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Glossary

This glossary provides definitions for ConnectSoft AI Software Factory-specific terms, acronyms, and concepts used throughout the documentation. It is written for anyone reading AI Factory documentation who needs clarification on terminology.

If you encounter a term that's not defined here, or if you think a definition needs improvement, please propose an update (see "How to Propose New Terms" below).

Terms

Term Definition Notes
AI Factory The ConnectSoft AI Factory — an organizational AI operating and control platform that manages agents, skills, tools, model profiles, workflows, approved knowledge, human decisions and execution history. Software engineering and generated SaaS form its first solution pack (decision D1, 2026-10-08) Also called "Factory"; older pages say "AI Software Factory"
Agent Specialized AI component that performs specific tasks (e.g., Architect Agent, Developer Agent, QA Agent) See Agent System Overview
Agent Cluster Logical group of agents responsible for one domain or phase of the software lifecycle (e.g., Vision Cluster, Engineering Cluster, Security Cluster) See Agentic System Design
Alerting and Incident Manager Agent Agent that monitors system health, triggers alerts based on thresholds, and coordinates incident response workflows Observability and Monitoring cluster
Aggregate Cluster of domain objects treated as a single unit for data changes DDD concept
Analytics Agent Agent that analyzes usage patterns, user behavior, and business metrics to generate actionable insights Growth, Marketing and Customer Success cluster
API Documentation Agent Agent that generates API reference documentation from OpenAPI specs, code metadata, and usage examples Documentation and Knowledge Management cluster
Architecture Decision Record Agent Agent that captures, formats, and publishes architecture decision records (ADRs) from design discussions Documentation and Knowledge Management cluster
Blueprint Structured specification that describes features, domains, or systems to be generated by the Factory See Agent Microservice Standard Blueprint
Bounded Context Explicit boundary within which a domain model applies DDD concept
Coordinator Software Factory pack workflow definition (phase control, routing, parallelism) expressed over Agent runtime primitives; not a separate Control-plane service See Coordinators
Domain Event Event that represents something that happened in the domain Event-driven architecture
Factory Run Single execution of the Factory to generate code and artifacts See Agent Execution Flow
Identity and Access Management Agent Agent that manages IAM policies, access controls, and identity federation configurations Security and Compliance cluster
Incident Response Agent Agent that coordinates automated incident response workflows, escalations, and remediation Security and Compliance cluster
Integration Architect Agent Agent that designs integration patterns, API gateways, and cross-service communication topologies Enterprise and System Architecture cluster
Knowledge System System that stores and retrieves code, docs, blueprints, and patterns for agent use See Knowledge and Memory System
Library Reusable component or NuGet package (e.g., ConnectSoft.Extensions.*) See Libraries List
Log Analysis Agent Agent that performs structured log analysis, anomaly detection, and pattern recognition Observability and Monitoring cluster
Microservice Template Template for generating microservices with Clean Architecture, DDD, and event-driven patterns See Microservice Template
Multi-Tenant Architecture pattern where a single instance serves multiple tenants Canonical ADR-0100 modes SharedDb, DatabasePerTenant, ResidencySilo, DedicatedSingleTenant; Factory scope hierarchy in tenancy and scope
Onboarding Agent Agent that manages customer onboarding flows, guides, and activation sequences Growth, Marketing and Customer Success cluster
Orchestrator Factory component that coordinates agent execution and manages workflows See Orchestration Layer
Orchestration Domain Central domain coordinating multi-agent collaboration, phase-driven execution, and automated project flows See Orchestration Domain
Persona Builder Agent Agent that builds user personas from market research and analytics data for product targeting Growth, Marketing and Customer Success cluster
Refactoring Agent Agent that analyzes existing code and applies automated refactoring patterns to improve quality Software Engineering cluster
SLO/SLA Compliance Agent Agent that tracks service level objectives and agreements, reports compliance, and escalates breaches Observability and Monitoring cluster
Stakeholder Alignment Agent Agent that facilitates stakeholder consensus by mapping requirements to product vision and priorities Vision and Product Planning cluster
Template Starting point for generating code (microservice, library, infrastructure) See Templates Overview
Tenant Management Agent Agent that manages tenant provisioning, configuration isolation, and multi-tenant lifecycle events Platform Evolution and Runtime Customization cluster
Template Catalog Domain managing reusable, versioned, and validated solution templates See Template Catalog
Template Overlay Specialized template that adds domain-specific functionality on top of a base template See template architecture documentation
Tenant Organization or customer using a multi-tenant system Each tenant has isolated data
Trace Complete record of a Factory execution including all agent actions, outputs, and metadata Every run produces a traceId
