Reference. The ∞-Category of ∞-Categories in Simplicial Type Theory

Simplicial type theory (STT) was introduced by Riehl and Shulman to leverage homotopy type theory to prove results about (∞,1)-categories. Initial work on simplicial type theory focused on “formal” arguments in higher category theory and, in particular, no non-trivial examples of ∞-category theory were constructible within STT. More recent work has changed this state of affairs by applying techniques developed initially for cubical type theory to construct the ∞-category of spaces. We complete this process by constructing the ∞-category of ∞-categories, recovering one of the main foundational results of ∞-category theory (straightening-unstraightening) purely type-theoretically. We also show how this construction enables new examples of the directed version of the structure identity principle: the structure homomorphism principle.

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Cite as @gratzer-2026-the (helia, typst) · \cite{gratzer-2026-the} (LaTeX)
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bibtex · 14 lines
@inproceedings{gratzer-2026-the,
  doi = {10.4230/LIPICS.LICS.2026.52},
  url = {https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.LICS.2026.52},
  author = {Gratzer, Daniel and Weinberger, Jonathan and Buchholtz, Ulrik},
  keywords = {Type theory, Homotopy type theory, Category theory, Infinity category theory, Theory of computation, Theory of computation → Type theory, Theory of computation → Constructive mathematics, Theory of computation → Semantics and reasoning},
  language = {en},
  title = {The ∞-Category of ∞-Categories in Simplicial Type Theory},
  volume = {380},
  pages = {52:1-52:26},
  publisher = {Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik},
  year = {2026},
  copyright = {Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license},
  booktitle = {41st Annual Symposium on Logic in Computer Science (LICS 2026)}
}
hayagriva YAML (typst)
yaml · 17 lines
gratzer-2026-the:
  type: article
  title: The ∞-Category of ∞-Categories in Simplicial Type Theory
  author:
  - Gratzer, Daniel
  - Weinberger, Jonathan
  - Buchholtz, Ulrik
  date: 2026
  page-range: 52:1-52:26
  url: https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.LICS.2026.52
  serial-number:
    doi: 10.4230/LIPICS.LICS.2026.52
  parent:
    type: proceedings
    title: 41st Annual Symposium on Logic in Computer Science (LICS 2026)
    publisher: Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik
    volume: 380
Cites 43 works (8 here)
With notes (8)

The Yoneda embedding in simplicial type theory gratzer-2025-the

DOI · arXiv

Directed univalence in simplicial homotopy type theory gratzer-2024-directed

Simplicial type theory extends homotopy type theory with a directed path type which internalizes the notion of a homomorphism within a type. This concept has significant applications both within mathematics – where it allows for synthetic (higher) category theory – and programming languages – where it leads to a directed version of the structure identity principle. In this work, we construct the first types in simplicial type theory with non-trivial homomorphisms. We extend simplicial type theory with modalities and new reasoning principles to obtain triangulated type theory in order to construct the universe of discrete types 𝒮︀. We prove that homomorphisms in this type correspond to ordinary functions of types i.e., that 𝒮︀ is directed univalent. The construction of 𝒮︀ is foundational for both of the aforementioned applications of simplicial type theory. We are able to define several crucial examples of categories and to recover important results from category theory. Using 𝒮︀, we are also able to define various types whose usage is guaranteed to be functorial. These provide the first complete examples of the proposed directed structure identity principle.
arXiv

Bicategorical type theory: semantics and syntax ahrens-2023-bicategorical

We develop semantics and syntax for bicategorical type theory. Bicategorical type theory features contexts, types, terms, and directed reductions between terms. This type theory is naturally interpreted in a class of structured bicategories. We start by developing the semantics, in the form of comprehension bicategories . Examples of comprehension bicategories are plentiful; we study both specific examples as well as classes of examples constructed from other data. From the notion of comprehension bicategory, we extract the syntax of bicategorical type theory, that is, judgment forms and structural inference rules. We prove soundness of the rules by giving an interpretation in any comprehension bicategory. The semantic aspects of our work are fully checked in the Coq proof assistant, based on the UniMath library.
DOI

Modalities in homotopy type theory rijke-2020-modalities

Univalent homotopy type theory (HoTT) may be seen as a language for the category of ∞-groupoids. It is being developed as a new foundation for mathematics and as an internal language for (elementary) higher toposes. We develop the theory of factorization systems, reflective subuniverses, and modalities in homotopy type theory, including their construction using a “localization” higher inductive type. This produces in particular the (𝑛-connected, 𝑛-truncated) factorization system as well as internal presentations of subtoposes, through lex modalities. We also develop the semantics of these constructions.
DOI · arXiv

All (∞,1)-toposes have strict univalent universes shulman-2019-all

We prove the conjecture that any Grothendieck (∞,1)-topos can be presented by a Quillen model category that interprets homotopy type theory with strict univalent universes. Thus, homotopy type theory can be used as a formal language for reasoning internally to (∞,1)-toposes, just as higher-order logic is used for 1-toposes. As part of the proof, we give a new, more explicit, characterization of the fibrations in injective model structures on presheaf categories. In particular, we show that they generalize the coflexible algebras of 2-monad theory.
arXiv

A type theory for synthetic ∞-categories riehl-2017-a

We propose foundations for a synthetic theory of (∞,1)-categories within homotopy type theory. We axiomatize a directed interval type, then define higher simplices from it and use them to probe the internal categorical structures of arbitrary types. We define Segal types, in which binary composites exist uniquely up to homotopy; this automatically ensures composition is coherently associative and unital at all dimensions. We define Rezk types, in which the categorical isomorphisms are additionally equivalent to the type-theoretic identities - a “local univalence” condition. And we define covariant fibrations, which are type families varying functorially over a Segal type, and prove a “dependent Yoneda lemma” that can be viewed as a directed form of the usual elimination rule for identity types. We conclude by studying homotopically correct adjunctions between Segal types, and showing that for a functor between Rezk types to have an adjoint is a mere proposition. To make the bookkeeping in such proofs manageable, we use a three-layered type theory with shapes, whose contexts are extended by polytopes within directed cubes, which can be abstracted over using “extension types” that generalize the path-types of cubical type theory. In an appendix, we describe the motivating semantics in the Reedy model structure on bisimplicial sets, in which our Segal and Rezk types correspond to Segal spaces and complete Segal spaces.
DOI · arXiv

Brouwer’s fixed-point theorem in real-cohesive homotopy type theory shulman-2017-brouwer

We combine homotopy type theory with axiomatic cohesion, expressing the latter internally with a version of ‘adjoint logic’ in which the discretization and codiscretization modalities are characterized using a judgemental formalism of ‘crisp variables.’ This yields type theories that we call ‘spatial’ and ‘cohesive,’ in which the types can be viewed as having independent topological and homotopical structure. These type theories can then be used to study formally the process by which topology gives rise to homotopy theory (the ‘fundamental ∞-groupoid’ or ‘shape’), disentangling the ‘identifications’ of homotopy type theory from the ‘continuous paths’ of topology. In a further refinement called ‘real-cohesion,’ the shape is determined by continuous maps from the real numbers, as in classical algebraic topology. This enables us to reproduce formally some of the classical applications of homotopy theory to topology. As an example, we prove Brouwer’s fixed-point theorem.
DOI · arXiv

Homotopy Type Theory: Univalent Foundations of Mathematics hottbook

Web · arXiv
External (35)
gratzer-2026-the reference entries/refs/gratzer-2026-the/gratzer-2026-the.hel