Concepts

The key terms of the series, defined plainly. Each is developed in the essay it links to.

Specification as a compile target

When agents write the implementation, the specification stops being prose for a human to interpret and becomes a source artifact compiled into a system. Like any source fed to a compiler, it deserves a type checker, a linter, and a build that fails when the input is wrong. → Specification Is a Compile Target

Grounding gate (truth gate)

A blocking gate that refuses to admit a claim into a specification unless it is backed by evidence — grep it, cite the file and line, or it does not enter. It checks Truth, not merely Coherence. → Specification Is a Compile Target

Truth / Coherence / Intent

The three orthogonal axes any verification can check: Truth (is it grounded in reality), Coherence (is it internally consistent), Intent (is it what was actually wanted). Intent has no external referent and is not mechanically oracle-able — it requires a human. → The Oracle Lens

Coherence oracle vs truth oracle

Every spec tool that reached the specification layer built a coherence oracle (does the document contradict itself). Almost none built a truth oracle (is the claim about the system actually true). They are different gates, not one gate at different strengths. → The Oracle Lens

Oracle

A check that can objectively say whether an output is correct — compile, tests, lint, run. A loop closes without a human only where a cheap objective oracle exists; where there is none (design, product intent), a human must stand at the gate. → Stop Prompting. Write Loops

Loop / harness engineering

Instead of prompting agents by hand, you design the system that finds work, dispatches agents, verifies results, reports, and escalates. The work moves up a ladder: prompt → context → feedback-loop → harness engineering. → Stop Prompting. Write Loops

Test-first as oracle

If tests come before code, the oracle is independent of the implementation: the test encodes intent before a solution exists, so "tests pass" is a real signal. Written after code, tests inherit the same misunderstanding and green means nothing. → Stop Prompting. Write Loops

Enrichment chain

A contract is not handed down in one act: the requester owns the intent gate, the senior enriches it into a verifiable technical contract (owning the architecture gate), and the loop fills the verifiable middle. Remove any gate and you get confident-wrong at scale. → Stop Prompting. Write Loops