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Glossary

Domain terms and definitions for the Animus project.

A

ADR — Architecture Decision Record. Documents a significant design choice: context, options, decision, tradeoffs. See docs/architecture/decisions/.

ADL — Arete Decision Log. A higher-level commitment scoped to a project milestone. ADLs live alongside ADRs.

C

Contracts — Canonical JSON schemas that define data structures across Animus subsystems. 20+ schemas in packages/contracts/.

Core — The personal AI exocortex package (animus). Handles memory, CLI, integrations, and the cognitive layer.

Crucible — The universal transformation framework for navigating change. Phase detection, failure taxonomy, active/receptive polarity.

E

Exocortex — An external cognitive system that augments biological intelligence. Persistent memory, task tracking, preference learning across sessions and devices.

F

Forge — Multi-agent workflow orchestration engine (animus_forge). YAML-defined pipelines with budget controls and checkpoint/resume.

J

Jidoka — Stop and fix before propagating errors. One of the TPS principles applied to software.

K

Kaizen — Continuous improvement philosophy. Applied to Animus via the reflection loop and self-improvement pipeline.

Kernel — Autonomous builder engine (animus_kernel). Budget, executor, sandbox, safety, multi-agent supervision.

M

Mind-class — The target architecture for Animus v2.1. A persistent, self-improving personal intelligence with memory, planning, and autonomous execution.

P

Poka-yoke — Error prevention built into the system. Used in Forge's safety checks and config validation.

Q

Quorum — Agent coordination protocol (convergent). Decentralized multi-agent coherence via shared intent graph.

T

TPS — Toyota Production System. Applied to software via cost visibility, waste elimination, and quality gates.

Truth Baseline — Automated validation that documented claims match codebase reality. Run via scripts/truth-baseline.py.

Types — Shared schema definitions (animus_types). Install first as a sibling dependency.

V

v2.1 — The canonical executable baseline for Mind-class architecture. 8 technical planes, 22 JSON schemas, PostgreSQL durable core.

See Also