• Understand where a resource fits in the site structure.
• Apply inherited metadata (e.g., context, interpretive framing) when appropriate.
• Differentiate standalone pages from subordinate components.
• Navigate multi-level content relationships with confidence.

• Explicit — clearly identifies the parent resource.
• Stable — does not change unless site structure changes.
• Unique — a resource may have only one direct parent.

While resources may have many descendants, MSP-1 prescribes a single-parent model to maintain clarity and prevent graph-like ambiguity.

• id — the identifier of the parent resource.

Optional but recommended fields:

• relation — describes the relationship type (e.g., "sectionOf", "childPageOf").
• scope — describes which aspects are inherited (if any).

• AI agents MUST treat parent as the definitive structural placement of the resource within a hierarchy.
• Agents SHOULD inherit high-level metadata (intent, interpretiveFrame, context) from parent pages unless locally overridden.
• If parent declarations conflict or form loops, AI MUST treat the resource as structurally ambiguous and reduce trust weighting.
• Agents SHOULD use parent relationships to resolve navigation paths and determine topical grouping.

The parent term provides one of the strongest signals for hierarchical interpretation in MSP-1.

• page — the most common parent resource.
• section — usually declared as a child of a page.
• canonical — helps define the authoritative parent when multiple URLs or resource forms exist.
• id — parent references MUST use stable identifiers.
• provenance — aids in tracing hierarchical lineage.

{
  "parent": { "id": "lighting-guide" }
}

Page-to-page hierarchy example:

{
  "parent": {
    "id": "guides",
    "relation": "childPageOf"
  }
}

Example including inheritability context:

{
  "parent": {
    "id": "lighting-guide",
    "relation": "sectionOf",
    "scope": "inherits-context"
  }
}

• It declares at most one parent.
• It references a valid, stable parent identifier.
• It avoids loops or contradictory hierarchies.
• It follows all normative structural rules defined in this specification.