diff --git a/design/README.md b/design/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..fa214943
--- /dev/null
+++ b/design/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+# Artichoke Ruby VM Design
+
+Artichoke aims to be a source-compatible, [ruby/spec](/spec-runner/spec/ruby)
+compliant implementation of Ruby 2.6.3 written in safe Rust (excluding crate
+dependencies).
+
+These documents discuss the design of the Artichoke VM.
+
+## Design Document Index
+
+- [Value Representation](value.md)
+- [String and Encoding](string.md)
+- [Memory Management](memory-management.md): the heap and using Rust memory
+  management to get a reference counting GC for free.
+- [Threading and Concurrency](threading-and-concurrency.md): True concurrency
+  with no GIL.
+- [Parser](parser.md)
+- [AST](ast.md)
diff --git a/design/ast.md b/design/ast.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..20b256bc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/design/ast.md
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+# Artichoke Ruby AST
+
+WIP
diff --git a/design/memory-management.md b/design/memory-management.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4e176745
--- /dev/null
+++ b/design/memory-management.md
@@ -0,0 +1,217 @@
+# Artichoke Ruby Memory Management
+
+Artichoke has no garbage collector and relies on
+[Rust's built-in memory management](https://pcwalton.github.io/2013/03/18/an-overview-of-memory-management-in-rust.html)
+and a [cycle-aware reference-counted smart pointer](/cactusref) of its own
+invention to reclaim memory when Ruby [`Value`](value.md)s are no longer
+reachable from the VM.
+
+This document refers to data structures with backticks if it is refering to a
+specific implementation, for example, [`Value`](value.md). If the data structure
+is not formatted as code, the document is referring to the general concept, for
+example, HashMap does not refer to
+[`HashMap`](https://doc.rust-lang.org/std/collections/struct.HashMap.html), but
+rather the concept of a hash table.
+
+## `BasicObject#object_id`
+
+`BasicObject` is the root of the class hierarchy in Ruby. All
+[`Value`](value.md)s inherit from `BasicObject`. Every `BasicObject` must have a
+unique `object_id`, which is a `u64`. There are some wrinkles to this, but for
+now we can assume that every `Value` that the VM allocates will have a unique
+`object_id`.
+
+In the VM, `object_id` is represented by the following struct:
+
+```rust
+#[derive(Clone, Debug)]
+pub struct ObjectId {
+    // reference to the VM
+    interp: Artichoke,
+    // opaque and immutable identifier
+    id: usize,
+}
+
+impl ObjectId {
+    pub fn id(&self) -> usize {
+        self.id
+    }
+}
+
+impl Hash for ObjectId {
+    fn hash<H: Hasher>(&self, state: &mut H) {
+        self.id.hash(state);
+    }
+}
+
+impl PartialEq for ObjectId {
+    fn eq(&self, other: &Self) -> bool {
+        self.interp == other.interp && self.id == other.id
+    }
+}
+
+impl Eq for ObjectId {}
+```
+
+`ObjectId` is useful as a pointer. By having a reference to an `ObjectId`,
+components of the VM can retrieve `Value`s from the heap.
+
+Mediating access to the underlying `Value`s via the `ObjectId` allows us to
+centrally implement guards around mutability. For example, `Value`s can be
+marked immutable with
+[`Object#freeze`](https://ruby-doc.org/core-2.6.3/Object.html#method-i-freeze).
+`ObjectId` implements
+[`Deref`](https://doc.rust-lang.org/std/ops/trait.Deref.html) and
+[`DerefMut`](https://doc.rust-lang.org/std/ops/trait.DerefMut.html) that resolve
+a `Value` on the heap via its `ObjectId` and enforces mutability guarantees of
+the VM.
