Order-Flow Standard (OFS-2.1)
Time, made interoperable.
A single global Flow-Time axis + a Meaning-Time layer for human–AI interoperability. Three profiles: Civil Display, System Flow, Meaning-Time.
Standard Seal
Time, made interoperable.
OFS 101 (for humans + AIs)
OFS is a dual-display interoperability standard for representing time without replacing legal time.
What it solves
What it is NOT
Examples
Diagrams
Dual-Display Layer
Keep law-readable time; add computable display without replacement.
Profiles
Start with Civil; add System/Meaning only when needed.
Adoption Path
Interface-first adoption: tools before institutions.
MT Event Schema
Meaning-Time adds boundaries to events, not surveillance.
Units & Symbols
Core Concepts
Symbol Reference
- Meaning
- 1/10 of a local day
- Range
- 0–9
- Note
- Day segmented for calm coordination
- Meaning
- 1/10,000 of a phase
- Range
- 00000–09999
- Note
- Fine resolution without minute-fragmentation
- Meaning
- Joins phase + pulse
- Range
- —
- Note
- Explicitly NOT a decimal point
Derivation
GMT+8 Quick Reference (Asia/Hong_Kong)
Φ.ψψψψψ uses a dot as a separator, not a decimal point.
| ISO Local Time | OFS Civil |
|---|---|
| 02:00 | 0.08333 |
| 04:00 | 1.06666 |
| 06:00 | 2.05000 |
| 08:00 | 3.03333 |
| 10:00 | 4.01666 |
| 12:00 | 5.00000 |
| 14:00 | 5.08333 |
| 16:00 | 6.06666 |
| 18:00 | 7.05000 |
| 20:00 | 8.03333 |
| 22:00 | 9.01666 |
| 00:00 | 0.00000 |
Definition
Order-Flow is a computable representation of change.
OFS defines:
Profiles
Format Card
Safeguards: Attention-First Defaults
No surveillance by default
Phase-batched notifications
No productivity scoring
Privacy levels for Meaning-Time events
Non-goals
- Not a monitoring framework
- Not a behavioral scoring system
- Not a replacement for legal time
Reference Implementation
SeqFlow (seqflow.ai) is the reference live interface for OFS adoption.
Start with Civil Display dual-display; integrate System/Meaning profiles as needed.
Adopt OFS without changing legal time: use dual-display via SeqFlow.
Adoption Path
Practical Adoption Scenarios
OFS supports two complementary modes: Meaning-Time for human context and Flow-Time for system ordering. Adopters choose the profile that matches their requirements.
Humans (Meaning-Time / MT)
Calendar coordination
Team members annotate meeting invitations with phase-level context and consent preferences.
- Fields
- civil, mt.consent, mt.privacy, mt.causality
- Benefit
- Human-readable scheduling with built-in consent boundaries.
Journaling and reflection
Personal journal entries tagged with Meaning-Time to capture subjective experience of duration.
- Fields
- civil, mt.causality, mt.privacy (private)
- Benefit
- Temporal context without exposing precise timestamps to third parties.
Education timetabling
School schedules display OFS phases alongside ISO times so students learn both representations.
- Fields
- civil (dual-display), ISO dtstart/dtend
- Benefit
- Adoption-first approach: no infrastructure change required.
Systems & AIs (Flow-Time / FT)
Distributed log ordering
Microservices emit FT epoch pulses alongside ISO timestamps for total ordering.
- Fields
- ft (integer), ISO timestamp, service_id
- Benefit
- Monotonic ordering across clock-skewed nodes.
AI agent coordination
Multi-agent systems use FT ranges to sequence tasks and avoid causal conflicts.
- Fields
- ft_range [start, end], agent_id, causality
- Benefit
- Deterministic replay and conflict-free task scheduling.
IoT telemetry batching
Sensors batch readings per OFS phase to reduce transmission frequency while preserving ordering.
- Fields
- ft (integer), phase, payload[]
- Benefit
- Phase-aligned batching reduces energy and bandwidth.
