Glossary

Every Plan Forge term defined.

Auto-generated from capabilities.mjs glossary, hand-edited for clarity.

Core Concepts

Term	Definition
Plan Forge	The framework itself — AI coding guardrails that enforce spec-driven development.
Forge	Shorthand for Plan Forge. Also: .forge/ directory (project data), .forge.json (config).
Plan	A Markdown file in docs/plans/ describing a feature. Contains slices, scope contract, and gates.
Hardened Plan	A plan that passed Step 2 — locked-down execution contract with scope, slices, gates, forbidden actions.
Scope Contract	Plan section defining In Scope, Out of Scope, and Forbidden files. Prevents scope creep.
Slice	A 30–120 minute unit of execution within a plan. Has tasks, a validation gate, and optional dependencies. Think of it as a commit-sized piece of work that can be validated on its own — small enough to catch failures early, large enough to be useful.
Validation Gate	Build + test commands that must pass at every slice boundary before proceeding.
Forbidden Actions	Files or operations the AI must not touch. Enforced by lifecycle hooks and scope checks.
Stop Condition	A condition that halts execution — e.g., "If migration fails, STOP."
Guardrails	Instruction files that auto-load based on the file being edited. 15–18 per preset.
Preset	Stack-specific configuration (dotnet, typescript, python, etc.). Determines which files are installed.
Extension	Community add-on providing instructions, agents, or prompts for a specific domain.

Pipeline

Term	Definition
Pipeline	The 7-step process: Specify → Preflight → Harden → Execute → Sweep → Review → Ship.
Step 0 (Specify)	Define what and why — structured specification with acceptance criteria.
Step 2 (Harden)	Convert spec into binding execution contract with slices, gates, and scope.
Step 3 (Execute)	Build code slice-by-slice. Can be automated or manual.
Step 5 (Review Gate)	Independent audit session — checks for drift, scope violations, and quality.

Execution

Term	Definition
Full Auto	Mode where gh copilot CLI runs each slice automatically. No human intervention.
Assisted	Mode where human codes in VS Code; orchestrator validates gates between slices.
Worker	The CLI process executing a slice — gh copilot, claude, or codex.
DAG	Directed Acyclic Graph — the dependency graph of slices determining execution order.
[P] tag	Parallel-safe marker on a slice header. Enables concurrent execution.
[depends: Slice N]	Dependency marker. Slice waits for N to complete before starting.
Quorum Mode	Multi-model consensus: 3+ models analyze a slice independently, reviewer synthesizes best approach.
Quorum Auto	Threshold-based: only slices scoring above the complexity threshold use quorum.
Complexity Score	1–10 rating based on file scope, dependencies, security keywords, gate count, historical failure rate.
Escalation Chain	Model failover order: if Model A fails, try B, then C.

Components

Term	Definition
Smith	Diagnostic tool (pforge smith). Inspects environment, setup, version. Named after a blacksmith.
Sweep	Completeness scan (pforge sweep). Finds TODO/FIXME/stub markers.
Analyze	Consistency scoring (pforge analyze). Scores 0–100 across 4 dimensions.
Orchestrator	Execution engine. Parses plans, schedules slices, spawns workers, validates gates.
Hub	WebSocket event server. Broadcasts slice events to connected clients in real-time.
Dashboard	Web UI at localhost:3100/dashboard. 9 tabs for monitoring, cost, replay, skills, config.
Lifecycle Hook	Automatic actions: SessionStart, PreToolUse, PostToolUse, Stop.
OpenBrain	Optional companion MCP server for persistent semantic memory across sessions.

Data Structures

Term	Definition
Run	A single plan execution. Creates .forge/runs/<timestamp>/ with results and traces.
Trace	OTLP-compatible JSON recording the full execution with spans, events, and timing.
OTLP	OpenTelemetry Protocol — the standard format for distributed traces. Plan Forge traces are OTLP-compatible and can be exported to Jaeger, Grafana Tempo, or any collector.
Span	A timed unit within a trace — run (root), slice (child), gate (grandchild).
Cost History	.forge/cost-history.json — aggregate token/cost data across all runs.
Index	.forge/runs/index.jsonl — append-only run registry for instant lookup.