+
+## The Heap
+
+The heap is a HashMap from `ObjectId` to a sharable `Value` representation. The
+_shareable `Value` representation_ is a wrapper around `Value` that enables it
+to have shared ownership. The specifics of the wrapper depend on VM context (for
+example, values are wrapped differently if they are shared by multiple threads),
+but conceptually the wrapper behaves like an `Rc<RefCell<Value>>`. The wrapper
+can have multiple owners, supports weak references, and allows the `Value` to be
+mutated.
+
+The heap stores weak references to `Value`. When a `Value` takes an owned
+reference to another, it resolves the value wrapper via the heap and upgrades
+the weak reference into a strong reference.
+
+Eventually, a `Value` may become unreachable, the strong count on the `Rc` that
+wraps it will drop to zero, the memory will be reclaimed, and the weak reference
+becomes invalid. To optimize access times for the heap and prevent the heap from
+growing unbounded, a background thread will periodically compact the heap by
+removing `ObjectId`s that point to invalid weak references.
+
+## Shared References and Reference Counting
+
+A `Value` can be referenced by many other `Value`s. For example, in the below
+program, the String `'artichoke'` is reachable from six locations.
+
+```ruby
+x = 'artichoke'
+# name binding
+y = x
+# collection item
+ary = [x, x]
+# captured variable
+f = proc { x }
+# self-referential structure
+x.instance_variable_set :@a, x
+```
+
+Because instance variables are publically settable, every `Value` can hold a
+reference other `Value`s, including cyclical ones. This means we cannot ignore
+cycles.
+
+`CactusRef` is a smart pointer that behaves similarly to `Rc`, with the addition
+that `CactusRef` can detect cycles and deallocate `Value`s if they form an
+orphaned cycle.
+
+When a special `Value` takes ownership of another, the `ObjectId` of the other
+value resolves a strong `CactusRef` via the heap and stores it in its internal
+data structures (e.g. an instance variable table or a `Vec` backing an Array).
+
+For example, an Array is backed by a `Vec<CactusRef<RefCell<Value>>>` and the
+symbol table of instance variables on an object is a
+`HashMap<Identifier, CactusRef<RefCell<Value>>>`.
+
+When a `CactusRef` is dropped, the reference count of the `Value` decreases and
+`CactusRef` does a reachability check using breadth-first search and the
+`Reachable` implementation on `Value`.
+
+Consider the following code:
+
+```ruby
+class Container
+  attr_accessor :inner
+
+  def initialize(inner)
+    @inner = inner
+  end
+end
+
+def make_cycle
+  a = Container.new(nil) # ObjectId(100)
+  b = Container.new(a)   # ObjectId(200)
+  c = Container.new(b)   # ObjectId(300)
+  d = Container.new(c)   # ObjectId(400)
+  a.inner = d
+  a
+end
+
+ring = make_cycle
+```
+
+Here's what happens from the perspective of the VM:
+
+1. The `a` binding holds a strong reference to the Value `ObjectId(100)`
+2. `ObjectId(200)` holds a strong reference to the Value `ObjectId(100)`
+3. The `b` binding holds a strong reference to the Value `ObjectId(200)`
+4. `ObjectId(300)` holds a strong reference to the Value `ObjectId(200)`
+5. The `c` binding holds a strong reference to the Value `ObjectId(300)`
+6. `ObjectId(400)` holds a strong reference to the Value `ObjectId(300)`
+7. The `d` binding holds a strong reference to the Value `ObjectId(400)`
+
+At this point the strong counts look like this:
+
+| `ObjectId` | Strong Count |
+| ---------- | ------------ |
+| 100        | 2            |
+| 200        | 2            |
+| 300        | 2            |
+| 400        | 1            |
+
+Assigning `ObjectId(400)` to the `@inner` instance variable of `ObjectId(100)`
+makes these four `Value`s form a cycle.
+
+### Detecting Cycles
+
+Each `Value` can answer the question: Can I reach an `ObjectId`?
