Glossary

Each entry below defines a Vibeless term you meet in the app or in an agent's transcript, says where it appears, and links to the article that covers it.

A

Acceptance criteria. The conditions a ticket must meet to count as done, written one per line in the ticket's Acceptance Criteria field. The AC badge on a ticket card counts the non-empty lines. See Tickets.

Access request. A request from an organization member to work on a shared project they cannot open yet, sent with Request access on the project's row. A maintainer approves or denies it under Pending requests in the Organization panel. See Organization and team sync.

Active ticket. The one ticket per project pinned as the work happening now. You pin it by clicking a card or moving a ticket to In Progress, and an agent can pin it with vibeless_set_active_ticket. Its card has a highlighted ring on the Tickets board. See Tickets.

Agent. The AI coding tool connected to Vibeless through MCP, such as Claude Code, Cursor, or Codex. You connect it from the Agents tab on the Dashboard. See Connecting agents.

Agent adapter. The agent profile Vibeless formats its MCP responses for. Profiles exist for Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Gemini, Windsurf, Aider, and a generic MCP fallback, which every new project starts on. The Agent Adapter card on the Dashboard Overview shows the current one. See Dashboard.

Agent-artifact paths. Repository paths that the scanner, file watcher, git monitor, and manual sync ignore, so agent scaffolding never reaches the Drift Log. Some paths are built in and locked, and you can add your own. The card is on the Dashboard Agents tab. See Dashboard.

Architecture document. One Markdown document that describes how the project is built, edited on the Architecture tab of the Spec Editor. Agents read it in full with vibeless_get_architecture, and the SessionStart digest carries its first 1,500 characters. See Spec Editor.

Architecture helper. An LLM assistant under the architecture editor that drafts architecture text from a request you type. It needs a paid plan and uses credits. See Spec Editor.

B

Backlog. The first column on the Tickets board, for planned work not yet queued. New tickets land here by default, and tickets an agent creates always land at the bottom of it. The other columns are Pending, In Progress, Review, and Done. See Tickets.

C

Change event. One recorded change to a file in the repository, picked up by the file watcher or the git monitor. Vibeless classifies each change event as expected, growth, drift, or unknown, and the events that need a look wait in the Drift Log for review. See Logs.

Changelog. A tab in the Logs panel on team projects. It lists every change synced to the project as a plain sentence, tagged with the person or agent who made it. See Logs.

Cohort. The release group a build of the app belongs to, such as a beta build. A beta or other non-general build shows its cohort in the About card of the Account panel, and crash reports carry the same tag. Public release builds show no cohort line. See Account, plans, and projects.

Comment. A permanent note on a ticket's Comments tab, written by you or by an agent with vibeless_add_task_comment. Comments cannot be edited or deleted, and each one is limited to 10,000 bytes. See Tickets.

Connection method. The option you pick on the Connection Method step of the agent setup wizard, such as MCP (stdio), Claude Code CLI, .cursorrules File, or AGENTS.md, depending on the agent. The wizard shows your choice for review on the Confirm step. It does not change what the installer writes. See Getting started.

Constraint. A rule the project's code must follow, listed on the Constraints card of the Spec Editor. A constraint can also carry a code pattern that the drift check matches, which makes it a machine-enforced rule. See Spec Editor.

Context node. One entry in the project's spec map: a rule, a spec, or a standard, attached at a project, domain, or feature scope. You manage context nodes in the Context Editor, and agents read them with vibeless_get_node. See Context Editor and Search.

Coupling level. The setting on a link between 2 projects in a workspace that controls what context crosses the link. Awareness shares the name, goal, and tech stack. Dependency adds each phase's name, status, and order. Read adds constraints, decisions, and context nodes. Governance adds the context nodes shared on the link to the agent's working rules. See Workspaces and linked projects.

Credit pool. On a team plan, the credits shared by every seat in the organization. The You card in the Organization panel shows the pool size and how many members share it. See Organization and team sync.

Credits. The unit that measures LLM usage. Each paid plan has a monthly credit budget, and the Credits card on the Dashboard Overview shows how much you have used. The free plan has no LLM features, so it has no credit budget. See Account, plans, and projects.

D

Decision. A recorded choice with its rationale and the alternatives considered. You log one with Log Decision on the Decisions tab of the Logs panel, and an agent logs one with vibeless_log_decision, which also returns earlier decisions that may overlap. A decision can list forbids. See Logs.

Declare intent. The step where an agent tells Vibeless what it is about to work on, with vibeless_declare_intent. The reply holds the project map, up to 5 suggested starting points, and the staleness signal for the spec map. See MCP tools reference.

