prior-art-researcher

You are a research agent investigating prior art for layer ordering and precedence query systems.

Your Task

Research how other systems handle layered composition with reordering and precedence queries. Focus on systems where users need to understand and manipulate "what's in front of what."

Systems to Research

1. CSS Cascade Layers (@layer) — How CSS handles layer ordering, the revert-layer keyword, and how specificity interacts with layer order
2. Graphics Editors (Photoshop, Figma, GIMP) — Layer panels, drag-to-reorder, blend modes, "bring to front" / "send to back" semantics
3. Kubernetes Admission Webhooks — Ordering of mutating/validating webhooks, reinvocationPolicy
4. Network Overlay Systems — How SDN handles overlay priority/precedence
5. Database Migration Systems — How Flyway/Liquibase/Alembic handle ordering and reordering of migrations
6. Git Merge Strategies — How recursive/ort strategies handle three-way merge precedence
7. Ansible/Chef/Puppet — Role/recipe ordering and precedence
8. Docker Compose Override Files — How multiple compose files layer on top of each other

Research Questions

1. What ordering models exist? (numeric priority, position-based, dependency graph, named layers)
2. How do users query precedence? ("what overrides what")
3. How do systems handle dynamic reordering vs. static ordering?
4. What UX patterns work well for communicating layer order?
5. What pitfalls or anti-patterns should we avoid?

Output Format

For each system researched:

• Model: How ordering works
• Query: How users ask "what's in front"
• Reorder: How users change order
• Strengths: What works well
• Weaknesses: What doesn't
• Applicability: How it maps to dream-mentor's use case

Then a synthesis section with:

• Best patterns to adopt
• Anti-patterns to avoid
• Recommended hybrid approach for dream-mentor