Glossary
Shared vocabulary of the SOFIA method. When a term has a specific meaning in SOFIA, it is defined here.
Reading path
New to SOFIA? Read these 10 entries first, in this order:
- Orchestrator — 2. Instance — 3. Persona — 4. Artifact — 5. Friction
- Contribution — 7. Isolation — 8. H2A — 9. Emergence — 10. Failure modes
Artifact
Definition: An asynchronous deposit in the shared space by a persona, intended for another persona or the team. Context: shared/ directory — notes, reviews, features, ADRs. Each artifact carries YAML frontmatter (from, to, nature, status, date). Not to be confused with: deliverable (a persona's production within its workspace, not necessarily shared). Ref: protocol/exchange.md §Artifacts.
Archetype
Definition: A reusable persona template organized by role — a starting point, not a prescription. Context: canvas/archetypes/ — persona-architect, persona-dev, persona-researcher, etc. Not to be confused with: persona (an archetype becomes a persona when instantiated with a name, scope, and prohibitions for a specific project).
Asymmetry (asymetrie)
Definition: Friction flows in one direction only — one side challenges, the other never does. The mechanism works but is blind — it only sees defects from one side of the relationship. One of 5 instrumented failure modes (slip, wear, crush, asymmetry, instability). Context: Signal: direction ratio 100% unilateral (A→H = 0% or H→A = 0%). Per-persona threshold: 20/80%. Not to be confused with: imbalance in contribution volume (asymmetry is about friction direction, not quantity). Ref: binding/filesystem/analysis/cli/mirror.py (compute_failure_modes)
Binding
Definition: The materialization layer — how the protocol takes form in a concrete persistence system. Context: binding/ directory. Current binding: filesystem + Markdown + git. Future bindings: REST API, database. Not to be confused with: provider (the AI tool layer) or protocol (the semantic layer). Decided on: 2026-04-20 — ADR-014.
Bootstrap
Definition: One of two persona derivation modes — the orchestrator projects roles from prior experience before any session. Context: Derivation grammar, modes B1-B4. Typical at instance creation. Not to be confused with: emergence (the other mode, where roles appear from observed gaps during work). Ref: doc/concepts/derivation-grammar.md.
Canvas
Definition: The inspiration layer — templates and patterns to avoid starting from scratch. Context: canvas/ directory — archetypes, artifact formats, patterns, workflows. Not prescriptive. Not to be confused with: core (invariants) or protocol (contract).
Constitutive
Definition: A property that defines what something is, not just how it behaves. Removing a constitutive property changes the nature of the entity. Context: In SOFIA, friction is constitutive of the method — without friction, SOFIA is not SOFIA. The 7 entities in the model are constitutive (not optional components). The 5 H2A invariants are constitutive properties of the protocol. Not to be confused with: regulative (a rule that governs behavior but doesn't define identity — e.g., "commit format" is regulative, "friction must be traced" is constitutive).
Constrain / Challenge / Arbitrate
Definition: The three pillars of the SOFIA method — inseparable mechanisms that produce value through friction. Context: Core method design. Constraint creates separation, challenge creates friction, arbitration creates decisions. Ref: core/principles.md, doc/site/methode.md.
Contribution
Definition: An epistemic input during an exchange — who brought what. Context: ## Flow section of session summaries. Each contribution has a direction (H or A) and a type (substance, structure, contestation, decision). Not to be confused with: friction (a tension between positions — contribution is an input, friction is a clash). Ref: protocol/contribution.md.
Conventions
Definition: The instance-specific rules documented in shared/conventions.md — artifact types, naming, frontmatter, session format, friction markers. Context: Each instance has its own conventions file. The template lives in binding/filesystem/conventions.md. Not to be confused with: protocol (conventions are local rules, protocol is the universal contract).
Core
Definition: The invariant layer — what doesn't change when you change tools or providers. Context: core/ directory — principles, model, duties. Not to be confused with: protocol (the interface contract) or binding (the materialization).
