---
slug: "Prototype"
name: "Prototype"
type: "Data Structures"
layer: "Infrastructure"
ref: "Prototype#1c44"
sema_id: "sema:Prototype#mh:SHA-256:1c44945a19114ab1c2a5d380f3b7cdc9d4def36732496309e44c070214517d6b"
tags: ["Infrastructure","Data Structures"]
updated: 2026-11-11
mindscape: "bootstrap"
index_url: https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/index.json
url: https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/Prototype/
related: ["Build","ProtoPack"]
---

# Prototype

Testable early model

Layer: Infrastructure · Category: Data Structures

## Mechanism

An early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process or to act as a thing to be learned from. It is generally low-fidelity and disposable.

## Invariants

- Declares the question it was built to answer.
- Records the answer, or that none was reached, before it is retired or promoted.

## Failure modes

- Promoted by inertia: kept because it works well enough, so choices made for cheap learning become load-bearing.
- Built without a question: produces an artifact and no answer, which is the waste case rather than a cheap experiment.

## Data schema

```json
{
  "type": "object",
  "required": [
    "prototype_id",
    "fidelity",
    "question"
  ],
  "properties": {
    "prototype_id": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Unique identifier"
    },
    "fidelity": {
      "type": "string",
      "enum": [
        "low",
        "medium",
        "high"
      ],
      "description": "How close to final product"
    },
    "artifact": {
      "description": "The prototype content or reference"
    },
    "learnings": {
      "type": "array",
      "items": {
        "type": "string"
      },
      "description": "What was learned from this prototype"
    },
    "question": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "What building this is meant to settle. Known before construction, which is why it is required while `learnings` is not."
    }
  }
}
```

## Builds on

—

## Used by

- [Build](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/Build.md) (Mind; References)
- [ProtoPack](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/ProtoPack.md) (Infrastructure; References)

## Identity

- Sema ID: `sema:Prototype#mh:SHA-256:1c44945a19114ab1c2a5d380f3b7cdc9d4def36732496309e44c070214517d6b`
- Ref: `Prototype#1c44`
- Supersedes:
  - `sema:Prototype#mh:SHA-256:f849be90ab4568d076b595b2edb408b2795a6aced9f82dac8510f53449f68a09`

## Links

- [Pattern page](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/Prototype/)
- [View in the interactive graph](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/#Prototype)
- [JSON](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/Prototype.json)
- [Index of all patterns](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/index.json)