lore-ul

name

lore-ul

description

Use when a conversation hits a vague or overloaded term, the same word means different things in different places, the user quietly rewords something you said, the user keeps using a word the glossary doesn't have, or code names disagree with how the user talks — align the term into the project's glossary (a root CONTEXT.md when present, docs/lore/glossary.md otherwise). Also bootstraps a glossary for a project that has none.

Lore UL (Ubiquitous Language)

Read ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/reference/lore-spec.md first — its Glossary section defines the file location, the term-entry meta, collision handling, and the split rule.

The other lore skills key knowledge by code location; this one keys it by concept. A shared vocabulary is what lets rules hang off concepts instead of file paths, lets the user and the agent challenge each other's wording, and gives lore-guard something to check names against.

Which file, and whose flow

Resolve the glossary source per lore-spec before reading or writing anything. When a root CONTEXT.md / CONTEXT-MAP.md exists — or a dedicated domain-modeling / grilling skill is available in this session — let that system lead: a relentless-interview flow extracts terms better than reactive alignment, so this skill's job shrinks to spotting the drift signals below and kicking that flow off. When a term settles mid-conversation without a full interview, apply the alignment moves yourself but write into CONTEXT.md in its native format (**Term**: + _Avoid_: — rejected candidates go to _Avoid_: instead of not:, and no lore meta is injected). Never create docs/lore/glossary.md alongside an external glossary. Everything below assumes the fallback case: no external glossary and no such skill, so lore's own format applies.

When to use

• A conversation hits a vague or overloaded term ("account" — the Customer or the User?).
• The user's words and the code's names disagree, or the same word is being used for two different things.
• The project has no glossary yet and wants one (bootstrap).
• The user explicitly asks to define, align, or clean up terminology.

Softer, earlier signals count too — by the time a term is visibly overloaded, the language has already drifted. Any of these is reason enough to start aligning:

• The user keeps using a word the glossary doesn't have.
• The user quietly rewords something you said — a gentle correction is a concept surfacing.
• The same constraint keeps coming up in conversation but lives in code only as scattered if checks — a rule without a name.

Two modes

Look at the resolved glossary source: missing or empty → bootstrap mode; otherwise → alignment mode. Bootstrap only ever creates docs/lore/glossary.md — an external CONTEXT.md is grown in place by its own flow, never bootstrapped around.

Alignment mode (the everyday one)

Work the ambiguity one question at a time, and attach your recommended answer to every question:

1. Sharpen fuzzy words. When a term is vague or overloaded, propose precise candidates: "You said account — do you mean the Customer or the User? Those are different things here."
2. Challenge against the glossary. When the user's usage conflicts with an existing entry, call it out immediately: "The glossary defines cancellation as voiding the whole order, but you seem to mean partial — which is it?"
3. Probe boundaries with concrete scenarios. Invent edge cases that force precision: "A company subscribes and an employee logs in — who is the Customer in that sentence?"
4. Cross-check the code. When the user states what a term means, check whether the code agrees, and surface contradictions. If a question can be answered by reading the codebase, read the codebase instead of spending a question on it.
5. Mine awkwardness and contradiction. When an implementation keeps coming out clumsy, or a discussion keeps circling the same spot, ask whether an unnamed concept is missing — clumsy code is often a concept the model lacks. When two statements about a term contradict, don't pick a side: ask in which situation each holds; the answer usually splits the concept in two.
6. Write the term the moment it settles. Update glossary.md inline, entry by entry — never batch. Rejected candidates go into the winning term's not: list so lore-guard can enforce the choice later.

Bootstrap mode (cold start)

1. Scan the README, the lore areas, and the main type/model names for candidate terms. Cap the list at ~10 — it is an interview agenda, not a generated glossary.
2. Walk the candidates one at a time with the user, using the alignment moves above. Confirmed terms get written; unclear ones are dropped or parked.
3. When the first term settles, create docs/lore/glossary.md from ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/reference/templates/glossary.md.tmpl and add a glossary.md line to the Optional section of docs/lore/README.md.

Collisions and splits

Follow the spec: a cross-area collision stays in the global file with area-qualified headings (## Customer (billing)) and area: mandatory on both entries; a collision inside one area means the concept must be split into two differently-named terms. Propose moving an area's terms to <area>/terms.md only once it holds ~10+ of them, and only with the user's confirmation.

Adoption feedback (best-effort)

Per lore-spec's feedback log: when you challenge usage with an existing entry, append a surfaced event keyed glossary.md#<Term> (or <area>/terms.md#<Term> after a split; CONTEXT.md#<Term> when the external glossary is canonical), then reconcile it — heeded (the wording changed to follow it, or the entry was sharpened), redundant (usage already matched), or ignored (the user overrode it). Never let logging block or delay the session.

Guardrail

Terms are aligned, never generated — every entry is confirmed by the user before it is written. The glossary holds language only: definitions, boundaries, examples. No implementation details, no specs, no plans. updated: dates follow lore-spec's date rule.

Two gates, not one. The boundary test decides whether knowledge is worth recording at all; a second test decides whether a word belongs in the glossary: is it something the user (or the domain) would actually say out loud, or only a name for a technical mechanism? A cache policy, a retry loop, a worker pool — however important — are not glossary terms. Only domain language goes in.