Glossary

The words of the design, each defined once. The statement’s vocabulary (section 3) is the binding copy of the words it defines, and its actors table (section 2) of the actors. The words of the capture design and of crew are millpond’s book’s, word for word, and the words for a sounding and for flume are sounding’s book’s. A number after “Flywheel’s” in them cites Flywheel’s statement.

millpond’s book uses three of the statement’s words for other things. A capture’s source names where its event came from, such as release. An item’s brief is the text its work starts from. An unread capture waits for a reader. In this book each keeps the statement’s meaning.

The statement’s words

word	meaning
repository state	the content of a repository at one commit, together with any uncommitted change the asker names as part of it
dependency	something published apart from the repository that its authors chose to use: a package, a tool, an image, or another repository’s releases
declaration	one place in a repository state that names a dependency, and what it says of the version
identity	the one name of a dependency that every declaration, source and asker uses for it; a Package URL without its version
pin	the version a repository state runs of a dependency, or unknown when the state names no single version
source	where upstream publishes a dependency’s releases, or an index of those places; a release source, notes source or advisory source by what it gives
release	one version of a dependency that its source publishes, with its date and a link to it
version order	how a dependency’s source orders its versions
newer	of a release against a pin, later in the dependency’s version order
notes	what upstream wrote of a release, as upstream wrote it
advisory	a published warning that names versions of a dependency as unsafe
tier	a named set of a repository’s dependencies, with a cadence; the default tier holds every dependency no other tier names
cadence	the longest time a tier may go without a complete scan while scans are asked for
due	of a tier, that its cadence has passed since its last complete scan, or that it has never had one
scan	one reading of a repository state’s dependencies and of the sources of those in the tiers it covers
complete	of a tier’s scan, that every dependency of the tier was read and every source reached
unread	of a dependency in a scan, that headwater could not read its declarations or reach its source, with the reason
report	what a scan found: for each dependency of the tiers it covers, its pin, the releases newer than it, the advisories that name it, or that it is unread
acknowledgement	a person’s word, or an acting session’s, on one release of one dependency: dismissed, or skipped until a newer release
brief	everything a fixer needs to move one dependency to one release: the release, its notes, its advisories, and every declaration of the dependency
held state	everything headwater keeps of its own for one repository
surface	one way an asker reaches headwater
profile	one way a contract of Part B is satisfied, as Part C describes

The actors

word	meaning
asker	a person, a coding agent, a surface, a recorder or a scheduler that asks headwater about a repository
fixer	a coding agent or a person who makes changes, and decides whether and how to move a pin, given a brief
recorder	a program that keeps what it hears as its own records, and never writes headwater’s state
upstream	whoever publishes a dependency, deciding what is released, when, under which version, and what its notes say

Words the design adds

word	meaning
undecided	of a release, that its order against the pin cannot be decided; reported beside the newer releases (7)
affected	of a dependency, that an advisory names its pin (18)
withdrawn	of a release, that its source has withdrawn it, as the source says (43)
seam	one of the five contracts of Part B through which the core reaches everything that is not git
binding	the profiles named for each seam: any number of descriptions and sources, and exactly one store (51)
conformance suite	the one set of scenarios that holds every profile to Parts A and B, each citing the clauses it exercises (52)
Package URL	the standard name of a package across ecosystems (ECMA-427), such as `pkg:npm/react`; with a version, a release’s identity (C.1)
range	what a declaration says of the versions it takes, such as `^1.4` or `>=1.4,<2`; a release inside it needs only the lockfile changed, one outside it a change to the manifest (`design/capture/design.md`)
watch list	a dependency description that names each dependency’s upstream repository, tag pattern, pin, tier, name and the files a bump moves (C.2)
millpond	the inbox: it runs adapters, keeps captures and signals, serves the tools curation works through, and sends an item on (its book)

Words from millpond’s book

word	meaning
adapter	a program that knows one source: it lists the source’s events, keys each one, fetches the raw material, marks a capture that is its own excerpt, and prints contract lines (Flywheel’s 115)
adapter part	a plugin’s part of the adapter kind: a command, the shape of its configuration, and the secrets it needs (Flywheel’s 228)
bolt	in crew, a team’s branch of work: its units and chores land on it, and it lands on the shared branch
capture	the record of one source event: its key, its source, its event date and a pointer to its raw material; the same event captured twice is one capture (Flywheel’s 111)
chore	in crew, a piece of work that needs no design of its own, such as a tool’s bump; a `route` move offers one
curation	a Claude session that proposes one move per signal, in batches, through millpond’s tools; the operator accepts or changes each batch (Flywheel’s 116)
dedupe	millpond’s lookup of each capture’s key in every capture the inbox holds, so a key lands once
excerpt	the verbatim text a signal quotes from its source, with its position (Flywheel’s 113)
inbox	a git repository, or a branch in one, holding captures, signals, moves and items in Flywheel’s record formats
item	the unit of work: the signals curation joined, one or many, with its brief and its sends; Flywheel’s proposed intent (Flywheel’s 109)
key	a source event’s identity, the same from every host and every run (Flywheel’s 111)
move	the one standing decision on a signal: drop, answered, challenge, join, attach or route, each with a stated consequence (Flywheel’s 107, 116)
own excerpt	a capture is its own excerpt when its line carries the signal’s fields, so millpond writes its one signal as it lands; a release is one
planner	crew’s agent that orders items across teams and turns each into a chore or a unit
plugin	the installable unit in every host, holding parts; Flywheel’s statement calls it a package, and a named set of parts a bundle (Flywheel’s 228, 284)
reader	a Claude session that turns an unread capture into signals with millpond’s `read` tool
route	the move that offers a chore, which becomes an item of one, or an ask, which millpond records
signal	one assertion from a capture: its kind, who asserted it, its subjects, the assertion in a sentence, the verbatim excerpt with its position, and the claims it argues with; never changed once written (Flywheel’s 113)
unit	in crew, one designed piece of a team’s work, landed on its bolt

Words from sounding’s book

word	meaning
conclusion	`conclusion.md`: the answer, its evidence, what it would change, the work it proposes, and what stays open; the operator decides it
flume	the tool that launches and tracks one agent in one worktree through a kind’s stages, on the host it runs on, and tidies the place when the work lands or is dropped (its book)
sounding	one question, worked by one session in one place, ending on one conclusion; also the tool that runs them (its book)