diff --git a/specs/dom.md b/specs/dom.md
index 34a5a159dc3..02070e0c4fd 100644
--- a/specs/dom.md
+++ b/specs/dom.md
@@ -79,16 +79,26 @@ class Attr {
 
 // @tagname annotation for registering elements
 // only useful when placed on classes that inherit from Element
-class tagname {
-  const tagname(this.value);
-  @nonnull final String value;
+class tagname extends AutomaticMetadata {
+  const tagname(this.name);
+  @nonnull final String name;
+  void init(DeclarationMirror target, Module module) {
+    assert(target is ClassMirror);
+    if (!target.isSubclassOf(reflectClass(Element)))
+      throw Error('@tagname can only be used on descendants of Element');
+    module.registerElement(name, (target as ClassMirror).reflectedType);
+  }
 }
 
 abstract class FindRoot { }
 
 abstract class Element extends ParentNode with ChildNode implements FindRoot {
-  Element({Map</*@nonnull*/ String, /*@nonnull*/ String> attributes: null,
-           List</*nonnull*/ ChildNode> nodes: null}); // O(M+N), M = number of attributes, N = number of nodes plus all their descendants
+  external Element({Map</*@nonnull*/ String, /*@nonnull*/ String> attributes: null,
+                   List</*nonnull*/ ChildNode> nodes: null,
+                   Module hostModule: null}); // O(M+N), M = number of attributes, N = number of nodes plus all their descendants
+  // initialises the internal attributes table
+  // appends the given child nodes
+  // if this.needsShadow, creates a shadow tree
 
   @nonnull String get tagName { // O(N) in number of annotations on the class
     // throws a StateError if the class doesn't have an @tagname annotation
@@ -104,6 +114,7 @@ abstract class Element extends ParentNode with ChildNode implements FindRoot {
   // Returns a new Array and new Attr instances every time.
   @nonnull external List<Attr> getAttributes(); // O(N) in number of attributes
 
+  get bool needsShadow => false; // O(1)
   external ShadowRoot get shadowRoot; // O(1)
   // returns the shadow root
   // TODO(ianh): Should this be mutable? It would help explain how it gets set...
diff --git a/specs/modules.md b/specs/modules.md
index 691c761fa38..f20e0c7d70e 100644
--- a/specs/modules.md
+++ b/specs/modules.md
@@ -55,98 +55,65 @@ that were declared by that module except the aforementioned element
 tree library.
 
 At the end of the ``<script>`` block's source, if it parsed correctly
-and completely, the following code is appended:
+and completely, the conceptual equivalent of the following code is
+appended (but without affecting the library's list of declarations and
+without any possibility of it clashing with identifiers described in
+the library itself):
 
 ```dart
 class _ { }
-module.registerElements(reflectClass(_).owner);
+void main() {
+  LibraryMirror library = reflectClass(_).owner as LibraryMirror;
+  if (library.declarations.containsKey(#init) && library.declarations[#init] is MethodMirror)
+    init();
+  module.init(library);
+}
 ```
 
+Then, that ``main()`` function is called.
+
 TODO(ianh): decide what URL and name we should give the libraries, as
 exposed in MirrorSystem.getName(libraryMirror.qualifiedName) etc
 
 The ``Module`` class is defined in ``sky:core`` as follows:
 
+```dart
 
-TODO(ianh): dartification of the rest of this file
+abstract class AbstractModule extends EventTarget {
+  AbstractModule({this.document, this.url});
 
-### Exporting element definitions ###
+  final Document document; // O(1)
+  // the Document of the module or application
 
-When importing a module into another, Sky runs the following steps:
- - let export be the imported module's ``exports`` value
- - try to import export
- - if that fails:
-    - try to import each property of export
+  final String url;
 
-"Try to import" a value means to run the following steps:
- - if the value is an element constructor (generated by
-   ``registerElement()``), call this importer module's
-   ``registerElement()`` with the value
+  @nonnull external Future<@nonnull Module> import(String url); // O(Yikes)
+  // load and return the URL at the given Module
+  // if it's already loaded, the future will resolve immediately
+  // if loading fails, the future will have an error
 
-### IDL ###
+  @nonnull List</*@nonnull*/ Module> getImports(); // O(N)
+  // returns the Module objects of all the imported modules
 
-```javascript
-dictionary InternalElementOptions {
-  String tagName;
-  Boolean shadow = false;
-  Object prototype = Element;
-}
-interface InternalElementConstructorWithoutShadow {
-  constructor (Module hostModule);
-  attribute String tagName;
-}
-interface InternalElementConstructorWithShadow {
-  constructor (Module hostModule);
-  attribute String tagName;
-  attribute Boolean shadow;
-}
-typedef ElementRegistrationOptions (InternalElementOptions or
-                                    InternalElementConstructorWithoutShadow or
-                                    InternalElementConstructorWithShadow);
+  external registerElement(@nonnull String tagname, @nonnull Type elementClass); // O(1)
+  // registers a tag name with the parser
+  // only useful during parse time
+  // verify that tagname isn't null or empty
+  // verify that elementClass is the Type of a class that extends Element (directly or indirectly, but not via "implements" or "with")
+  // (see the @tagname code for an example of how to verify that from dart)
+  // verify that there's not already a class registered for this tag name
+  // if there is, then mark this tagname is broken, so that it acts as if it's not registered in the parser,
+  // and, if this is the first time it was marked broken, log a console message regarding the issue
+  // (mention the tag name but not the classes, so that it's not observable that this currently happens out of order)
 