Developer Review and Guided Review. The 2 ways to review what an import scan found before you apply it. You pick one on the review step of Project Import. See Importing an existing project.

Drift. A gap between what the project record says and what the code does. Vibeless finds drift in 2 ways: the Drift Log, which records each change as it happens, and the drift check, which compares the repository against the record on demand. See What Vibeless is.

Drift check. An on-demand run of all 5 drift detectors against the current repository, started by an agent with vibeless_run_drift_check. The report lists findings with a severity and names any detector that had nothing to check. See Logs.

Drift classification. The label Vibeless gives each change event. Expected changes fit the record. Growth is new work that may belong in the spec, drift breaks a rule or leaves the plan, and unknown could not be placed. See Logs.

Drift detector. One of the 5 deterministic checks behind the drift check. They cover pinned tech stack versions, constraint patterns, non-goal path globs, the phase boundary, and decision forbids. A detector with no machine-readable fields to work with is skipped. See Logs.

Drift Log. A tab in the Logs panel that lists change events for review. You can filter by classification and by review state (Pending, Accepted, Dismissed, Flagged), and act on rows one at a time or in bulk. The badge on the Logs sidebar item counts pending events classified as drift or unknown. See Logs.

E

Edge. A link between 2 context nodes, shown on the Edges card of the Context Editor. Agents walk edges with vibeless_spec_neighbors. See Context Editor and Search.

Editor. The access level on a shared project that can change tickets, phases, decisions, comments, the architecture document, and context nodes, but not the Spec tab, phase path globs, decision forbids, hooks, or enforcement proposals, and cannot delete decisions. Everyone on a team a project is shared with gets editor access. See Organization and team sync.

Enforcement coverage. How many of the project's items carry a machine-readable field the drift check can use, shown as badges such as "Constraints 3/5" on the Spec Enforcement card. Highlighted badges have gaps. See Dashboard.

Enforcement proposal. A suggested machine-readable value for a written rule: a code pattern for a constraint, path globs for a non-goal, phase, or spec document, or forbids for a decision. The Vibeless server derives proposals with an LLM, and nothing is written until you accept one on the Dashboard Enforcement tab. See Dashboard.

Everyone team. The default team every organization starts with. New members are added to it automatically. It cannot be deleted, but it can be renamed. See Organization and team sync.

F

File mapping. A path glob that ties repository files to a context node, managed in the Context Editor. File mappings, edges, and context nodes together make up the spec map. See Context Editor and Search.

Forbids. A list of dependencies or patterns a decision rules out, such as openssl. The drift check flags code that uses them. Only people set forbids, in the Logs panel or by accepting an enforcement proposal, and on a shared project only a maintainer can change them. See Logs.

G

Gap (import). An area of the codebase that the first import scan could not cover, listed under Deep Analysis Gaps with a category such as Architecture Inference or Spec Extraction. You can select gaps for a deeper LLM pass, and each one shows its token count and credit estimate. This needs a paid plan. See Importing an existing project.

Generate from Architecture. A Phase Planner button that asks an LLM to propose phases and tickets from the architecture document. Nothing is created until you select the phases to keep. It needs a paid plan and uses credits. See Phase Planner.

Goal statement. A one-sentence goal for the project, set on the Spec tab of the Spec Editor. Agents see it near the top of the SessionStart digest. See Spec Editor.

Governance Reminder. The hook that adds a reminder to every prompt you send Claude Code or Codex: consult the Vibeless MCP and honor binding decisions. The installer writes it into the agent's configuration next to the SessionStart hook. See Connecting agents.

H

Hook. A command that runs on one of the agent's own events, such as a session start or a submitted prompt. For Claude Code and Codex, the installer adds 2 system hooks by default: the SessionStart digest and the Governance Reminder. You can add your own on the Hooks card of the Dashboard Agents tab. See Connecting agents.

L

Linked project. Another project in the same workspace that is linked to this one, listed on the Linked Projects card of the Dashboard Settings tab. Each link has a direction and a coupling level. See Workspaces and linked projects.

Locked project. A project set aside after a downgrade left your account with more projects than the new plan allows. You choose which projects stay active, and the rest are locked: their data stays intact, but they leave the project switcher and agents get an error for them. A locked project shows a Locked badge and an Unlock button in your project list. See Account, plans, and projects.

Logic certificate. A structured argument, written by an agent, that a ticket meets its spec. It ends in an answer of YES, NO, or PARTIAL and appears on the ticket's Reports tab. Agents file one when they move a ticket to Review, but only while Enable semi-formal certificates on Review is on. Also called a report. See Tickets.

