Glossary

Glossary

One line per term. Each links to its page when there is one.

Term	Meaning
AC (acceptance criterion)	A testable statement, written Given/When/Then, that defines when a user story is done. ID AC-NNN-n. More
ADR (architecture decision record)	A short document recording one decision that is expensive to reverse: context, options, decision, consequences. ID ADR-NNN. More
Agent (subagent)	A specialist with its own system prompt, tools and model, that the assistant delegates a task to. anycrew ships sixteen. More
Agent Plugins	An open packaging spec (plugin.json + skills/ + mcp.json) read by Codex, Cursor and Copilot. More
Agent Skills	The open SKILL.md format for skills, read by nearly every assistant. More
AGENTS.md	The plain-Markdown agent guide at a repository root, read by every assistant. More
Architecture style	The shape of a system (layered, hexagonal, modular monolith, event-driven, …); chosen with /crew-patterns and recorded as an ADR. More
Assistant (harness, tool)	The coding agent product you type into: Claude Code, Codex, Antigravity, Cursor, OpenCode, Copilot.
Balanced	The middle model tier: implement, test, research, routine review. More
Check command	The one command that runs every merge gate: lint, types, layer rules, tests. Comes from the preset, e.g. make check.
Code smell	A symptom that makes code expensive to change; found and refactored with /crew-refactor. More
Constitution	The short list of principles every change is checked against; changing one needs an ADR. More
Crew	anycrew's set of agents working under one method. The crew lead routes work between them.
Cut line	The sentence in the PRD that says what the demo shows if only P0 ships.
Design pattern	A named solution to a recurring design problem (factory, strategy, state, repository, outbox, …); picked per problem and recorded in docs/13. More
Fast	The cheapest model tier: read, search, summarise, status updates. More
FR / NFR	Functional / non-functional requirement, FR-NNN / NFR-NNN, defined in the PRD. More
Gate	A point where a person decides before the next phase starts: the decision, P0 scope, ADRs, spec Ready, production deploy. More
Generated file	A file anycrew writes into a project, marked anycrew:generated, safe to regenerate with sync.
Hook	A command the assistant runs at a lifecycle event (after a file edit, before a shell command). anycrew ships a lint-after-edit hook. More
Implementation status	docs/20, the only document that says what is actually built, with the test suite that proves it. More
MCP (Model Context Protocol)	The protocol assistants use to connect to external tools and data; configured per assistant. More
P0 / P1 / P2	Priority bands: proves the decision end to end / usable daily / sellable.
Phase	One step of the lifecycle: setup, discover, define, design, specify, build, verify, ship, record. More
Plan (plan.md)	How a spec will be built: slices, files, contract changes, constitution check. More
Preset	A JSON description of a stack: commands, layout, globs, conventions. More
PRD (product requirements document)	Users, journeys, scope by priority, requirements with IDs, metrics. More
Rule	Always-on or path-scoped guidance the assistant loads as context. More
SDD (spec-driven development)	Writing the spec first and implementing from it; code and spec change together. More
Skill	A reusable procedure the assistant loads on demand, usually invoked as /name. anycrew's are /crew-*. More
Slice	The thinnest vertical path through a plan that proves the design end to end.
Spec (spec.md)	What and why: user stories and acceptance criteria for one feature, docs/specs/NNN-name/. More
Strong	The strongest model tier: decisions and judgement. More
Task (TNNN-nn)	One unit of implementer work, naming its files and ACs; one task, one commit. More
TDD	Test-driven development: write the failing test, see it fail for the right reason, make the smallest change that passes.
Tier	The portable label (fast, balanced, strong) an agent declares for how much model it needs. More
Traceability	docs/04: requirement → spec → test → evidence, one row per requirement.
Trigger	How a rule loads: always_on, glob (by path), model_decision (when relevant), manual.
Universal layer	AGENTS.md and .agents/{rules,skills,agents}: the files most assistants read without conversion.
User story (US-NNN-n)	A need stated from the user's side, which the ACs make testable.
Verify	Auditing an implementation against its spec: conformant, untested, drift, missing, undocumented.