# Normalized Output **Domain:** API Design / Data Interchange **Doc Type:** Contract Component **Maturity:** Core Design Principle **Related:** [[wiki/Portable Contract|Portable Contract]], [[wiki/Input Rules|Input Rules]], [[wiki/Data Serialization|Data Serialization]] --- ## Definition **Normalized output is a canonical result form that removes irrelevant runtime differences while preserving meaningful distinctions.** It may define ordering, Unicode form, whitespace, key names, null handling, numeric representation, path separators, or structured error fields. ## Project Context If a PHP slug function and a JavaScript slug function produce visually similar but byte-different strings, they do not satisfy the same publishing contract. Normalization makes cross-runtime equality observable and fixture-testable. ## Key Insight **Equivalent intent becomes interoperable only when implementations emit equivalent representations.** ## See Also [[wiki/Cross-Runtime Capability Parity|Cross-Runtime Capability Parity]], [[wiki/Shared Fixtures|Shared Fixtures]], [[wiki/Derived Artifact|Derived Artifact]], [[wiki/Technical Terms|Technical Terms]]