M

Machine-enforced rule. A constraint that carries a code pattern the drift check can match. These rules appear with a lock icon under Machine-enforced rules in the Spec Editor and are read-only there. See Spec Editor.

Maintainer. The access level on a shared project that can change everything, including the Spec tab, phase path globs, decision forbids, and who has access. Org admins always count as maintainers. See Organization and team sync.

Manifest. The file ~/.vibeless/manifest.json, which tells the MCP server how to reach the running app and which project each project token belongs to. The app rewrites it when it starts, when the active project changes, and when you install or remove an agent. See Connecting agents.

MCP. The Model Context Protocol, the standard way agents call external tools. Agents read and update the Vibeless record through MCP tools whose names start with vibeless_. See MCP tools reference.

MCP server. The bundled program vibeless-mcp-server that the app starts in the background. Installed agents reach it over local HTTP at http://127.0.0.1:<port>/mcp, with the project token in an Authorization: Bearer header. The server looks the token up in the manifest to find the project. See Connecting agents.

Member. The organization role for anyone who is not an org admin. Roles and seats are managed in Clerk, the sign-in service, and the Organization panel links there. See Organization and team sync.

N

Non-goal. Something the project has decided not to do, listed on the Non-Goals card of the Spec Editor. A non-goal can carry path globs, added through enforcement proposals, so the drift check flags changes in out-of-scope folders. See Spec Editor.

Notifications. The bell in the app header, shown only on team plans. It lists projects shared with you that are not set up yet, access requests waiting on you, and sync problems on the open project. See Organization and team sync.

O

Org admin. The organization role that manages teams and is always a maintainer on every shared project. Only org admins can create or delete teams. See Organization and team sync.

Organization. A group account that shares projects among its members through teams. The Organization sidebar item appears only when your account belongs to one. See Organization and team sync.

P

Past due. The state of an account whose last payment failed. A banner reads "Your last payment didn't go through" and asks you to update your payment method. Your plan keeps working while the banner shows, and you can dismiss it for the session. See Account, plans, and projects.

Path glob. A file pattern relative to the repository root, such as src/billing/**. Path globs mark which files belong to a phase, a non-goal, a file mapping, or a spec document. Agents never write them. See Phase Planner.

Phase. A stage of work with a name, a status (pending, active, complete, or skipped), a position, and optional path globs. Every ticket belongs to one phase. Several phases can be active at once. See Phase Planner.

Phase boundary. The drift detector that flags changed files outside the path globs of the lowest-numbered active phase, as medium-severity findings. A phase with no valid path globs is reported as not enforceable. See Phase Planner.

Phase order. The position number of each phase, such as #2, which you change by dragging cards in the Phase Planner. When an agent asks for the current phase, it gets the active phase with the lowest number, and the phase boundary check uses that same phase. See Phase Planner.

Pinned versions. The dependency versions a detected tech stack entry records from its manifest file, such as a package.json. The drift check compares them with the repository and reports a version that changed or a dependency that disappeared. See Spec Editor.

Plan. Your Vibeless subscription. The free plan has no LLM features. Paid plans have the same features and differ only by credit budget and project cap. See Account, plans, and projects.

Project. One codebase and its governing record in Vibeless. The spec, phases, tickets, decisions, and context nodes all belong to a project. See What Vibeless is.

Project cap. The number of active projects your plan allows: 1 on the free plan, 5 on Basic, and unlimited on the other paid plans. At the cap, the new-project options say the limit is reached and offer an upgrade. See Account, plans, and projects.

Project token. A per-project secret that the installer writes into your agent's configuration as an Authorization: Bearer header. It tells the MCP server which project the agent belongs to, and the app never displays it. Rotate token on the Dashboard Agents tab issues a new one, after which every installed agent must be reinstalled with it. See Connecting agents.

R

Re-scan. The Re-scan button in Project Import for a repository that has been scanned before. It scans again and compares what it finds with the earlier scan. See Importing an existing project.

Report. See Logic certificate.

S

Scope level. The level a context node applies at: project, domain, or feature, together with a scope name such as the domain's name. The Context Editor groups nodes by scope level. See Context Editor and Search.

Search. Keyword search across the project record, opened with Ctrl+/ or Ctrl+K. Selecting a ticket in the results opens it on the Tickets board. See Context Editor and Search.

Seat. A member's place in an organization on a team plan. Every seat adds to the organization's credit pool. See Organization and team sync.

