Glossary

Short forms of the terms in CONTEXT.md. When a line here and CONTEXT.md disagree, CONTEXT.md wins.

The repo

Term	Meaning
house plugin	@house-rules/rules in packages/rules. Owns every checked rule and preset.
house rules	The rules the plugin checks.
preset	A config the plugin hands down: the TypeScript, Biome, and ESLint configs, and layout().
the stack	The template: a pnpm workspace with the plugin wired in.
thin config	A root config that extends a preset and adds only project values.
project value	A setting only one project knows, such as the @hosti/ scope.
prose rules	Rules no tool checks. The README lists them, and a reviewer reads for them.
wiring tests	Tests in tests/ that prove the thin configs and the fence are hooked up.
fence	Exact pins, pnpm check, pnpm test, the git hook, and the harness hooks that block --no-verify.
law	AGENTS.md.
vision	VISION.md. Each project made from the template writes its own.
agent sources	Shallow clones of dependency source in .agent_sources/, for agents to read.

Workspace and modules

Term	Meaning
workspace package	Any folder under apps/ or packages/ with its own package.json.
app	A workspace package under apps/. Holds delivery, server, and use-case code. Nothing imports it.
package	A workspace package under packages/. Holds one module.
module	Behavior with one interface and a private implementation.
seam	Where a module’s interface sits. For a package, its public entry.
public entry	src/index.ts, the only path a package’s exports names.
depth	Useful behavior per amount of interface a caller must learn.
service	A module’s interface: a Context.Service class whose methods return Effects.
expected error	A Schema.TaggedError class in the Effect error channel.
layer	An Effect Layer that provides a service. Not a delivery, server, or use-case folder.
migrations	A module’s .sql files in packages/<name>/migrations/.
owning package	The package whose migration creates a table.

Ports and adapters

Term	Meaning
port, slot	A service tag that says what a caller needs.
layer adapter	A Layer that fills a slot, such as Bookings.fromRecords.
delivery adapter	Delivery code that lets one kind of caller reach the use-cases.
cartridge	One job plus its infrastructure, pushed in with one Layer.provide line.
pull-out test	Delete a cartridge’s package and its line; does the rest still build and pass?

Capabilities and access

Term	Meaning
capability	One named action an app offers: a contract plus one handler.
contract	Name, description, input, output and failure schemas, flags, permission, approval.
surface	What an outside caller reaches: an MCP tool, an RPC, an HTTP endpoint. Built from a contract.
Actor	The user a call acts for.
Viewer	The Effect service that holds the Actor for one request.
permission	A resource:action string, such as bookings:read, or "public".
Grant	The slot that answers whether the caller holds a permission at all. Fails with Forbidden.
app role	A fact about the caller with no object, such as admin. Feeds the Grant.
Approval	The slot that asks a human whether they mean this call. Fails with ApprovalDenied.
relation	How the caller stands to one object, such as owner or shared.
policy	Maps each relation to the permissions it carries.
tool	One MCP action: name, description, input schema, annotations, handler.
tool catalogue	The list of tools in one app’s delivery layer.
resource server	Checks OAuth tokens another server issued. A remote MCP server is one.