---
slug: "Sunsetkind"
name: "Sunsetkind"
type: "Data Structures"
layer: "Infrastructure"
ref: "Sunsetkind#5e6f"
sema_id: "sema:Sunsetkind#mh:SHA-256:5e6fde064d54045237cba7141efd7a69584a99867f722dcad1ee8d16e99c56f3"
tags: ["Infrastructure","Data Structures"]
updated: 2026-11-11
mindscape: "bootstrap"
index_url: https://mindscape.world/scapes/bootstrap.json
url: https://mindscape.world/bootstrap/Sunsetkind/
related: ["Category","Ladderdrop","Assumption#d99b","Strategy#3dc5","Hypothesis#0989"]
---

# Sunsetkind

A classification that carries the condition under which it stops being used

Layer: Infrastructure · Category: Data Structures

## Mechanism

A [Category](https://mindscape.world/scapes/bootstrap/Category.md) defined together with its retirement condition: the observation, or the date, after which members are no longer to be treated as equivalent under it, and what to do with them then. Anyone applying the category checks the condition before relying on the grouping.

## Invariants

- The retirement condition is stated when the category is defined and can be checked by a party other than its author.
- Once the retirement condition holds, no member is treated as equivalent under the category.

## Failure modes

- Unreachable condition: the retirement condition can never be observed to hold, so the category never retires.
- Unchecked expiry: the condition holds but nobody looks, and the category keeps sorting.
- Hair trigger: the condition fires on noise and the classification churns.

## Data schema

```json
{
  "type": "object",
  "required": [
    "label",
    "retire_when"
  ],
  "properties": {
    "label": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Name of the category"
    },
    "parent": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Parent category ID (optional, for hierarchies)"
    },
    "members": {
      "type": "array",
      "items": {
        "type": "string"
      },
      "description": "IDs of items belonging to this category"
    },
    "retire_when": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "The observation or date after which the category is retired"
    },
    "then": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "What replaces the category, or what happens to its members, after retirement"
    }
  }
}
```

## Builds on

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

## Used by

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

## Identity

- Sema ID: `sema:Sunsetkind#mh:SHA-256:5e6fde064d54045237cba7141efd7a69584a99867f722dcad1ee8d16e99c56f3`
- Ref: `Sunsetkind#5e6f`

## Links

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