# Documentation Guide

## Start here

- [Research program](research-program.md): the three research tracks, shared evidence contract, and publication strategy.
- [3DGS survey protocol](survey-protocol.md): search, screening, evidence tiers, and update policy.
- [Differentiable HiGS paper plan](higs-paper-plan.md): current support, claim boundary, and submission experiment.
- [Storage compression protocol](compression-protocol.md): lossless terminology, round-trip contract, and deployment metrics.
- [Tier A comparison analysis](comparison-analysis.md): conclusions and renderer selection guidance.
- [Generated leaderboard](leaderboard/ranking.md): authoritative generated numeric tables.
- [Methodology](methodology.md): evidence tiers and measurement rules.
- [Ranking design](ranking.md): aggregation, quality, efficiency, memory, and Pareto rules.
- [Datasets](datasets.md): canonical source and preparation policy.
- [Hardware cohorts](hardware.md): why results from different systems remain separate.
- [Paper-readiness audit](paper-readiness.md): submission blockers, acceptance gates, and release plan.

## Integrating and extending

- [Adding a renderer](adding-a-renderer.md)
- [Renderer integration status](renderer-integration.md)
- [Renderer survey](renderer_survey.md)
- [Repository architecture](repository-architecture.md)
- [Reproducibility](reproducibility.md)
- [2026 renderer and compression research roadmap](research-roadmap-2026.md): exploratory backlog, not the current paper narrative.
- [HiGS trainable implementation (Stage A/B/C)](higs-trainable-implementation.md)
- [Research readiness audit (2026-08-05)](research-readiness-audit-2026-08-05.md)
- [Paper workspace and evidence-freeze rules](../paper/README.md)

## Research and historical context

The following documents retain exploratory or migration context and are not the
current recommendation source:

- [RTX 5070 local validation](local_validation_2026-07-13.md)
- [Historical optimization analysis](optimization_analysis.md)
- [Migration plan and status](migration.md)
- [Renderer discovery registry](renderer_discovery.md)

Current run reports are indexed in [`reports/README.md`](../reports/README.md).
Historical machine-specific reports are stored under `reports/archive/` rather
than mixed with the current A100 baseline.