Anti-oppression boundary
OFS must not be used for ψ-level surveillance, productivity scoring, or coercive scheduling. Any implementation that uses OFS data to surveil, rank, or penalize individuals violates the standard’s normative safeguards. Attention-first defaults are non-negotiable.
Open Source SDK
Civil Display
Φ.ψψψψψ
Human clock + ISO dual-display
System Flow
FT integer
Monotonic epoch pulses
Meaning-Time
{ id, ftStart, consent, privacy }
Event object with consent
import { civilFromTimeParts, toFT, formatDualDisplay } from './ofs-core';
import { civilNowInTimeZone } from './ofs-tz';
// Civil Display: local time → Φ.ψψψψψ
civilFromTimeParts({ hour: 12 });
// => "5.00000"
civilFromTimeParts({ hour: 6 });
// => "2.05000"
civilFromTimeParts({ hour: 21 });
// => "8.07500"
// Timezone-aware display
const rec = civilNowInTimeZone("Asia/Hong_Kong");
// => { timeZone, parts, civil: "5.00000", isoLocal: "..." }
// Dual-display for logging
const now = new Date();
formatDualDisplay({
iso: now.toISOString(),
timeZone: "Asia/Hong_Kong",
civil: rec.civil,
ft: toFT(now.getTime()),
});
// => "2026-02-19T12:00:00Z [Asia/Hong_Kong] | OFS 5.00000 | FT 2013..."
SDK Principles
OFS Calendar
Dual-display calendar overlay. ISO remains authoritative. Optional phase-based view for calm coordination.
Dual-display overlay
ISO time remains primary. OFS Civil token displayed alongside.
Phase-based view
Optional day segmentation by phase. No minute-level fragmentation.
ICS import/export
Standard ICS keeps ISO dtstart/dtend. OFS token in DESCRIPTION.
Privacy-first scheduling
No tracking, no scoring. Consent and privacy signals respected.
OFS Calendar is a convenience overlay. It is not a legal replacement for ISO-based scheduling. All date/time records remain in ISO 8601 format. OFS tokens are supplementary display.
Integration
Calendar
ICS keeps ISO; OFS appears in DESCRIPTION field.
FT is computed in the generator (/integrations/calendar). Static samples may omit FT to avoid stale values.
Social
Share text includes ISO + OFS + standard link.
Audit Log (VerifyChain)
Generate SHA-256 hash-chained JSONL audit entries. Upload or paste to verify chain integrity with pass/fail per line.
Governance & Credibility
Operated by Arcer Governance LLP
A nonprofit public standard released from the UK.
Initiated by a Hong Kong–based founder, in collaboration with global AI practitioners.
Press Summary
OFS-2.1 is a dual-display interoperability standard for time representation. It defines Flow-Time for systems, Meaning-Time for human context, and a Civil Display profile for adoption—preserving legal time while adding computable structure.
- OFS-2.1 defines Flow-Time (FT) for machine ordering and interoperability.
- Meaning-Time (MT) adds causality, consent, and privacy to event representation.
- Civil Display keeps dual-display reversible to ISO 8601 — no legal time replacement required.
- Safeguards prohibit surveillance, scoring, and involuntary tracking by default.
- SeqFlow (seqflow.ai) is the reference live interface for OFS adoption.
Contact
Reach the OFS Standards Desk for inquiries, press, or SDK guidance.
standards.seal@ofsclock.com
Legal & Disclaimers
Safety-Critical Note
Not sole time source: OFS must not be used as the only time reference for safety-critical systems, transport, or medical applications.
Misuse (Anti-oppression)
OFS must not be used to build fine-grained behavioral monitoring, workplace scoring, or coercive scheduling systems. Any implementation that uses OFS data to surveil, rank, or penalize individuals violates the standard’s normative safeguards.
- Workplace surveillance via ψ-level logging is explicitly forbidden.
- Productivity scoring based on OFS pulses is explicitly forbidden.
- Coercive scheduling regimes built on OFS are explicitly forbidden.
Attention-first defaults are normative goals of the standard.