Concepts

A quick reference for the terms you will encounter throughout the Apothem documentation.

Shared profileCopy Anchor Link

A schema-validated YAML file at ~/.config/apothem/profile.yaml (override with --profile PATH). It is the single source of truth for your identity, preferences, and configuration; every harness adapter reads it on install and derives that harness's native config from it.

Harness adapterCopy Anchor Link

A per-platform adapter that translates the shared profile into the native config format for a specific harness. The supported runtimes are listed in:

Claude Code, Cursor, Gemini CLI, etc.

Installing Apothem always means: install the shared profile, then materialize one or more adapters.

Behavioral ruleCopy Anchor Link

A Markdown file under src/apothem/rules/ that is loaded on every interaction (always-on) or only when editing files under a specific path (path-filtered). Rules codify how the harness should behave. Four rules are always-on: agnostic-posture, authority-inquiry, session-closure and context-management. The rule index, apothem-rule-index, loads with them and names every other rule and when to read it. A harness that does not scope rules by path loads none of the others, so the index is how a session finds them.

HookCopy Anchor Link

A Python script registered in a harness's hook configuration (settings.json for Claude Code) that fires on lifecycle events such as PreToolUse, PostToolUse, SessionStart and Stop; some adapters also register PreCompact and PostCompact. Hooks enforce conformity mandates in real time before output reaches disk. Adapters for harnesses without a hook mechanism omit it.

Conformity gateCopy Anchor Link

The mechanical fraction of the fifteen-bar pre-emission gate (M1-M15) — the machine-checkable validators that run before an artifact is emitted; advisory by default, blocking under --strict. The pre-emission gate is the quality floor; the conformity gate runs its machine-checkable bars, and hooks enforce individual bars in real-time.

Plan suiteCopy Anchor Link

A structured directory at <project-root>/.apothem/plans/<suite-name>/ containing a spec, a master plan, per-phase PHASE.md files, and output artifacts. The /plan pipeline manages plan suites.

SkillCopy Anchor Link

A reusable, slash-command-invocable technique bundled as a SKILL.md file under src/apothem/skills/<name>/. Skills extend the slash-command surface beyond the built-in /plan pipeline.

Delegated workerCopy Anchor Link

A persistent, purpose-scoped assistant defined at the canonical path:

src/apothem/agents/<name>.md

Delegated workers handle research, auditing, quality checking, and memory management.