:PROPERTIES:
:CREATED:  [2026-06-03 Tue]
:ID:       e199190b-5eff-4a77-8aa5-b6c77647e316
:END:
#+title: CL Modernization Initiative via Passepartout
#+filetags: :Passepartout:build-system:coalton:common-lisp:modernization:theorem-proving:tooling:

* The Initiative

A plan to bring Common Lisp from the 1990s to modern standards using Passepartout as an autonomous software engineer. The gap is ~25 years of deferred ecosystem work. An agent working at 10x human velocity closes it in 2-3 years.

* Four Phases

1. **Build System** — =cl build= / =cl test= / =cl doc= that works like Cargo. Lockfiles, single namespace, integrated test/doc runner, parallel compilation. Wraps ASDF with modern conventions via a CL.toml manifest.

2. **Tooling** — LSP server that surfaces SBCL's world-class type inference. Jump-to-definition, type-on-hover, rename, refactoring. Online (connected image) and offline (static analysis) modes. Integrates with Coalton for typed paths.

3. **Language Modernization** — Coalton as first-class opt-in typing. Modern standard library (hash sets, priority queues, JSON, HTTP, async, immutable structures). Unicode-by-default. Pattern matching. All backward-compatible with the 1994 standard.

4. **Prover Bootstrap + Deployment** — HOL kernel in CL verified by ACL2. Screamer-backed proof search. HOL proves meta-level properties (macro soundness, evaluator equivalence, concurrent safety). Static binary deployment via =cl build --release=.

* Dependencies

Phase 1 → Phase 2 → Phase 3 → Phase 4. No circular dependency. Each phase is a prerequisite for the next and produces a usable artifact.

* Key Principles

- Every tool is written in CL, for CL, by the agent
- The 1994 standard is preserved — modernization lives alongside it
- The agent is the primary consumer (human UX is secondary)
- The HOL prover grows from use — every proved theorem is future automation