Build biology from supported genes.

What is inherited?

A family selects a supported body, metabolism and controller. A fictional taxon or catalog variant is a name for one design. A genotype is the family plus numeric alleles; its expressed phenotype supplies capacities and costs. An organism has its own ID, lineage and temporary energy, mass, age, reserves and controller state. Those temporary values are never DNA.

Genes configure existing mechanics. A label or JSON note cannot add a new feeder, controller, anatomy or resource pathway.

Authoritative gene roster

These tables are generated from model.js family rules. Zero is valid wherever the listed lower bound permits it. Family-specific genes are not transferable to another chassis merely by copying keys.

Inheritance and manual edits

Division starts from the actual parent genome. Each locus can mutate under the dish mutation rate (the new-dish default is 0.12 per locus); a mutation changes at most six percent of that locus’s allowed span before bounds or circular wrapping apply. Compatible mature algae can exchange a partner genome after sustained body contact when Contact Exchange is enabled. That paid stored commitment can recombine differing loci in a later daughter; contact alone is not gamete fusion.

Acquired food DNA is experimental. With its feature enabled, acquisitionCapacity ≥0.55, enough usable energy and a compatible differing donor locus, a consumer can retain one fragment at a two-energy cost. Retention may fail during digestion and is not immediate genome replacement. A manual CRISPR edit changes the held organism’s genome while preserving its physical ID and ancestry, records a separate intervention, and only affects later descendants. Importing a DNA file creates a candidate genotype, never a claimed natural ancestor.

Cell Perception icons

The same symbols surround the small medallion and the selected cell in the expanded overlay. Bright means the sense has a current input; muted means its receptor is present but quiet; dark grey means the receptor is absent. Hidden channels are listed as hidden in the Perception drawer. The display reads the cell's own recent biological sample; it does not add knowledge to its controller.

Markers for identified prey and hunters are labeled sight, glow or touch in the Perception drawer. Chemical and motion cues remain uncertain bearings until the body is actually identified. A dashed marker denotes the cell's fading last-seen memory.

Direction lines: White is actual facing, gold is intended steering, green is active swim drive, and blue is passive current or drift. Colored rays point toward locally sensed bearings; their curved ends mark directional uncertainty. ↑ and ↓ locate a cue above or below the cell in world depth. Each line, symbol, chemical arc and physiology ring has an individual Overlay filter in the Perception drawer. Double tap the medallion to enlarge that same circle at screen center, and double tap again to restore it. The ⛶ button switches to a larger tracking overlay. Near a screen edge, the instrument remains fully visible and a thin tether marks the selected cell's actual screen position.

Physiology rings: ⚡ is usable energy out of 100. ◕ is vacuole fullness relative to digestive capacity and is omitted for cells without a vacuole. Three separate division orbits show M for purple body mass, E for orange fuel and A for blue age. Every measured state has its own diameter; the sense symbols occupy an outer orbit. Full arcs do not guarantee a daughter: resource surplus, population capacity and open daughter space may still block division. These observer readings do not change the cell's own perception. The default Balanced Orbit layout keeps dotted directional guides, concentric meter arcs, circular sense icons, and compact name and action bands. Settings → App also offers Grouped Radar, Classic Orbit and Compact Orbit. Compact Orbit merges each chemical, reserve and division category onto one segmented ring, doubles the Classic Orbit meter stroke, and leaves the directional center clear. The Grouped Radar layout keeps the directional radar and arranges energy, vacuole, division, paired senses and chemical responses in labeled concentric bands. At zero usable energy, the energy marker shows an S countdown to the end of the model’s starvation grace. Settings → App switches between Grouped Radar and Classic Orbit; the choice persists locally and exports with App Preferences.

Behavior and senses

Controllers sample bounded local light, food, contacts and compatible chemical fields. Sensing a cue and deciding to pursue it are separate. A local concentration gradient does not reveal the emitter's path or guarantee a successful hunt. Physical bodies, depth and mouth reach can block a sensed meal. Movement and specialized apparatus spend energy; biological state can prevent an otherwise valid gene from expressing a visible action.

Algae use light and dissolved mineral; consumers use supported diets and actual encounters. Chemical release, toxin exposure, reproductive particles and adhesion obey their own feature toggles and finite stores. See the in-app inspector for live thresholds, current costs and reasons an individual is waiting.

Environment

The dish uses normalized XYZ positions and volume-scaled resource fields. Depth and camera focus are distinct. Lamp level, temperature, nutrients, currents and bodies affect opportunities, but changing camera zoom cannot change biology. Pausing and lifting stop simulated time according to the app's current lift policy; loading a dish adds no offline aging.

The machine-readable environment reference lists defaults, chemical channels and propagule limits. World limits include a cell population cap and bounded chemical/propagule packets. A valid genome does not guarantee resources, space, suitable light, a compatible gamete, successful contact or ecological survival.