Usage Metering and Billing Agent Agent that tracks resource consumption per tenant, applies billing rules, and generates metering reports Platform Evolution and Runtime Customization cluster
Usability Testing Agent Agent that generates and executes usability test scenarios to validate UX design decisions Research and UX/UI Design cluster
Vulnerability Management Agent Agent that scans for security vulnerabilities, prioritizes findings, and tracks remediation status Security and Compliance cluster
TraceId Unique identifier for a Factory execution trace Links all artifacts to their execution context
Studio AI Software Factory Studio — web-based interface for managing projects, runs, and Factory operations See Studio Overview
Workflow Orchestrated sequence of agent actions to accomplish a specific goal See Workflows
Blueprint Version Version identifier for a blueprint specification Enables traceability and replay
Agent Skill Specific capability or action that an agent can perform Agents are skill-scoped
Code Quality Agent Agent that enforces coding standards, runs static analysis, and tracks quality metrics across generated code Software Engineering cluster
Competitive Intelligence Agent Agent that analyzes market data and competitor activity to inform product vision and positioning Vision and Product Planning cluster
Configuration Manager Agent Agent that manages application configuration, feature flags, and environment-specific settings DevOps, Deployment and Delivery cluster
Content Designer Agent Agent that generates UX copy, microcopy, and content specifications aligned with design system guidelines Research and UX/UI Design cluster
Contract Testing Agent Agent that generates and validates API contract tests (e.g., Pact) to ensure service compatibility Quality Assurance and Testing cluster
Database Engineer Agent Agent that generates database schemas, migration scripts, and data model optimizations Software Engineering cluster
Design System Agent Agent that manages and generates design tokens, component libraries, and visual consistency rules Research and UX/UI Design cluster
Documentation Site Generator Agent Agent that builds and publishes documentation sites from generated artifacts and markdown sources Documentation and Knowledge Management cluster
E2E Testing Agent Agent that generates end-to-end test scripts (e.g., Playwright, Cypress) to validate complete user flows Quality Assurance and Testing cluster
Environment Manager Agent Agent that provisions and manages deployment environments across the infrastructure lifecycle DevOps, Deployment and Delivery cluster
Execution Graph Graph structure representing agent collaboration and execution flow See Agent Execution Flow
Phase Stage in the Factory lifecycle (e.g., Vision, Architecture, Development, Deployment) See Project Lifecycle
Milestone Significant checkpoint in project execution See Timing, Milestones, and Sprint Orchestration
Sprint Time-boxed iteration in the Factory execution model See Timing, Milestones, and Sprint Orchestration
MCP Model Context Protocol — protocol for exposing tools and context to AI models. Note: Not used for agent-to-agent orchestration; lifecycle events travel through the messaging port (ADR-0012, Proposed). See MCP
MCP Server Service implementing the Model Context Protocol to provide tools or context to AI agents. The agent host template maps its MCP endpoint without authorization by default (verified 2026-10-08). See MCP
DSL Domain-Specific Language — specialized language for expressing domain concepts See DSLs
RAG Retrieval-Augmented Generation — AI technique combining retrieval and generation Used in knowledge system
Vector Search Semantic search using vector embeddings Used in knowledge system for pattern matching
Span Unit of work in distributed tracing See observability documentation
Trace (Observability) Collection of spans representing a request flow Different from Factory execution trace
Health Check Endpoint or mechanism for verifying service health Generated by templates
IaC Infrastructure as Code — managing infrastructure through code Pulumi in this estate (ADR-0004, verified 2026-10-09)
Bicep Domain-specific language for deploying Azure resources declaratively Not used: no .bicep file exists in the estate (verified 2026-10-09). Kept because older pages mention it as a legacy alternative
Pulumi Infrastructure as Code platform using general-purpose programming languages (C#, TypeScript, Python, etc.) *.InfrastructureModel projects reference Pulumi.AzureNative; thirteen Pulumi.yaml stacks exist, including DerechHaLev AuthServer and Identity
Clean Architecture Architecture pattern emphasizing separation of concerns and dependency inversion See Clean Architecture and DDD
DDD Domain-Driven Design — approach to software development focusing on domain modeling See Clean Architecture and DDD
Event-Driven Architecture Architecture pattern using events for communication between components See Event-Driven Mindset
Cloud-Native Approach to building applications designed for cloud environments See Cloud-Native Mindset
Observability Ability to understand system behavior through logs, metrics, and traces See Observability-Driven Design
Security-First Design approach where security is considered from the beginning See Security-First Architecture
Modularization Design principle of separating responsibilities into independent units See Modularization
AI-First Development Development approach prioritizing AI agents and automation See AI-First Software Development

