Overview of the NEMS Framework The No External Model Selection Suite: Structure, Progression, and Reader's Guide Paper 0 of the NEMS Suite

This overview introduces the core NEMS (No External Model Selection) suite of 51 papers. NEMS formalizes a foundational self-containment principle: if a universe has no "outside, " then nothing external can choose its parameters, select among candidate realizations, or supply the determinacy of its laws. The core suite's central formal contribution is a reusable theorem engine for closure, selectors, diagonal barriers, certification, and applications across physics, agency, institutions, and epistemology. This overview is intentionally restricted to the core NEMS and abstract-core release surface; it does not attempt to present the separate downstream UGP/GTE derivation track or the full reflexive-closure / Golden Bridge ascent, which are documented in separate audience-specific overview documents. This overview presents the core NEMS theorem engine and selected applications; stronger domain-specific derivation and ontological synthesis claims belong to separate release surfaces with their own premise bundles and formal artifacts. This paper explains what NEMS is, what it is for, why it matters; provides a prose survey of Papers 01–51 in technical and non-specialist terms; gives the core dependency table; organizes papers by theme; and offers reader paths for logicians, physicists, and applied readers. Trust boundary. This document is a map and guide to the suite, not a substitute for per-paper proofs or the pinned Lean artifacts. Downstream tracks (-lean, -closure-lean) are cited for orientation only within the core surface narrative. See.