Ontology (Ubiquitous Language)
This page defines the shared vocabulary for Boundline. Consistent use of these terms ensures clarity between operators, documentation, and the runtime.
Core Entities
Bounded Session
The active delivery container for a declared goal. It is "bounded" because it has an explicit scope, context, and end-state. It prevents the AI from drifting into unrelated tasks.
Context Pack
The complete set of information Boundline uses to plan or execute. Unlike a generic "prompt," a context pack is a structured bundle of files, briefs, validation results, and historical traces.
Runtime State
The local workspace data (stored in .boundline/) that tracks the progress of a session. It is the single source of truth for the "current" state of work, independent of chat history.
Governance & Logic
Guidance
Proactive rules and practices provided to the worker before or during action. Example: "Always use TypeScript strict mode."
Guardian
Reactive validation logic that checks work after action or at quality gates. Guardians emit structured findings. Example: "Ensure no secrets were committed in the last run."
Finding
A structured report from a Guardian. Unlike a text comment, a Finding has a severity (Blocker, Risk, Warning, Observation) and a specific scope.
Trace
A durable, inspectable record of a specific decision or action taken by the runtime. Traces allow an operator to audit why a certain path was chosen.
Inspect Closure
A human-facing projection built from authoritative trace state, such as inspect_context, inspect_council, or inspect_timeline.
Integration & Extension
Expert Pack
A reusable package of expertise (prompts, guidance, guardians) tailored for a specific stack, domain, or role (e.g., "React Expert," "Security Reviewer").
Canon
The external system of record for governed knowledge, approvals, and lineage. Boundline consumes Canon knowledge but does not own the governance authority.
Project Memory
Durable knowledge about a project (architecture decisions, business logic, governed evidence) that survives across multiple sessions, often sourced from Canon-promoted docs/project/ or docs/evidence/ material.
Review Council
A bounded governance review assembly selected from the active authority zone and runtime posture. Councils add structured independent review without turning the product into an unbounded orchestration graph.
Reasoning Profile
A bounded runtime challenge pattern that activates when governance posture or stage policy requires stronger challenge. Current shipped examples include bounded_self_consistency, independent_pair_review, heterogeneous_security_review, and bounded_reflexion.
Delight Feedback Signal
A lightweight session-scoped usefulness metric such as time to first useful answer, explanation attribution rate, next-action acceptance rate, or latest next-action outcome.
Support Mode
The declared host parity posture for an assistant surface. Current values include repo-local-full, copy-ready-assets, and manual-fallback.
Compatibility Window
The explicit release pair that declares which Boundline and Canon versions can consume the same governed contract surface without manual interpretation.