Glossary

Command examples track the upcoming 0.3.0 — grouped bro <group> <member> spellings and 0.3.0 marks are not yet on npm latest (0.2.5); use the flat names (bro convoy run, bro debt status).

Work items

• bead — one unit of work in the bd store; the atom every bro workflow is made of.
• molecule (mol) — the persistent instantiation of a formula: a root bead plus child step beads wired by blocks edges.
• formula — a named, reusable workflow template; pour it to get a molecule.
• proto — an uninstantiated molecule template; beads' own name for what bro calls a formula.
• wisp — an ephemeral molecule in the wisp namespace, outside bd list; drill frames use it so a scratch descent never litters the queue.
• gate — a blocking condition on a step (agent gates run unattended, human gates stop the convoy for a person).
• ready — a bead with no open blockers; bd ready is the queue workers pull from (see next).
• claim — an atomic take on a bead or molecule step; two sessions cannot claim the same step.

Orchestration

• convoy — a molecule in execution: bro flow convoy is the scheduler as code (next claims, done advances).
• fleet — the set of registered agents bro has spawned, their worktrees, claims, and exit records.
• rig — one machine's whole bro installation: checkout, config layers, stores, daemons, fleet.
• loop — the hands-off backlog runner: claims ready beads, works them through the gate, repeats.
• drive — post-PR supervision: orphaned threads get a fixer agent, orphaned green PRs merge (see act).
• watch — the monitor loop over molecules and PRs; point checks, never blocking waits (see act).
• pulse — a session-owned beat that ticks on a cadence so long-running work stays observable (see fleet).
• daemon — the project-scoped supervisor: bro daemon run (0.3.0) is the drive loop — post-PR supervision that outlives your session; watch rearm rides the session-start nudge, not the daemon.
• stack — a bead→worktree→PR chain where each PR builds on the previous one.
• mesh — federation between rigs: mesh:// identities, peer bindings, cross-repo work requests.
• mailbox — the per-session notification spool; bro notify drops land there and drain at turn boundaries (see events).

Review & quality

• act — the review-fix loop on an open PR: bro act status is the merge gate, threads are the work.
• debt — review findings left on merged PRs, swept into a ledger and worked later.
• judge — the calibrated decider inside loops: triages review comments, escalates low-confidence calls.
• guard — a declarative prompt contribution that fires on a hook event when its condition holds.
• drill — a scoped descent frame: narrow investigation, mandatory result and prevention plan on close.
• retro — the end-of-session self-review: uncommitted work, dangling watches, lessons worth keeping (see retrospect).
• wtf — the frustration capture: vents become structured findings instead of lost context (see retrospect).
• learn — the lesson store; bro self learn makes a finding outlive the session.
• sdd — spec-driven development: specs/<bead>.md before code, enforced when the gate mode is on (see spec).
• sweep — pruning: dispose closed beads, archive history, run the harvest pipeline.
• dogfood — bro's e2e self-test: a committed runbook executed by a fresh agent in a scratch repo.

Planes & plumbing

• connector — the swap-in boundary for a backend: review host, task store, agent plane, events (see providers).
• agent plane — where workers run (native spawn, docker, ACP…); bro fleet agents is its facade (see fleet).
• worktree — a linked git checkout; bro work enter gives each unit of work its own.
• serve — the HTTP facade (bro fleet serve): agents/fleet/snapshot planes as JSON + SSE for thin clients (see fleet).
• status — the live project board in one read: beads, fleet, drill frames, PRs.
• hook — a client lifecycle event (session start, stop, post-compaction) bro hangs state on.
• skill — the policy half of a capability: markdown an agent reads; the CLI is the mechanics half (see skills).
• plugin — the portable packaging contract: root plugin.json plus skills/*/SKILL.md (see plugins).
• trace — session journals shipped to an OTel backend for cost and behavior attribution.
• sync — publishing bro artifacts across machines via git refs (refs/dolt/data, refs/bro/data; see restore).