Overview
draftStatus of this Document
This report was published by the User Journal Graph Community Group . It is not a W3C Standard nor is it on the W3C Standards Track. Please note that under the W3C Community Contributor License Agreement (CLA) there is a limited opt-out and other conditions apply. Learn more about W3C Community and Business Groups .
1. Abstract
The User Journey Graph (UJG) standardizes user experience as computable data. It decouples the Definition of Intent (Design) from the Observation of Reality (Telemetry). This separation creates a single source of truth for Designers, Developers, and Analysts. As a deterministic protocol, it supports automation by AI agents across these roles, ensuring structural consistency.
2. The Core Philosophy
Building human facing digital products requires three distinct translations: Design (The Map), Code (The Logic), and Analytics (The Scoreboard). UJG unifies these by enforcing a single Graph-based Mental Model:
The Map (Intent): A directed graph where nodes are States and edges are allowed Transitions.
The Path (Reality): A linear, causal sequence of Events linked by predecessor.
The Binding: Shared URIs that allow the Path to be mathematically projected onto the Map.
3. Conceptual Stack
The standard is organized into four logical layers:
The Wire (Transport): The universal JSON-LD envelope. Ensures any tool—human or AI—can parse the file structure without ambiguity.
The Blueprint (Definition): Defines the "Happy Path." It is the vocabulary for States, Transitions, and Composition (nesting).
The Runtime (Execution): Captures the "Actual Path." It records events as a causal chain, not just timestamped logs.
The Mapping (Conformance): Closes the loop. It overlays Reality onto Intent to calculate conversion and detect friction.