Offline: install once, run with no network

The deadline example evaluates locally: after install, the run path uses no network. This page splits install from run, names the artifacts the run needs, says what offline: true means, and shows how to confirm the split — plus what still needs the network.

Output

docs/build/examples/deadline-app

Check your understanding

Install versus run

Two phases, different needs:

• Install needs the network: npm ci fetches @arxo/law 0.3.3 and @arxo/canon-bgb-fristen 0.1.5, and the Python setup fetches arxo 0.2.0. This phase runs once per machine (and again on upgrades).
• Run needs no network: opening the pinned model, validating forms, evaluating, reading answers, storing and replaying captures. Every answer on this path reports via as local.

Keep the phases apart in procedure as well as in prose: install with the network up, then evaluate with it down when you want proof.

Artifacts the run needs

The run reads only what install placed on disk:

• node_modules with @arxo/law and @arxo/canon-bgb-fristen: the facade, the canon bindings, and the engine files the canon package ships, including its packed runtime (wasm) — no download at open time.
• the example sources: src/*, public/index.html, and for the Python path python/deadline.py with its installed arxo package.
• a writable directory for captures/<id>.json.

Nothing else is read at run time: no registry, no remote canon, no assistant host, no serving endpoint.

What offline: true means

The model opens this way:

Output

open('de.bgb.fristen@0.1.0', { offline: true })

The flag pins the call path to local execution: the engine runs the installed canon build in-process and refuses any step that would reach the network. An answer from this path carries via: local, the three hashes, and the canonical document bytes — the same bytes on every run of the same inputs within one SDK.

offline: true does not change the law: the collect value stays 2026-03-20 with COMPUTED, the truth stays TRUE_ONLY, and the wrong-date and partial cases stay NEITHER. It changes only where execution happens and what it may touch.

How to confirm no network

Two checks, both cheap:

1. Read the run path. From src/server.ts (or src/cli.ts) through validateFormInput, toFacts, toCaseInput, buildCollect, buildTruth, the runtime evaluate calls, read-result, toViewModel, capture, and replay, there is no registry call, no assistant-host call, and no serve call. The only I/O is the HTTP listener, the form file, and the capture files.
2. Run with the network disabled. Disconnect the machine (or run with loopback only) and evaluate the worked case: event 2026-03-06, 14 days, candidate 2026-03-20, legal time 2026-09-17. Expect COMPUTED with 2026-03-20 and TRUE_ONLY, then replay the stored capture and expect the replayed result hash to match the recorded one. That comparison — result hashes, not byte-equality of the two documents — is the whole replay contract; the checksum step separately verifies the stored bytes.

If either check fails, the failure names the leak: a network call in the path, or an answer that differs with the network down.

What still needs the network

Per operation, not per slogan — the two explanation calls are different operations with different network behavior:

Operation	Network?	Why
npm ci and package installs	Yes	fetch the pinned SDK and canon packages
Python package installs	Yes	fetch arxo and the canon bindings
explainWhy = model.whyNot(...)	No	local blocker graph from the installed engine
explainDraft = model.whyNot(...) on a draft	No	same local call, fewer facts sent
explain() through an MCP host	Yes	runs through the host over the carried document
serving the canon over HTTP (law serve)	Yes	a network service by definition
TS serve mode / router	Yes	every question goes to the server

The application never calls the network rows in its run path: the only explanation calls it makes are explainWhy and explainDraft, and both stay local — no case data leaves the process through them. The full matrix, both SDKs, lives on the compatibility page. Plan upgrades accordingly: bring the network up for install, confirm the pins, then bring it down again before the answers that must prove locality.

Check your understanding

Predict before you open each answer.

Does `explainDraft` need the network?

No. It is the same local model.whyNot(...) call as explainWhy, with fewer facts sent. Only explain() through an MCP host needs the network.

With the network down, what does the worked case answer?

The same as with it up: collect computes 2026-03-20 with COMPUTED, and truth on that date answers TRUE_ONLY. offline: true changes where execution happens and what it may touch, not the law.

After an offline run, what does replay compare?

The replayed result hash with the recorded one — not byte equality of two documents. The checksum step separately verifies the stored bytes.

Next

• Questionnaire: fields to facts, then follow-ups
• Versions and capability matrix for the full per-operation network table