# Glossary

Canonical nomenclature for this project. Use the **canonical term**;
never use a term under **Avoid**. If you need a concept that is not
listed here, reuse the closest existing term — do not silently coin
a new one. New entries are added only to record nomenclature already
in consistent use; see `glossary-convention.md`.

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### cycle
**Avoid:** release, epic, round, sprint
One round in the pipeline graph (design → plan → execute → review →
close). Not the top-level container — that is a *milestone*.

### milestone
**Avoid:** epic, phase, big-ticket
A tracker container spanning potentially many cycles; closes only
when its promised work is complete and functional. A cycle close is
never a milestone close.

### iteration
**Avoid:** sprint, story, step
The default sub-unit of a cycle; one pass through the inner loop. A
project may rename it via `vocabulary.subcycle`.

### drift
**Avoid:** divergence, rot, skew
Accumulated mismatch between the codebase and its design ledger.
Surfaced by the architect agent at audit, not by any synonym check.

### hard-gate
**Avoid:** checkpoint, barrier, blocker
A pipeline point that forbids downstream work until an artefact
exists and is approved (e.g. an approved spec before any plan).