SessionStart digest. The project briefing that the SessionStart hook gives Claude Code and Codex at the start of every session. It holds the project name, goal, a condensed tech stack, the constraints, the start of the architecture document, the decisions (those with forbids first), and a staleness line when the spec map may be behind. It does not include the current phase or the active ticket; agents fetch those through MCP tools. See Connecting agents.

Set up. The action that points Vibeless at your own clone of a project someone shared with you, so you and your agent see the same plan as your teammates. It appears on the Shared with you card in the Organization panel and in the notifications bell. See Organization and team sync.

Shared project. A project shared with one or more teams from the Projects tab of the Organization panel. Its plan, tickets, and history sync through the Vibeless cloud service, encrypted at rest and in transit under a per-organization key. See Organization and team sync.

Snapshot. A saved copy of the project records, listed on the Snapshots card of the Version History tab. Each snapshot covers every project on this computer, including ones that are not open. Vibeless saves a milestone snapshot when a phase changes to complete. See Logs.

Spec. The project's description, goal statement, tech stack, constraints, and non-goals, edited on the Spec tab of the Spec Editor. On a shared project only a maintainer can save it. See Spec Editor.

Spec map. The context nodes, edges, and file mappings that agents read to find the rules and specs for the files they touch. People maintain it in the Context Editor, and nothing a scan or the file watcher finds is added to it automatically. See Context Editor and Search.

Staleness warning. A line agents see when the spec map may be behind the code, starting "Spec map may be stale". It appears when changes are pending review in the Drift Log, when the map has not been edited for 7 days or more, or when the map is empty. It shows in the vibeless_declare_intent reply, the project context, and the SessionStart digest, and it changes nothing on its own. See Logs.

Sync conflict. A synced change that did not apply cleanly, such as 2 people changing the same field. Conflicts are listed on the Sync Conflicts card of the Dashboard Team tab, and only a maintainer can resolve them. See Dashboard.

Sync indicator. The colored dot in the app header for a shared project. Its label reads Synced, Syncing, Offline, Read-only, Update required, or Access revoked. Click it to see the last synced position, the conflict count, and a Reconnect button when a retry can help. See Organization and team sync.

T

Team. A group inside an organization that decides who can work on which projects. Sharing a project with a team gives everyone on it editor access. Org admins manage teams on the Teams tab of the Organization panel. See Organization and team sync.

Team Sync. The service that keeps a shared project the same on every teammate's computer. The Team Sync card on the Dashboard Team tab shows its status, the last synced position, and the changes waiting to upload. See Organization and team sync.

Tech stack. The technologies a project uses, listed on the Tech Stack card of the Spec Editor. Entries detected from manifest files during import are read-only and carry pinned versions. Manual entries carry a Manual badge and stay editable. See Spec Editor.

Ticket. One unit of work inside a phase, with a name, a spec, constraints, acceptance criteria, and a status. Agents can create tickets and change their status, but never edit a ticket's text. The sidebar item is Tickets, and some buttons on the board say "Task". See Tickets.

Topology. A graph of the code's structure that Vibeless extracts from your files, shown in the Topology panel. Rebuild extracts it again. Agents read it with vibeless_topology_summary and vibeless_topology_query. See Topology.

Trial. A 7-day free trial that comes with every paid plan. During the trial you get the plan's full monthly credit budget. If the trial ends without a subscription, the account returns to the free plan. See Account, plans, and projects.

U

Upgrade to Unlock. The card that takes the place of Vibe Coder on the free plan, with an Upgrade Plan button. See Vibe Coder.

V

VC Copilot. A chat panel inside the ticket, decision, context node, and hook editors that answers questions about the form you have open. It sees the form's current values, including unsaved text, and never changes the form. Open it with the VC button at the top of the sheet. It is an LLM feature, so it needs a paid plan. See Vibe Coder.

Version History. An append-only log of every change to the project record, kept separately from git, on the Version History tab of the Logs panel. The Recent Activity card on the Dashboard shows the latest 5 entries. See Logs.

Vibe Coder. A guided chat that turns a New Project idea or an Existing Project codebase into a structured Vibeless project with phases, tickets, and specs. Open it from the sidebar or with Ctrl+V. It needs a paid plan. See Vibe Coder.

Viewer. The access level on a shared project that can read everything but change nothing. The sync indicator shows Read-only for a viewer, and agents connected to a viewer's copy are refused writes too. See Organization and team sync.

W

Workspace. A group of related projects that can be linked so context crosses between them. The app cannot add a project to a workspace, and a new project never joins one. The Workspace card on the Dashboard Settings tab names the project's workspace, or shows None. See Workspaces and linked projects.