Glossary

The terms Circuit uses, in the order you meet them. See How it works for how they fit together.

Flow language

Flow: a named kind of work Circuit can run, such as Build, Fix, Explore, or Review.
Schematic: the authored definition of a flow.
Block: a reusable kind of work that can appear in a schematic, declaring a typed input contract, a typed output contract, and checks. The same block appears across flows, such as a grounding read or an independent review. See Blocks.
Contract: the typed input or output a block declares, named and versioned, such as plan.strategy@v1.
Micro-harness: the small, purpose-built harness Circuit assembles around a single step: a role, a model and effort resolved from that role and the power dial, a tool scope, injected skills, and only the inputs its contract declares. Built fresh for that step alone, then discarded. See The micro-harness.
Stage: a grouped part of a flow, such as Frame, Analyze, Plan, Act, Verify, Review, or Close.
Step: one executable use of a block inside a schematic or compiled flow.
Route: a named outcome path from one step to the next.
Run: one execution of a flow.
Mode: a named flow entry option, often paired with a process.

Checkpoint: a pause where Circuit needs operator input or a declared safe default.
Check: validation that decides whether a step may continue.
Acceptance criteria: flow-authored deterministic checks that a relay step's result must pass before the run may advance.
Trace: the ordered record of what happened during a run.
Report: a typed output written by a step or close stage.
Evidence: supporting facts, files, checks, and reports produced or consumed by a run.

Run folder: the directory where a run stores its trace, reports, evidence, and resume state.
Run id: the UUID for one run.

Power: the one taught dial: how much model each worker run gets. Set with --power: auto, low, medium, or high. With auto, the run's researcher recommends a tier, clamped to the power_auto bounds in config. Never names models; per-connector tier tables translate it at selection time. Power also derives the run's process: low, medium, and high map straight across, and auto derives a medium process while the run picks its own model tier.
Process: how much thoroughness and care a run spends. Power derives it by default; the advanced --process flag explicitly overrides that derivation, for the rare case where model strength and process thoroughness should split. Values are low, medium, or high, silently clamped to what each flow supports.
Compiled process: the single thoroughness value a run records after Circuit combines the derived or overridden process with mode flags such as tournament or autonomous.
Effort: provider-level reasoning allocation. Not the power dial.
Receipt: the end-of-run line reporting process, power, worker runs, escalations, and check results. An auto power dial reports its resolution here, such as power low (auto).

Relay: a handoff from Circuit to another worker or host.
Connector: a backend or host that can run relayed work.
Role: the worker responsibility for a relay, such as researcher, implementer, or reviewer.
Archetype: the role-shaped slot in a flow that a model fills. The power dial decides which model fills each archetype.

Relay step: a runtime step where Circuit delegates work to a worker.
Compose step: a runtime step where the orchestrator writes a report.
Verification step: a runtime step where the orchestrator runs verification commands.
Checkpoint step: a runtime step where Circuit pauses for a checkpoint decision.
Sub-run step: a runtime step that executes a child flow.
Fanout step: a runtime step that runs multiple branches and joins their outputs.

Rubric: the scoring sheet that compares fanout branches.
Tournament: the fan-out-and-select pattern: Explore fans out decision options and selects one; Prototype fans out implementation variants and asks which to keep.

Continuity record: a cross-session handoff record for resuming work.
Continuity index: the resolver file that chooses the active continuity record and attached run.
Resume contract: the declared posture for how the next session should resume.

Skill: a discoverable capability with trigger metadata and optional supporting files.
Skill slot: an optional flow-authored placeholder that an operator may bind to one of their local skills.
Plugin: the host-installable surface Circuit ships into Claude Code or Codex.