Acronyms

Acronym Meaning Notes
ADR Architecture Decision Record Technical decisions
BDR Business Decision Record Business decisions
DDD Domain-Driven Design Architecture approach
EDA Event-Driven Architecture Architecture pattern
IaC Infrastructure as Code Pulumi (ADR-0004)
IdP Identity Provider Authentication provider
MCP Model Context Protocol Protocol for AI context
OIDC OpenID Connect Authentication protocol
OAuth2 OAuth 2.0 Authorization framework
RAG Retrieval-Augmented Generation AI technique for knowledge bases
RBAC Role-Based Access Control Access control model
SLA Service Level Agreement Uptime and performance guarantees
SLO Service Level Objective Performance targets
SSO Single Sign-On Authentication pattern
API Application Programming Interface Interface for service communication
BFF Backend for Frontend API Gateway pattern
CI/CD Continuous Integration / Continuous Deployment Automation pipeline
gRPC gRPC Remote Procedure Calls RPC framework
REST Representational State Transfer API architectural style
OpenAPI OpenAPI Specification API description format
GraphQL GraphQL Query Language API query language
K8s Kubernetes Container orchestration platform
YAML YAML Ain't Markup Language Data serialization format
JSON JavaScript Object Notation Data format
PII Personally Identifiable Information Sensitive data requiring protection
RBAC Role-Based Access Control Access control model
SaaS Software as a Service Software delivery model
SDK Software Development Kit Set of development tools
UI User Interface User-facing interface
UX User Experience User interaction design
MVP Minimum Viable Product Initial product version
OKR Objectives and Key Results Goal-setting framework

Structural terms (plane model, 2026-10)

Merged from the former ai-software-factory/glossary.md on 2026-10-09 and corrected to the plane structure chosen on 2026-10-08.

Term Definition
Plane One of the nine platform planes: Experience; Control; Agent & Orchestration runtime; Model & Compute; Knowledge & Memory; Capability & Tools; Execution; Data & Event; Trust & Operations. See the plane map.
Platform (legacy) One of the twelve platform areas written in June 2026 (Control Plane, Agent Mesh, Knowledge Platform, …). Their pages now live under planes and solution packs; the term survives only in migrated text.
Solution pack A domain's agents, skills, workflows, templates, blueprints and evaluation suites built on the planes. Software Factory and Generated SaaS are the first two.
Bounded context (BC-nn) A DDD boundary with one authoritative writer, as listed in the ownership map.
Module A deployable unit inside a bounded context; the ownership map merges most former "microservice" catalog rows into modules.
Agent A role or configuration using specific instructions, skills, model requirements and permitted tools. It is not automatically a running worker.
Skill A reusable procedure or knowledge asset an agent uses. It does not itself grant executable permissions.
Tool / MCP capability Executable behaviour with scope, policy, side effects and an input/output contract.
Published bundle (release) A reviewed, immutable combination of versioned assets and constraints. An accepted run pins this release.
Model profile A logical capability, privacy and budget requirement (for example code-agent, pii-local) resolved by the model gateway to an actual provider, model and deployment for the run.
Run / step / attempt One persisted execution of a workflow; the work within it; one execution or retry of a step. Attempt history is preserved.
Approval An authorized decision about an exact proposed action or artifact version, with scope and expiry.
Artifact Any versioned output with producing run, source evidence, validation and access scope.
Event / Command A fact in the port-level envelope (ADR-0014); an imperative VerbNoun request handled by an aggregate.
Aggregate root The consistency boundary and entry point of a domain aggregate.
Worker A background processor triggered by events, schedules or commands. Agent-execution workers are distinct from model-serving compute.
Storage owner The single service that owns and writes a given store.
Context package The governed, ranked, budgeted knowledge bundle delivered to one agent task (schema).
Knowledge Fabric Alias used by earlier pages for the Knowledge & Memory plane.

Page status labels

Label Meaning
Target Design intent; nothing or only part of it exists in code.
Current Describes what exists at the recorded repository revisions.
Decision An ADR or recorded choice; Proposed until the owner accepts it.
Evidence Verified facts with an evidence date.
Historical Kept for provenance; superseded.

Stack terms (as decided and as verified, 2026-10)

Concern Canonical choice Decision and evidence
Agent runtime Microsoft Agent Framework as the primary execution adapter ADR-0002; Semantic Kernel orchestration excluded, Semantic Kernel vector-store connectors allowed
Messaging ConnectSoft.Extensions.MessagingModel port; transport profiles MassTransit (Azure Service Bus, RabbitMQ, SQL), NServiceBus, Orleans ADR-0003 Accepted; ADR-0012 Proposed
Vector store Retrieval contract with profiles; Qdrant reference self-hosted, Azure AI Search reference managed; only InMemory wired in the agent host today ADR-0005; ADR-0013 Proposed
IaC Pulumi ADR-0004, verified: no Bicep in the estate
Persistence NHibernate ADR-0006
Runtime .NET 10 hosts; shared libraries multi-target .NET 8/9/10 ADR-0001
Frontend Blazor MFE; MAUI for mobile; no Studio built, 41 HTML prototypes exist ADR-0007
Tenancy and identity Canonical ADR-0100 and ADR-0101 inherited ADR-0015 Proposed; ADR-0008

How to Propose New Terms

To propose a new term or improve an existing definition:

  1. Create a Pull Request - Edit this file and add/update the term
  2. Provide Context - Include where the term is used and why it needs definition
  3. Link to Docs - If relevant, link to detailed documentation

Note

This glossary focuses on AI Factory-specific terms. General software engineering terms (e.g., "API", "REST") are included only if they have specific meaning in the AI Factory context.