Glossary
The v2 model
These terms belong to the v2 model. Its commands and MCP tools ship from 0.9.0, and ndx init creates v2 projects; a v1 project is one that has not yet run ndx migrate (see v1 projects).
Each term is shown with an example from n-dx's own PRD.
| Term | Means | n-dx example |
|---|---|---|
| Product layer | The product's standing requirements: what the app must do, each with a computed build status. Shown on the Product page. Not the codebase map, which shows how the code is structured | The list of n-dx's areas and capabilities |
| Area | A durable part of the product, named for the job it serves. Areas do not nest | Execute work |
| Capability | One thing the product does: a one-sentence statement plus its capability criteria, the standing spec it is met against. May hold sub-capabilities one level deep | Execute work › Session strategy: "A forked task session edits like a fresh one" |
| Constraint | A rule that applies across capabilities, checked by a test | Architecture integrity (gateways, spawn-only), checked by architecture-policy.test.js |
| Change | A bounded piece of work that adds, modifies, removes or fixes capabilities. Ticket-shaped; its release is a field, not a folder | "Forked sessions recover from a read-only refusal" (#473): touches Session strategy, planned for 1.0.1 |
| Task, subtask | The steps of a change; what ndx work runs. A change with no tasks is itself the unit of work | "Tell the forked session that orientation is over" |
| Apply | The step that writes a change's amendments into the product layer when it completes. Deterministic; no model is called | A change that modifies a Session strategy capability criterion completes; apply rewrites it, restamps the spec hash and adds a History line. (A touches-only fix such as #473 is never applied: its history and health are computed) |
| Evidence | What machines record as work happens | Commits with N-DX-Item trailers, hench run records, test results |
| Status | Where a capability stands against intent (see below). Computed | Session strategy reads changing while an amendment to it is unapplied |
| Health | Whether it is broken right now: ok or defective. Computed | Session strategy reads defective while #473 is open |
Status and health
Nobody sets either by hand. Both are computed from files and state.
| Axis | Value | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Intent | Proposed | Created by an open change; never built |
| Intent | Changing | An amendment to it is unapplied: its change is open, or completed and awaiting review or release apply. Cancelled changes do not count |
| Intent | Met | The spec hash equals the hash recorded when it was last built, and its checks pass |
| Intent | Revised | The spec was edited after it was built, and no open change is building the edit |
| Intent | Retired | A removed delta was applied |
| Health | OK | Nothing below |
| Health | Defective | An open fix touches it, or one of its checks fails |
Revised is the signal a task board cannot show: the requirement has moved ahead of the build. The spec hash covers only the statement and capability criteria (never a change's acceptance criteria), so editing a capability's prose body never changes its status. Constraints carry health too.
Relationships
- Amends: a change names a capability or constraint and a delta: added, modified or removed.
- Touches: a change names a node with no delta. Used for fixes and refactors.
- Applies to: a constraint names all capabilities, or a list of areas and capabilities.
- Realized by: which files and zones a capability lives in. Computed from the commits of changes that amended it, never written by hand.
A change's kind is read, not tagged
| Relationship to the product layer | Kind |
|---|---|
| Amends, added | Feature |
| Amends, modified | Enhancement |
| Amends, removed | Retirement |
| Touches a defective capability | Fix |
| Touches, no status change | Refactor |
| Amends a constraint | Policy change |
| Neither, spike flag set | Spike |
Reclassifying is free: a "bug" that turns out to be a feature request gains an amendment, and its kind follows.
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