Crush (ecrasement)
Definition: Friction is overwhelmed by force. One side imposes — through volume, insistence, or convergent reformulation — until the other yields. The challenge mechanism is intact but inoperative under pressure. H crushes A (directive) or A crushes H (undiscriminated noise). One of 5 instrumented failure modes (slip, wear, crush, asymmetry, instability). Context: Signal: high density (>2x baseline) with low revised rate (<10%), rejection rate >50%. Not to be confused with: arbitration (a legitimate decision after hearing the challenge — crush bypasses the hearing). Ref: binding/filesystem/analysis/cli/mirror.py (compute_failure_modes)
Duties
Definition: The six non-delegable responsibilities of the human orchestrator — verify facts, arbitrate, read what goes out, calibrate personas, separate reflection and production, maintain attention. Context: core/duties.md. Not to be confused with: operations (protocol actions) or principles (method design rules).
Epistemic
Definition: Related to knowledge — how we know what we know, what counts as evidence, what qualifies a claim. Context: In SOFIA, friction markers are epistemic qualifiers (they say something about the status of a position: well-founded, contestable, refuted). Contributions are tagged by epistemic type (substance, structure, contestation, decision). The observational layer is epistemic — it requires judgment, not computation. Not to be confused with: operational (what to do) or structural (how things are organized).
Emergence
Definition: One of two persona derivation modes — a new role appears from observed gaps during work (repeated deflections on the same domain). Context: Derivation grammar, modes E1-E4. Typical during ongoing work. Not to be confused with: bootstrap (the other mode, where roles are projected upfront). Ref: doc/concepts/derivation-grammar.md.
Exchange
Definition: Any interaction between the orchestrator and a persona — either a session (synchronous) or an artifact (asynchronous). Context: A constitutive entity of the H2A model. Ref: protocol/exchange.md.
Factual contamination (contamination factuelle)
Definition: A false datum enters the system — from the human or the AI — and propagates through subsequently generated documents. The error stabilizes through repetition: each occurrence reinforces its apparent credibility. One of 6 silent failure modes. Context: Not instrumentable by the dashboard. The orchestrator must verify facts (duty 1). Not to be confused with: disagreement (a friction about interpretation — contamination is about factual error propagation). Ref: core/duties.md (duty 1: verify facts)
Failure modes
Definition: A systematic dysfunction in the friction mechanism or its environment. Classified into two categories: instrumented (detectable by the parser/dashboard) and silent (detectable only by the human orchestrator). Context: 5 instrumented modes: slip, wear, crush, asymmetry, instability — dysfunctions of the friction mechanism itself. 6 silent modes: instrumentation bias, factual contamination, validation without reading, scope drift, shared blind spot, load transfer — dysfunctions of the environment in which friction operates. Silent failures can cause or mask instrumented failures. Not to be confused with: friction (a productive tension — failure modes are dysfunctions of the friction mechanism or its context). Ref: binding/filesystem/analysis/cli/mirror.py (compute_failure_modes), core/duties.md
Friction
Definition: A qualified tension between two positions during an exchange — not a defect to fix but a structuring signal. Context: Qualified with 5 markers (sound, contestable, simplification, blind_spot, refuted), an initiative tag, and a resolution tag. A constitutive entity of the H2A model. Not to be confused with: conflict (friction is productive by design) or contribution (an input, not a tension). Ref: protocol/friction.md.
Frontmatter
Definition: The YAML metadata block at the top of every artifact and session summary — carries the protocol dimensions (from, to, nature, status, date, ref). Context: Required by the protocol. No accents in values. Ref: binding/implementation.md §Frontmatter.
H2A
Definition: Human-to-Assistant — the coordination protocol between a human orchestrator and constrained AI personas. Organizational, not technical. Context: protocol/h2a.md. Defines invariants, operations, the protocol/observational distinction, and audit criteria. Not to be confused with: MCP (agent-tools protocol) or A2A (agent-agent protocol).
Hidden condition
Definition: The prerequisite that SOFIA cannot verify — domain expertise, strong intention, and a cognitive trait that seeks contradiction. Context: doc/concepts/hidden-condition.md. Three levels: expertise (visible), intention (discipline), cognitive trait (precedes the method).
