# Glossary
Terms this framework fixes, each resolved at the chapter that owns it. A term is defined once. This page points rather than restates.
| Spec | the current contract for one domain, loaded before work | `specs.md` |
| Domain | a capability a spec covers; a shelf in a knowledge base | `placement.md` |
| Shelf | one top-level subject directory, holding its own chapters and index | `placement.md` |
| Requirement | one `` ### `<rule-id>` `` block: title, ID, statement, scenario, verify | `rules.md` |
| Rule | the same block, named by what it does rather than where it sits | `rules.md` |
| Rule ID | `<spec-slug>:<rule-slug>`, the citation token | `rules.md` |
| Statement | the single binding sentence in an EARS pattern | `rules.md` |
| Scenario | the GIVEN / WHEN / THEN case separating compliance from breach | `rules.md` |
| Verification command | the command that exits non-zero when a rule is violated | `rules.md` |
| Decision record | one immutable entry in the log of why | `decisions.md` |
| Disposition | what happened to a considered option: chosen, rejected, deferred | `decisions.md` |
| Reopening condition | what would put a deferred option back on the table | `decisions.md` |
| Kind prefix | the uppercase `SPEC-`, `ADR-`, `KI-`, or `TEMPLATE-` leading a name | `placement.md` |
| Companion directory | `SPEC-<domain>/`, holding artifacts a requirement names | `specs.md` |
| Docs root | `docs/` for a codebase, `_docs/` for a content tree | `placement.md` |
| Plan zone | the declared place the planning tool writes entry documents to | `placement.md` |
| Zone | a directory under the docs root serving one reader need | `placement.md` |
| Author-instructions file | the always-loaded digest and router at a directory | `agent-context.md` |
| Entry document | the one document a unit of work loads, which names its sources | `agent-context.md` |
| Docs scratch | the declared place for material that is not a statement yet | `lifecycle.md` |
| Draft | exploratory material in the docs scratch | `lifecycle.md` |
| Promotion | rewriting a draft into its owning zone and deleting the draft | `lifecycle.md` |
| Tracking registry | the machine-readable record of facts that expire | `lifecycle.md` |
| Unenforced rule | a real rule that no command decides, declared as such | `gates.md` |
| Enact | to change behavior so a rule's verification command passes | `spec-to-code.md` |
| Typed clause | `ADDED`, `MODIFIED`, or `REMOVED` plus a rule ID, in an entry doc | `spec-to-code.md` |
| Coverage tag | `SATISFIES` or `VERIFIES` plus a rule ID, in a source comment | `spec-to-code.md` |
| Suppression | a mask over a finding, naming its case or stating a permanent reason | `spec-to-code.md` |
| Permanent exception | a suppression masking no external defect, carrying its reason | `spec-to-code.md` |
| Last check | the date a record's upstream state was last confirmed | `lifecycle.md` |
| Known-issue case | a live defect in a system the project does not own, recorded once | `lifecycle.md` |
| Case id | `KI-<slug>`, the known-issue record's filename and citation token | `lifecycle.md` |
| Mask | a temporary workaround, carrying the condition that removes it | `lifecycle.md` |
| State | how this project handles a known-issue case, as one word | `lifecycle.md` |
| Filing state | where a known-issue case stands upstream, as one word | `lifecycle.md` |
| Mitigation | a permanent guard that stays after the upstream fix | `lifecycle.md` |
| Clarification marker | `[NEEDS CLARIFICATION: <question>]` at an undecided requirement | `rules.md` |
| Catalog | a document holding one entry per rule and no argument | `format.md` |
| Agreed behavior | behavior an open unit of work cites by rule ID; the spec wins | `model.md` |
| Observed behavior | behavior no open work cites; the code wins | `model.md` |
| Canon | this repository: the method, its templates, and its gates | `instance/README.md` |
| Instance | a project that installed the canon, holding its own specs | `instance/README.md` |
| Managed file | a file the canon owns in an instance; an edit is a conflict | `instance/README.md` |
| Adopted file | a file the canon seeds and the instance then owns | `instance/README.md` |
| Integration block | a marked region the canon owns inside a file the instance owns | `instance/README.md` |
Terms this framework deliberately does not use, because each is a synonym that weakens retrieval for the one it duplicates: specification document, contract, requirements doc, ADR log, decision log, constitution, steering file, policy.