+
+```rust
+unsafe impl Reachable for Value {
+    pub fn object_id(&self) -> usize {
+      self.object_id.id()
+    }
+
+    pub fn can_reach(&self, object_id: usize) -> bool {
+        for value in self.instance_variables {
+            if value.object_id.id() == object_id {
+                return true;
+            }
+        }
+        // and for other data structures like Class, Array, Hash
+        unimplemented!();
+    }
+}
+```
+
+`Value` does not need to do a full graph traversal because `CactusRef` does it.
+
+Back to our example: when `ObjectId(400)` is assigned to `@inner` on
+`ObjectId(100)`, the VM detects a cycle because `ObjectId(100)` is reachable by
+the chain of `ObjectId(400) -> ObjectId(300) -> ObjectId(200) -> ObjectId(100)`.
+The Valuse associated with the `ObjectId`s are reachable in these ways:
+
+| `ObjectId` | Binding              |
+| ---------- | -------------------- |
+| 100        | `a`, `ObjectId(200)` |
+| 200        | `b`, `ObjectId(300)` |
+| 300        | `c`, `ObjectId(400)` |
+| 400        | `d`, `ObjectId(100)` |
+
+Once we return from the function, the variable bindings get dropped:
+
+| `ObjectId` | Binding                 |
+| ---------- | ----------------------- |
+| 100        | `ring`, `ObjectId(200)` |
+| 200        | `ObjectId(300)`         |
+| 300        | `ObjectId(400)`         |
+| 400        | `ObjectId(100)`         |
+
+When `ring` is dropped or reassigned, `CactusRef` detects an orphaned cycle and
+will deallocate all of the `Value`s.
diff --git a/design/parser.md b/design/parser.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7f837e40
--- /dev/null
+++ b/design/parser.md
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+# Artichoke Ruby Parser
+
+WIP
diff --git a/design/string.md b/design/string.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a36a61e8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/design/string.md
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+# Artichoke Ruby String and Encoding
+
+WIP
diff --git a/design/threading-and-concurrency.md b/design/threading-and-concurrency.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5ec89c92
--- /dev/null
+++ b/design/threading-and-concurrency.md
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+# Artichoke Ruby Threading and Concurrency
+
+WIP
diff --git a/design/value.md b/design/value.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..da2176b2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/design/value.md
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+# Artichoke Ruby Value Representation
+
+WIP
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 41ecf31f..6c070450 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -81,6 +81,7 @@
   },
   "scripts": {
     "eslint-check": "eslint --print-config . | eslint-config-prettier-check",
+    "format-text": "prettier --write --prose-wrap always './*.{css,html,js,json,md}' '{!(target),!(node_modules)}**/*.{css,html,js,json,md}'",
     "lint": "./scripts/lint.sh",
     "loc": "loc --exclude vendor --exclude ffi\\.rs --exclude mruby-bin/ruby/fixtures --exclude spec-runner/spec"
   }
diff --git a/scripts/lint.sh b/scripts/lint.sh
index 6112c475..24d3bbc3 100755
--- a/scripts/lint.sh
+++ b/scripts/lint.sh
@@ -68,6 +68,4 @@ find . -type f \
 # Text sources (e.g. HTML, Markdown)
 
 ## Format with prettier
-yarn run prettier --write --prose-wrap always \
-  './*.{css,html,js,json,md}' \
-  '{!(target),!(node_modules)}**/*.{css,html,js,json,md}'
+yarn run format-text
diff --git a/spec-runner/src/mspec.rs b/spec-runner/src/mspec.rs
index cb643269..6d5723eb 100644
--- a/spec-runner/src/mspec.rs
+++ b/spec-runner/src/mspec.rs
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ impl Runner {
     pub fn run(self) -> Result<bool, MrbError> {
         init(&self.interp).unwrap();
         self.interp.def_rb_source_file("/src/spec_helper.rb", "")?;
+        self.interp.def_rb_source_file("spec_helper.rb", "")?;
         self.interp
             .def_rb_source_file("/src/test/spec_runner", include_str!("spec_runner.rb"))?;
         if let Err(err) = self.interp.eval("require '/src/test/spec_runner'") {