Signals and reproductive cycles

The chemical substrate has a 256-packet cap and separate mate, aversive, kin, food, rot, toxin, algae-warning and algae-surplus channels. Live receptor strength is local and channel-specific. A chemical cue can guide movement but cannot fertilize a cell. Toxin release draws from a finite synthesized store; passive rot and food odors follow their own accounted pathways.

With Fusion / Propagules enabled, algae need fusionCapacity ≥0.7 and crossAffinity ≥0.5 to make gametes. A parent must be at least 30 simulated seconds old, have mature-body mass ×1.15 + 0.20, at least 30 usable fuel, no active release cooldown and room under the 128-particle cap. Release spends 0.20 body mass and 10 fuel. Gametes last 45 seconds; different parents with opposite mating types must physically meet in XYZ after five seconds. The resulting zygote then needs an eight-second recovery. A mating scent does not itself fuse gametes.

The amoeboid crawler can produce asexual spores when sporeInvestment ≥0.7 under the same feature toggle. Its parent needs 30 seconds of maturity, mature-body mass ×1.15 + 0.25, at least 32 fuel and available particle capacity. Release spends 0.25 body mass and 12 fuel. A spore remains viable for 90 seconds and needs at least five seconds of age, floor organics and an open cell/support slot to germinate. Expired particle mass returns through the medium deposit pathway. This describes the supported fictional unicellular cycle, not fungal mycelium.

Why nothing happens

• Still or starving cell: inspect usable fuel, maturity, actual edible prey, body access and local nutrients.
• No detected scent or light: check the specific receptor genes, source channel, local field, feature toggle and light/depth conditions.
• No division: inspect body material, energy, age, population cap and free daughter space.
• No fusion or germination: inspect mating type, physical XYZ contact, viable age, floor organics, particle/cell caps and the selected propagule’s next requirement.

Design a compatible variant

1. Choose a family below with the required feeding and movement engine.
2. Start from a validated example and change numeric alleles within that family's bounds.
3. Read each gene's effect and cost, then check expression prerequisites in the simulation.
4. Validate the whole JSON here. Preview is isolated and does not run a dish.
5. Open Catalog settings in PreyLab, paste or choose the validated JSON, preview it, then explicitly save the candidate. Placement remains a separate action.

Example validation establishes structural compatibility only. It is not a claim of ecological viability.

DNA exchange v4

One UTF-8 JSON object contains format: "preylab-dna", schemaVersion: 4, modelVersion: 4, one supported family, and a fully resolved alleles map. Every family gene is required. Historical schemas 1–3 migrate missing debris, compound or release-regulation loci once. Optional display text and notes do not change genotype identity. Unknown fields, duplicate keys, oversized files, nonfinite or out-of-range values are rejected.

Canonical genome identity uses the existing canonicalGenome ordering: [modelVersion,family,[[gene,Number.toString(value)],…]] in registry order, then SHA-256 of UTF-8 bytes. Display text is excluded. An exported historical genome with previously omitted genes is expanded using the current model-2 rules; the resulting fully resolved signature may differ from its older partial representation.

Schema: schema.json · Runtime rules: manifest.json · Size limit: 16 KiB.

Local DNA workbench

Paste or choose a file. Validation happens in this browser. Nothing is sent to another service.

Current limits and next step

This page validates and exports records. The catalog accepts validated DNA as an owner-scoped candidate. Saving does not place a cell; catalog and archive round-trip verification remain separate. Current supported engines and gene rules are in the generated manifest; future families need engine implementation, not just new IDs. A future authorized lab API could read capabilities, validate candidates, create catalog entries, configure dishes, place cells and observe bounded telemetry, but no remote access is provided here.

For AI species designers: read the model version and manifest, use only listed family genes, return one importable JSON record plus niche, costs, weaknesses and test conditions. Do not invent gene IDs. State separately whether the design merely validates, was runtime tested, or was ecologically observed.

Portable environment and app settings

In PreyLab open Settings → Presets → Empty Dish Environment JSON. Export a resolved starting field, or load one of the steady-light, day/night and nutrient-limited examples. Upload or paste JSON, validate and preview the mineral budget and forcing, then explicitly create a new empty dish. Add organisms afterward using the catalog. The outgoing dish is archived before switching. The original initial preset stays as provenance on reload; current depleted fields are never reset from it.

Settings → Presets → Experiment Protocol JSON exports and validates the next dish’s numerical living-cell cap, support-family birth quota, forced lifespan, mutation chance and independent step size. 100% quota and 0 ms forced lifespan disable those interventions. Legacy protocol v1 imports keep the historical 6% continuous step. This record is separate from the physical Environment v1 signature and visual preferences. Existing dishes retain their rules. Settings → App → App Preferences JSON exports visual controls and ordered local rack names. Preview and apply selected appearance, layout or rack scopes. Rack dish references stay on this device and do not grant archive access. Reset and Restore Previous act on display preferences; saved dish camera settings are separate.

Environment contract: JSON Schema v1 · steady light · day/night · nutrient limitation. App contract: JSON Schema v1. Read the source audit and ownership ledger for exclusions and follow-up work.