A link to nowhere fixes itself

What it is

Writing top-down means calling processes before they exist: .do Verify identity today, write “Verify identity” tomorrow. Runic keeps the gap visible without nagging. The line is marked, the sidebar shows a dot, and the fix is one click.

How it works

The reference index checks every .go and .do target against the set of process names, case-insensitive and trimmed, ignoring any arrow caption. Targets with no definition are collected per document.

A broken line gets a pale amber background and, at its end, a chip reading “+ Create as process” whose tooltip names the missing process. Clicking it creates an empty process with exactly that name and switches to it; if the process appeared in the meantime, the click opens it instead.

The sidebar shows an amber dot on any document with broken references, with the count in its tooltip. It clears the moment the last target exists: created, renamed to match, or typo fixed. Clicking a Go or Do card in the diagram runs the same jump, so a missing target can be created from the picture too.

Why it matters

The gap in your documentation becomes the next thing you write. The missing processes are marked in place, counted per document, and turned into real documents with one click, instead of a TODO list kept somewhere else.

Limits

A broken reference is not a parse error: the line still renders as a card and the sync chip stays “In sync”. The chip is hidden in the folded view. With billing configured, creating counts against the free plan’s 10 processes; past that the upgrade dialog opens and nothing changes.

How to use it

1. 1
   Write the call first

   Type .do Verify identity even though no such process exists. The line renders as a Do card and gets an amber band in the editor.
2. 2
   Read the chip

   At the end of the line a chip reads “+ Create as process”. Hover it: “No process is named “Verify identity” — create it now”.
3. 3
   Click it

   Runic creates an empty process named “Verify identity”, adds it to the sidebar, and switches the editor to it.
4. 4
   Write the process

   Describe its steps. Switch back to the caller: the amber band is gone and the sidebar dot has cleared.
5. 5
   Or fix the name

   If the target was a typo, retype it or pick the right process from the .do menu. The marker clears as soon as the names match.

Commands & shortcuts

Tips

• Draft the main flow with .do calls to processes that do not exist yet, then walk the amber chips top to bottom to write each one.
• Matching is case-insensitive, so “verify identity” and “Verify Identity” resolve to the same process.
• The marker ignores captions: .do Verify identity: same day is checked against “Verify identity”. Create the process before adding the caption, because the chip on a captioned line passes the whole tail as the name.
• After a rename, glance at the sidebar dots to catch any call site that was not rewritten.

Questions