ZPE-Image

What This Is

Deterministic sparse-stroke image encoder. Geometry-layer encoding for glyphs, flow graphs, mazes, and structural skeletons; natural-image coverage stays out of scope.

Two routes ship: a primary sparse-stroke route and a narrower hole-bearing bundle route for exactly three hole-bearing forms. Both are CI-falsified.

Strongest intrinsic result (CI-anchored, no external baseline): 5.75× byte reduction on the five accepted sparse figures versus the internal quadtree-enhanced fallback, with 100% accept and reject rates and perturbation floors clearing documented thresholds.

Codec Mechanics

Field	Value
Architecture	IMAGE_STREAM
Encoding	IMAGE_SPARSE_GEOMETRY_V1
Mechanics Asset	.github/assets/readme/lane-mechanics/IMAGE.gif

Key Metrics

Metric	Value	Baseline
SPARSE_ACCEPTS	5/5	bounded pack
REJECT_RATE	100%	7 retained negatives
SPARSE_WORST_PERTURB_IOU	0.632	floor threshold ≥0.62
SPARSE_WORST_PERTURB_SKELETON_F1	0.741	floor threshold ≥0.74

Source: proofs/artifacts/fresh_falsification_packet.json, validation/results/fresh_falsification_check.json

Repo Identity

Field	Value
Identifier	ZPE-Image
Repository	https://github.com/Zer0pa/ZPE-Image
Section	encoding
Visibility	PUBLIC
Architecture	IMAGE_STREAM
Encoding	IMAGE_SPARSE_GEOMETRY_V1
Commit SHA	c1ed7abaa560
License	SAL-7.0
Authority Source	proofs/artifacts/fresh_falsification_packet.json

Readiness

Field	Value
Verdict	STAGED
Checks	6/6
Anchors	3 display anchors
Commit	c1ed7abaa560
Authority	proofs/artifacts/fresh_falsification_packet.json

Honest Blocker

We do not claim photo, texture, gradient, or broad natural-image coverage.; We do not claim that the narrower hole-bearing route covers the full sparse set.; We do not claim that bounded acceptance on this pack equals general image coverage.

What We Prove

• The primary sparse-stroke route accepts glyph_a, fork_tree, loop_spine, maze_turns, and serpentine, and rejects all 7 retained mixed and natural-image negatives on the same verification pack.
• Under four perturbation types (dilate_1, salt_pepper_1pct, shift_x1, shift_y1) the worst-case reconstruction IoU is 0.632 and worst-case skeleton F1 is 0.741, both clearing their documented thresholds (0.62 and 0.74 respectively).
• On accepted sparse figures the geometry-sparse-stroke encoder uses a mean of 1,362 bytes (20-bit packed) versus 7,839 bytes for the quadtree-enhanced fallback — a 5.75× byte reduction within this bounded scope.
• The narrower hole-bearing bundle route accepts exactly glyph_a, loop_spine, and maze_turns; fork_tree and serpentine are correctly outside that subset. Bundle projection IoU = 1.0 and skeleton F1 = 1.0 under all perturbations for all three accepted cases.

What We Don't Claim

• No photo, texture, gradient, or broad natural-image coverage.
• The hole-bearing route does not cover the full sparse set.
• Bounded acceptance on this pack does not equal general image coverage.
• No external codec comparison (JPEG/WebP/AVIF/JPEG-XL) — baselines are internal only.

Verification Status

Code	Check	Verdict
V_01	Primary sparse route accepts the five bounded sparse figures.	PASS
V_02	Primary sparse route rejects the mixed and natural-image buckets.	PASS
V_03	Sparse perturbation floors stay above documented thresholds (IoU ≥0.62, skeleton F1 ≥0.74).	PASS
V_04	Secondary hole-bearing route accepts exactly 3/5 positives; rejects out-of-scope positives.	PASS
V_05	Installed package imports and runs without sibling runtime dependencies.	PASS
V_06	Root repo surface ships with Zer0pa Source-Available License v7.1.	PASS

Proof Anchors

Path	State
proofs/manifests/CURRENT_VERIFICATION_PACKET.md	VERIFIED
proofs/artifacts/fresh_falsification_packet.json	VERIFIED
validation/results/fresh_falsification_check.json	VERIFIED

Repo Shape

Field	Value
Proof Anchors	3 display anchors
Modality Lanes	1
Architecture	IMAGE_STREAM
Encoding	IMAGE_SPARSE_GEOMETRY_V1
Verification	6/6 checks
Authority Source	proofs/artifacts/fresh_falsification_packet.json

Extended Metrics

Rows retained from the previous expanded ## Key Metrics table. The public product page uses the first four rows only.

Metric	Value	Baseline	Notes
SPARSE_MEAN_BYTES	1,362	7,839 quadtree baseline	5.75× byte reduction on accepted figures
BUNDLE_ACCEPTS	3/3	hole-bearing subset	projection IoU = 1.0 under all perturbations
BUNDLE_MEAN_BYTES	3,655	8,459 quadtree baseline	2.31× byte reduction on bundle route

Quick Start

python3 -m venv .venv
. .venv/bin/activate
python3 -m pip install --upgrade pip
python3 -m pip install '.[dev]'
zpe-image-verify --output validation/results/fresh_falsification_check.local.json
pytest -q

Upcoming Workstreams

This section captures the active lane priorities — what the next agent or contributor picks up, and what investors should expect. Cadence is continuous, not milestoned.

• External comparator integration — Active Engineering. Add gzipped-SVG and PNG-of-render-at-fixed-quality comparators to the proof artifact; report both, let reviewer pick. Removes the no-market-reference-frame gap on the current 5.75× CR claim (currently measured only against an internal quadtree fallback).