---
slug: "Hierarchy"
name: "Hierarchy"
type: "Data Structures"
layer: "Infrastructure"
ref: "Hierarchy#5951"
sema_id: "sema:Hierarchy#mh:SHA-256:5951b6a616f97ff8ef7b78407ed0631150191253d88f00bbb2ef429cc5a8cf85"
tags: ["Infrastructure","Data Structures"]
updated: 2026-11-11
mindscape: "bootstrap"
index_url: https://mindscape.world/scapes/bootstrap.json
url: https://mindscape.world/bootstrap/Hierarchy/
related: ["Category","ChunkMerge","LayeredCheck","Localhinge","SpecializationEdge","Task","Localhinge#7a04"]
---

# Hierarchy

Vertical rank ordering with Upper/Lower relations, inheritance, and authority

Layer: Infrastructure · Category: Data Structures

## Mechanism

The vertical ranking of [Category](https://mindscape.world/scapes/bootstrap/Category.md)s or objects: every pair related by the ranking stands in an Upper/Lower relation. What the ranking *carries* varies by kind — a class hierarchy carries inheritance, an organisational one carries authority, a containment one carries neither — so those are implementer concerns rather than part of the ranking itself.

## Invariants

- Acyclicity: no node is above itself, directly or transitively — a cycle leaves the ranking undefined.
- Antisymmetry: if A is Upper to B then B is not Upper to A.

## Failure modes

—

## Data schema

```json
{
  "type": "object",
  "required": [
    "levels",
    "relationships"
  ],
  "properties": {
    "levels": {
      "type": "array",
      "description": "Ordered ranks (Top -> Bottom)"
    },
    "relationships": {
      "type": "object",
      "description": "Parent-Child map"
    },
    "root_id": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Apex node"
    }
  }
}
```

## Builds on

- [Category](https://mindscape.world/scapes/bootstrap/Category.md) (Infrastructure; References)

## Used by

- [ChunkMerge](https://mindscape.world/scapes/bootstrap/ChunkMerge.md) (Mind; References)
- [LayeredCheck](https://mindscape.world/scapes/bootstrap/LayeredCheck.md) (Mind; References)
- [Localhinge](https://mindscape.world/scapes/bootstrap/Localhinge.md) (Society; References)
- [SpecializationEdge](https://mindscape.world/scapes/bootstrap/SpecializationEdge.md) (Infrastructure; References)
- [Task](https://mindscape.world/scapes/bootstrap/Task.md) (Infrastructure; References)

## Identity

- Sema ID: `sema:Hierarchy#mh:SHA-256:5951b6a616f97ff8ef7b78407ed0631150191253d88f00bbb2ef429cc5a8cf85`
- Ref: `Hierarchy#5951`
- Supersedes:
  - `sema:Hierarchy#mh:SHA-256:aa9bec7346dca2ce2e83a70fc352825aa78c907cd82a8306f7e6856e42ef245c`
  - `sema:Hierarchy#mh:SHA-256:80394d9e6f07112954f1c2d203eaf6095df4d4569a890a9c6ca8b9c9b534ba3d`

## Links

- [Pattern page](https://mindscape.world/bootstrap/Hierarchy/)
- [View in the interactive graph](https://mindscape.world/bootstrap/#Hierarchy)
- [JSON](https://mindscape.world/scapes/bootstrap/Hierarchy.json)
- [Index of all patterns](https://mindscape.world/scapes/bootstrap.json)