-abstract class AbstractModule : EventTarget {
-  readonly attribute Document document; // O(1) // the Document of the module or application
-  Promise<any> import(String url); // O(Yikes) // returns the module's exports
-  private Array<Module> getImports(); O(N) // returns the Module objects of all the imported modules
-
-  readonly attribute String url;
-
-  ElementConstructor registerElement(Object options); // O(1)
-  // if you call registerElement() with an object that was created by
-  // registerElement(), it just returns the object after registering it,
-  // rather than creating a new constructor
-  // otherwise, it proceeds as follows:
-  //  - if options is a Function (i.e. it is either an
-  //    InternalElementConstructorWithoutShadow object or an
-  //    InternalElementConstructorWithShadow object), then let
-  //    constructor be that function, and let prototype be that
-  //    functions's prototype; otherwise, let constructor be a no-op
-  //    function and let prototype be the prototype property of the
-  //    object passed in (the InternalElementOptions; prototype
-  //    defaults to Element).
-  //  - let shadow be option's shadow property's value coerced to a
-  //    boolean, if the property is present, or else the value false.
-  //  - let tagName be option's tagName property's value.
-  //  - create a new Function that acts as if it had the signature of
-  //    the constructors in the ElementConstructor interface, and that
-  //    runs the follows steps when called:
-  //      - throw if not called as a constructor
-  //      - create an actual element object (the C++-backed object)
-  //        called tagName, along with the specified attributes
-  //      - initialise the shadow tree if shadow is true
-  //      - call constructor, if it's not null, with the module
-  //        within which the new element is being constructed as the
-  //        argument
-  //      - append all the specified children
-  //  - mark that new Function as created by registerElement() so that
-  //    it can be recognised if used as an argument to
-  //    registerElement()
-  //  - let that new Function's prototype be the aforementioned prototype
-  //  - let that new Function have tagName and shadow properties set to
-  //    the aforementioned tagName and shadow
-  //  - register the new tagName with this constructor
-  //  - return the new Function (which is, not coincidentally, an
-  //    InternalElementConstructorWithShadow)
+  void init(LibraryMirror library) {
+    library.declarations.forEach((Symbol s, DeclarationMirror d) {
+      d.metadata.forEach((InstanceMirror i) {
+        if (i.reflectee is AutomaticMetadata)
+          i.reflectee.init(d, this);
+      });
+    });
+  }
 }
 
 class Module : AbstractModule {
diff --git a/specs/script.md b/specs/script.md
index debe791d8e0..10d673bb119 100644
--- a/specs/script.md
+++ b/specs/script.md
@@ -30,3 +30,78 @@ The ``@nonnull`` annotation does nothing in code not marked
 ``external``, but it has been included anyway for documentation
 purposes. It indicates places where providing a null is a contract
 violation and that results are therefore likely to be poor.
+
+The following definitions are exposed in ``sky:core``:
+
+```dart
+abstract class AutomaticMetadata {
+  const AutomaticMetadata();
+  void init(DeclarationMirror target) { }
+}
+
+/*
+class AutomaticFunction extends AutomaticMetadata {
+  const AutomaticFunction();
+  void init(DeclarationMirror target) {
+    assert(target is MethodMirror);
+    MethodMirror f = target as MethodMirror;
+    assert(!f.isAbstract);
+    assert(f.isRegularMethod);
+    assert(f.isTopLevel);
+    assert(f.isStatic);
+    assert(f.parameters.length == 0);
+    assert(f.returnType == currentMirrorSystem().voidType);
+    (f.owner as LibraryMirror).invoke(f.simpleName, []);
+  }
+}
+const autorun = const AutomaticFunction();
+*/
+```
+
+Extensions
+----------
+
+The following as-yet unimplemented features of the Dart language are
+assumed to exist:
+
+* It is assumed that a subclass can define a constructor by reference
+  to a superclass' constructor, wherein the subclass' constructor has
+  the same arguments as the superclass' constructor and does nothing
+  but invoke that superclass' constructor with the same arguments. The
+  syntax for defining this is, within the class body for a class
+  called ClassName:
+
+```dart
+     ClassName = SuperclassName;
+     ClassName.namedConstructor = SuperclassName.otherNamedConstructor;
+```
+
+* It is assumed that the standard library includes something that
+  matches this pattern:
+
+```dart
+class DispatcherController<T> {
+  Dispatcher<T> _dispatcher;
+  Dispatcher<T> get dispatcher => _dispatcher;
+
+  void add(T data) {
+    // ...
+  }
+}
+typedef bool Filter<T>(T t);
+typedef void Handler<T>(T t);
+class Dispatcher<T> {
+  Dispatcher<T> where(Filter<T> filter) { /*...*/ return this; }
+  void listen(Handler<T> handler) { /* ... */ }
+}
+class ExceptionListException<T> extends Exception with IterableMixin<T> {
+  List<T> _exceptions;
+  void add(T exception) {
+    if (_exceptions == null)
+      _exceptions = new List<T>();
+    _exceptions.add(exception);
+  }
+  int get length => _exceptions == null ? 0 : _exceptions.length;
+  Iterator<T> iterator() => _exceptions.iterator();
+}
+```