Federation

Federation enables cross-namespace URI resolution — referencing documents in other vaults.

Federation modes

Mode	Behavior
`none` (default)	All URIs resolve locally. Cross-namespace references are rejected.
`federated`	URIs with a namespace authority are resolved via the registry. Both nests must be enrolled.
`scoped`	Like `federated`, but the target namespace must appear in an explicit allow-list.

Configuration

Set the federation mode in .context/config.yaml:


name: "My Project"
namespace: "my-project"
federation: none

Cross-namespace URIs


contextnest://platform/infra/networking
             ^^^^^^^^
             namespace (authority)

A URI without an authority component always resolves within the current namespace:


contextnest://nodes/architecture
→ resolves locally, regardless of federation mode

Scoped federation

In scoped mode, configure the allow-list in config.yaml:


federation: scoped
federation_allow:
  - platform
  - shared-knowledge

Namespaces not on the allow-list are treated as unreachable.

Design rationale

The default is none for safety. Federation introduces network dependencies and trust boundaries. Most vaults — especially local development and single-team use — never need it.