---
review_report: true
reviewer_model: gpt-5.6-sol
reviewed_at: 2026-08-04T12:05:38+00:00
target_doc: architecture/overview.md
target_doc_source_commit: 53b76e6d3009b8e6434d41573524c7ce5c499d23
target_doc_watched_paths_digest: 696515884e297ba8af6c8c7765c2f7fdc0119fd11e6bc325c1982bfa8a8062d2
source_commit: 53b76e6d3009b8e6434d41573524c7ce5c499d23
checklist:
  factual_accuracy: partial
  cross_references: pass
  completeness: partial
  style_consistency: partial
  source_alignment: partial
  front_matter_validity: fail
finding_count: 6
severity_breakdown:
  critical: 0
  major: 3
  minor: 2
  nit: 1
---

# Review report for architecture/overview.md

## Summary
The page is broadly useful and most sampled claims agree with source, but it still misstates the lifetime of `IGlobalSession`, incorrectly includes CUDA among `slang-rt` consumers, and does not meet the representative-file contract for several subsystem bullets. Most importantly for workflow integrity, its recorded watched-path digest no longer matches the manifest-resolved inputs.

## Items checked
- Ran `regenerate.py show architecture/overview.md`; reviewed the target, both generation prompts, all 16 resolved watched files, and the empty dependency list at source commit `53b76e6d3009b8e6434d41573524c7ce5c499d23` (also current `HEAD`).
- Spot-checked 21 factual claims, including library/proxy naming, mimalloc propagation, core-module caching, WebAssembly bindings, downstream shims, standard-module outputs, FIDDLE generation, request objects, module contents, target-aware validation, runtime linkage, public interfaces, ABI append rules, and deprecated reflection accessors.
- Verified all 78 relative links resolve at the recorded source commit and all 8 unique generated peer-page targets are present in the manifest.
- Verified every line-number citation in the body; the document contains no line-number citations.
- Checked the 15,243-byte size against the 16 KiB cap, swept cited identifiers and whole file names, and confirmed all required headings are present.
- Recomputed the current manifest-resolved digest at the recorded source commit as `f3185a46468c53d1e66be2d3d1f2a5e85be39f2a41be1987449571f18613956d`.

## Findings
| ID | Severity | Location | Description | Evidence | Recommendation |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| F-001 | major | Front matter, lines 1-7 | The recorded `watched_paths_digest` is `696515...`, but the current manifest-resolved watched set hashes to `f3185a...` at the document's recorded source commit. The freshness metadata therefore does not describe the inputs now selected by `regenerate.py show`. | `docs/generated/design/_meta/manifest.yaml:20-44` defines the current 16-file watched set; `python3 docs/generated/design/_meta/regenerate.py digest architecture/overview.md` returns `f3185a46468c53d1e66be2d3d1f2a5e85be39f2a41be1987449571f18613956d`. | Regenerate the page against the current manifest inputs and record the resulting digest in front matter; do not copy the old digest forward. |
| F-002 | major | `## Compilation request lifecycle`, lines 193-208 | The page calls `IGlobalSession` “the process-wide singleton.” A global session owns reusable global-session state, but applications may create multiple distinct global sessions; it is not a process singleton. | `include/slang.h:4065-4074` says an application “may create and re-use a single global session” and explicitly permits “Distinct global sessions” in parallel. | Replace “process-wide”/“singleton” with “global-session-scoped,” and state that applications commonly reuse one global session but may create more than one. |
| F-003 | major | `## Top-level decomposition`, lines 59-168 | Several required subsystem descriptions are still anchored only to directories instead of a concrete representative file from the watched set. This includes the three downstream shims, `slang-rt`, record/replay, WebAssembly, and `slangc`; standard-library and auxiliary-tree entries also lack watched representative files entirely. | `docs/generated/design/_meta/prompts/architecture-overview.md:29-47` requires each layer to be anchored to a representative file, and lines 69-72 require that file to be in watched paths. `docs/generated/design/_meta/manifest.yaml:28-44` already watches representative files for the shims, runtime/bindings, and driver, but not for every standard/auxiliary tree. | Link the available watched representatives in their subsystem bullets, and extend the manifest with one representative file for each remaining required standard-library or auxiliary subsystem before regenerating. |
| F-004 | minor | `## Top-level decomposition`, lines 136-143 | The page says `slang-rt` is used by emitted “CPU / Torch / CUDA targets.” Slang adds the `slang-rt` library only for host-style targets; PyTorch binding output is host-style, while CUDA source is kernel-style and does not take this runtime dependency. | `source/slang/slang-code-gen.cpp:354-357,758-778` gates the `slang-rt` artifact on `ArtifactStyle::Host`; `source/compiler-core/slang-artifact-desc-util.cpp:294-307` classifies PyTorch as `Host` and CUDA as `Kernel`. | Remove “CUDA” from this claim, or narrow the sentence to host-style CPU outputs, including PyTorch bindings. |
| F-005 | minor | Opening, lines 12-21 | The first body paragraph explains coverage but not the intended reader; the audience appears in a separate second paragraph, contrary to the universal first-paragraph contract. | `docs/generated/design/_meta/prompts/_common.md:65-66` requires the first paragraph to state both what the document covers and who it is for. | Merge the intended-reader sentence into the opening paragraph. |
| F-006 | nit | `## Compilation request lifecycle`, lines 199-208 | The sentence begins `The In this codebase`, leaving a visible grammatical artifact in the central terminology explanation. | `docs/generated/design/architecture/overview.md:202-208` contains the malformed sentence. | Delete the stray `The` while revising the global-session explanation. |

## No-issues notes
- `slang-compiler` is correctly identified as the primary library output, with `libslang`/`slang.dll` limited to proxy compatibility.
- The mimalloc propagation and non-embedded core-module-cache descriptions match the watched CMake files.
- `FrontEndEntryPointRequest`, `FrontEndCompileRequest`, `CodeGenContext`, and `Module` are named and characterized consistently with their declarations.
- The qualified statement about target-aware entry-point validation matches the semantic-checking source.
