Glossary

Short definitions for terms used across these docs. Each entry links to the page that explains the concept in full. This page is a lookup, not a tutorial.

ADR

An Architecture Decision Record: a numbered, dated, user-attributed file under .codearbiter/decisions/ that records one architectural decision. Authored only via /ca:adr; never invented by a routine finding. See ADRs and the Decision Log.

Advisory

A non-blocking reminder that surfaces right after a write (e.g. a crypto pattern or a CI file change) so the blocking gate at commit time is not a surprise. Advisories never stop a tool call. See Enforcement & Security.

Arbiter (enabled flag)

The arbiter: enabled line in .codearbiter/CONTEXT.md’s frontmatter: the single activation flag that turns on the orchestrator persona and every enforcement hook for a repository. A repo without it loads nothing and blocks nothing. See The .codearbiter/ Directory Reference.

Blocking gate

A gate whose failure stops the tool call outright: the call never happens, and the only sanctioned way past it is fixing the underlying issue or a logged /ca:override. Contrast with an advisory. See Enforcement & Security.

Board

.codearbiter/open-tasks.md, the project’s task list. Every task holds one of three states (queued, in-progress, done); the only sanctioned writer is /ca:task. See The .codearbiter/ Directory Reference.

Checkpoint

A periodic, read-only sweep of the whole codebase by the reviewer fleet, consolidated into a dated report under .codearbiter/checkpoints/. Catches drift between feature work without blocking any single change. See Checkpoints.

CONFIRM-NN

The placeholder for an unresolved question only the user can answer, numbered and recorded in .codearbiter/open-questions.md. It blocks stage promotion until resolved and is never guessed at. See The .codearbiter/ Directory Reference.

Decision log

.codearbiter/decisions/decision-log.md, the append-only ledger mirroring every ADR file: one entry per recorded decision, never edited after the fact. A superseding decision appends a new entry rather than rewriting the old one. See ADRs and the Decision Log.

Feature Forge / Preview Features

The two-axis system that separates a payload’s SemVer maturity from whether an individual feature is still a preview. In reader-facing copy this is labeled “Preview Features”; “Feature Forge” is the internal name. See What Is the Feature Forge.

Gate

A phase exit condition (STOP or BLOCK) that a change must clear before it proceeds. Not a “checkpoint” and not a “guardrail”: those are different mechanisms. See The Gated-Lane Model.

Hook

A Claude Code hook: a script that runs at a tool-call boundary (PreToolUse, PostToolUse, SessionStart, …) and can block, remind, or inject context. codeArbiter’s hooks are Python, stdlib-only, and fail loud. See Hooks reference.

Lane

A sanctioned path through the system, with gates scaled to the work’s risk: implementation, commit & ship, decisions, or project & meta. Not a “workflow” and not a “track.” See The Gated-Lane Model.

Marker

A small file under .codearbiter/.markers/ that records a gate’s pass state, for example security-gate-passed, which a commit-time gate checks for freshness and content coverage before allowing a commit through. See The .codearbiter/ Directory Reference.

NEEDS-TRIAGE

The placeholder for an out-of-scope finding set aside inline during review: recorded, never acted on in place. It typically lands as a queued item on the board. See The .codearbiter/ Directory Reference.

Orchestrator

The always-on persona injected at SessionStart in an arbiter-enabled repo. It routes every request to the skill or agent that owns it and holds the gates; it never freelances. See The Persona-Register Split.

Override

The sanctioned, logged bypass of a gate, invoked as /ca:override "reason". It appends one permanent line to .codearbiter/overrides.log before proceeding. Never call this a “workaround” or a “skip.” See Override a Gate Safely.

Persona

A named voice codeArbiter speaks with: the terse orchestrator, or a focused author/reviewer agent, each scoped to its own job and context footprint. See The Persona-Register Split.

Provenance

The per-doc evidence trail that backs a derived .codearbiter/ document (which source lines justified which claim), used to detect when that source has since drifted. See Provenance and Context Drift.

SMARTS

The named framework an autonomous /ca:sprint uses to decide “as the user” on non-hard-gate points, scoring each auto-decision and logging it with a confidence flag. See SMARTS.

Spike

A time-boxed exploration on a disposable spike/* branch that answers one named question. It never merges and never becomes the implementation. Only its written findings survive. See the /ca:spike reference.

Sprint

An autonomous, multi-task run via /ca:sprint: one interactive spec gate, then execution to a shipped PR with every auto-decision SMARTS-scored and logged to sprint-log.md. Hard gates remain true stops even under autonomy. See Run an Autonomous Sprint.

Stage

A single project-maturity number in .codearbiter/CONTEXT.md’s frontmatter. It scales how strict a gate behaves for this project and is surfaced by /ca:status and the statusline. See The .codearbiter/ Directory Reference.

Statusline

codeArbiter’s Claude Code statusline: usage segments in every session, plus a project-state row (stage, tasks, open questions, overrides) in an arbiter-enabled repo. See Set Up the Statusline.

Tribunal

The deep, rarely-convened whole-codebase audit (/ca:tribunal): eleven specialist lenses over a resumable on-disk run, filing approved findings as GitHub issues. Never a required gate, and not a synonym for the routine checkpoint sweep. See Checkpoints.