Concepts

The vocabulary

The patterns use a compact set of terms. Each term describes a boundary, a lifecycle, or an information flow. Together they make it possible to discuss agentic engineering without conflating the principle with one implementation.

Concept	Short definition
Workspace scopes	System, Workstream, Task, and Runtime scopes with different authorities and lifetimes.
System	A responsibility or product boundary in the canonical architecture.
Layer	An architectural role such as capability, knowledge, observability, runtime, or experience.
Resource	Any named thing that exists in the System model.
Runtime Resource	An allocated port, process, namespace, or ephemeral service used by a Task or Run.
Repository	Independent Git history, CI, release, and engineering boundary.
Agent Profile	A reusable definition of an engineering role.
Planner	A capability that turns Workstream intent into proposed next tasks.
Task Resolver	A capability that composes a Task Workspace from Systems, Layers, and Resources.
Workstream	Durable goals, plans, loops, state, and history for an ongoing effort.
Task Workspace	Disposable execution context assembled for one task.
Runtime Workspace	Canonical deployed or operational state, distinct from task execution state.
Run	One bounded agent execution.
Workspace Context	Shared durable knowledge available to Runs.
Intent	Minimal coordination information exposed to other Runs.
Candidate	A proposed result awaiting validation or integration.
Event	Durable provenance or engineering history.
Knowledge Proposal	A suggestion to promote a discovery or decision into shared knowledge.
Integration	Validation and promotion of a Candidate into canonical history.

A lifecycle view

System model + caller objective → context selection → Task Workspace
                                                   ↓
                                                  Run → Candidate → Integration
                                                   ↓
                                            result + durable lineage

The vocabulary is intentionally implementation-independent. Agent Workspace owns the repository/context and bounded-execution path; callers may own Task intent and loops, while runtime owners expose deployed state. A local SQLite coordinator, a daemon, or an external scheduler can expose compatible objects.

Read next

Start with Workspace Scopes and the System Model, then read Run and Integration. The more operational terms become useful once you reach the patterns.