pattern. It defines PayCal's modal header, footer action order, compact confirmation dialogs, and focus behavior for Groups, Business Sites, personal Sites, and future dialogs.
- Primary action appears before Close or Cancel.
- Archive, Restore, Delete, and Unlink use PayCal dialogs, not native browser confirms.
- Focus must not remain inside a hidden dialog.
Verification Anchors
golden_masters/README.mddocuments the concept and metadata rules.golden_masters/ui/modal-dialog-pattern/metadata.jsonindexes the first active example.html/src/Domain/GoldMasterCatalog.phploads metadata from disk and keeps previews insidegolden_masters.html/tests/Unit/Domain/GoldMasterCatalogTest.phpverifies the catalog and file preview behavior.
Related Reading
GoldMaster is now part of PayCal's named internal systems. See the Superheroes System Map for where it sits beside ShadowTalon, Guardian, Phantom Wing, Lens, EmailGarum, and Echo.