Vocabulary
Every phrase a room says out loud, what it carries, and how strongly it is required. This is the shared vocabulary — it is the same in every domain.
Universal call types
A call type opens the loop. Most are specific to a domain and live in its profile. These are inherited by every profile.
Question- A decision is unknown and blocks progress. May resolve with no agent work at all.
Required
13 cuesEach of these carries an invariant. Omitting the utterance means the rule it serves was not satisfied — these are not stylistic preferences.
acknowledgeSignals attention before any content exists. At this point only the call type has been uttered, so a word implying receipt would be claiming a message that has not been sent.
Hear it — 3 examplesHide examples
MEP engineer: “Ready.”
Does the kitchen shaft still work?Developer A: “Ready.”
The page jumps when you switch tabsArchitect: “Ready.”
Nobody was listening when the constraint was given
claimEarlier drafts used "Mine" for its exclusivity. Practitioners disliked saying it in two recorded sessions, and a required phrase people avoid is worse than no phrase. Exclusivity is carried by invariant 1 and the contention rule instead.
Hear it — 4 examplesHide examples
MEP engineer: “Heard — check whether a dedicated solid-fuel exhaust fits the existing chase alongside the hood exhaust and the kitchen supply and return. MEP, on it.”
Does the kitchen shaft still work?Developer A: “Heard — lock the title height so Open and For You stop pushing the cards. Developer A, on it.”
The page jumps when you switch tabsMEP engineer: “Sorry, back — yes, I'll look at the cooler.”
Nobody was listening when the constraint was givenMidhun: “Heard — check whether the corridor wall rating forces a damper at that penetration. Midhun, on it.”
Is a fire damper required at that penetration?
promptingHear it — 4 examplesHide examples
MEP engineer: “Prompting now: compare a dedicated solid-fuel exhaust route against the current shaft using the duct layout on the kitchen level, and flag where it would have to dogleg.”
Does the kitchen shaft still work?Developer A: “Prompting now: give the triage page title row a definite height so the container below doesn't move when switching between the Open and For You tabs.”
The page jumps when you switch tabsMEP engineer: “Prompting now: find a refrigerant line route from the condensing units to a walk-in cooler on the north wall.”
Nobody was listening when the constraint was givenMidhun: “Prompting now: for the corridor wall assembly on the level two plans, determine the required rating and whether a duct penetration at that location requires a fire damper, and cite the sections.”
Is a fire damper required at that penetration?
go_aheadHear it — 2 examplesHide examples
MEP engineer: “Go ahead.”
Does the kitchen shaft still work?Developer A: “Go ahead.”
The page jumps when you switch tabs
declinedA refusal is otherwise indistinguishable from silence, which is the failure this invariant exists to prevent.
preliminaryAn unlabelled result becomes a commitment the moment someone outside the professional relationship repeats it.
Hear it — 3 examplesHide examples
MEP engineer: “Back with it. Preliminary: the shaft works if the smoker sits to the right of the supply duct. Anywhere to the left and the chase has to widen. This needs my review against the equipment cut sheet before anyone builds to it.”
Does the kitchen shaft still work?Developer A: “Back with it — fixed height applied, and it holds on the flight deck as well. Preliminary until you look. Check it: click between the two tabs.”
The page jumps when you switch tabsMidhun: “Back with it. Preliminary: the corridor is rated, so the penetration needs a damper, and the general notes on the mechanical plans already call for it. This wants your read before it goes back to the contractor.”
Is a fire damper required at that penetration?
workingHear it — 1 exampleHide examples
Caller: “Working.”
The page jumps when you switch tabs
still_brokenacceptedHear it — 2 examplesHide examples
Developer A: “Good. Change is up for review.”
The page jumps when you switch tabsEngineer of record: “Good. That is the answer of record — send it.”
Is a fire damper required at that penetration?
rejectedparkedHear it — 1 exampleHide examples
MEP engineer: “Parked — waiting on the tenant's smoker model and its listing. Owner's representative owns getting that from the tenant.”
Does the kitchen shaft still work?
droppedreportingHear it — 1 exampleHide examples
Developer B: “Mati reporting. The double-click fix on the triage card is up for review, along with the loading bugs and the layout issues. Still running: the agent indicator upgrades, and the redesign of the sidebar header.”
What is everyone actually running right now?
Expected
9 cuesRooms that skip these still conform, but they lose the thing the phrase was protecting. Skip them deliberately, not by accident.
heardConfirms receipt of something genuinely said, in two places. At ACKNOWLEDGE it confirms the call while explicitly declining readiness — it is a promise of an acknowledgement, never one. At CLAIM it leads into the restatement. What follows tells them apart.
Hear it — 1 exampleHide examples
Architect: “Heard — one moment.”
Does the kitchen shaft still work?
already_ownedpassfinishedTells the room the floor is free again, so nobody has to guess when it is safe to call.
Hear it — 3 examplesHide examples
MEP engineer: “Finished. Running.”
Does the kitchen shaft still work?Developer A: “Finished. Running.”
The page jumps when you switch tabsMidhun: “Finished. Running.”
Is a fire damper required at that penetration?
adderHear it — 2 examplesHide examples
Contractor: “Adder.”
Does the kitchen shaft still work?Developer B: “Adder.”
The page jumps when you switch tabs
holdReserves a turn while somebody else is speaking a prompt. Distinct from `heard`: nothing was addressed to you, so there is nothing to confirm receipt of.
files_firstreturnout_of_scopeAvailable
7 cuesNamed so that the move is recognized rather than improvised. Use them when the situation calls for it.
clarifyHear it — 1 exampleHide examples
Developer A: “Clarify — you want a fixed height on the title row so the page switch doesn't reflow?”
The page jumps when you switch tabs
proposeaugmentHear it — 1 exampleHide examples
Architect: “Add — remember the beam.”
Nobody was listening when the constraint was given
handoff_offerrunningcheckstatusHear it — 1 exampleHide examples
Caller: “Status.”
What is everyone actually running right now?
Dialects
A profile may substitute the phrase for any unlocked cue where its domain genuinely says something else. A substitution changes the word, never the meaning or the requirement level, and it should be drawn from a recording of that domain’s own sessions rather than from the author’s sense of what sounds right.
No published profile declares a dialect today. Version 0.5 removed the only two ever published, after checking the recording they claimed to come from and finding neither phrase in it. The mechanism remains because a genuine local word is plausible — but the first profile to declare one should expect to be asked where it was recorded.