Instability (instabilite)
Definition: Friction produces change but not convergence. Each challenge leads to a revision, each revision is re-challenged. Surfaces cannot break in — destructive stick-slip, screeching without music. One of 5 instrumented failure modes (slip, wear, crush, asymmetry, instability). Context: Signal: revised dominant (>80%), high density, no stabilization over N windows. Not to be confused with: productive iteration (instability is oscillation without convergence — iteration converges). Ref: binding/filesystem/analysis/cli/mirror.py (compute_failure_modes)
Instance
Definition: A concrete deployment of the SOFIA method on a project — a set of personas, a shared space, and conventions. Context: Identified by a sofia.md file at its root. Not to be confused with: the sofia/ repository (which contains the method, not an instance).
Instrumentation bias (biais d'instrumentation)
Definition: The measurement layer is inferential — produced by the same assistants whose friction it measures. A worn persona under-qualifies its own frictions. The measurement inherits the biases of the measurer. No computational sensor validates the markers. One of 6 silent failure modes. Context: Not instrumentable by the dashboard. This is the structural link between the two failure classes: silent failures degrade the reliability of instrumented failure detection. Not to be confused with: measurement error (a one-time mistake — instrumentation bias is systematic).
Invariant
Definition: A constitutive property of the H2A protocol — without which H2A is no longer H2A. Context: 5 invariants: constitutive friction, human arbiter, isolation, traceability, residual opacity. Not to be confused with: principle (method design rules — broader than the protocol). Ref: protocol/h2a.md §Invariants.
Isolation
Definition: The structural separation of personas — each works in its own space and can only communicate through artifacts in the shared space. Context: Invariant 3 of H2A. The orchestrator is the only one who crosses boundaries. Not to be confused with: workspace (the physical directory — isolation is the principle, workspace is the implementation).
Lineage
Definition: The chain linking related frictions across sessions via ref: fields — a logical friction may span multiple sessions. Context: The current resolution is that of the last link. The trace remains immutable. Ref: protocol/friction.md §Lineage.
Load transfer (transfert de charge)
Definition: What the human no longer carries, the machine carries. The cost shifts to infrastructure — tokens, compute, energy. The method multiplies interactions by design: each handoff is a cost. One of 6 silent failure modes. Context: Not instrumentable by the dashboard. A systemic property, not a defect. Not to be confused with: delegation (intentional task routing — load transfer is unintentional cost shift).
Marker
Definition: One of 5 epistemic qualifiers for a friction position — sound, contestable, simplification, blind_spot, refuted. Closed set. Context: ## Orchestrator friction section of session summaries and artifacts. Not to be confused with: resolution (the outcome of the friction — ratified, contested, revised, rejected). Ref: protocol/friction.md §Markers.
Observational layer
Definition: The part of the protocol that requires semantic judgment — friction qualification, contribution tagging. Best-effort, not guaranteed. Context: Distinguished from the protocol layer (computationally verifiable). Ref: protocol/h2a.md §Protocol/observation distinction.
Operation
Definition: An implicit action derived from H2A entities — openSession, closeSession, send, receive, markRead, markDone, qualifyFriction, qualifyContribution, reportPattern. Context: protocol/h2a.md §Operations, doc/guides/operator-guide.md.
Orchestrator
Definition: The human who steers the instance — opens sessions, routes artifacts, arbitrates frictions, makes final decisions. Sole passage between personas. Context: A constitutive entity of the H2A model. Cannot be delegated to an AI. Not to be confused with: Sofia (gardienne) (the guide persona that helps set up instances — Sofia doesn't orchestrate).
Persona
Definition: A constrained AI role defined by 7 dimensions — identity, stance, scope, deliverables, prohibitions, right to contest, collaboration. Context: Defined in a persona file (shared/orga/personas/persona-{name}.md). Operates in an isolated workspace. Not to be confused with: archetype (a reusable template) or user (the human orchestrator). Ref: core/model.md §Persona.
Protocol layer
Definition: The part of H2A that is computationally verifiable — session traces, artifact metadata, status lifecycle, isolation. Context: Distinguished from the observational layer (requires judgment). Ref: protocol/h2a.md §Protocol/observation distinction.
Provider
Definition: The AI provider layer — the concrete tool that runs the personas. Context: provider/ directory. Current provider: Claude Code. Replaceable without touching core or protocol. Not to be confused with: binding (the persistence layer) or protocol (the semantic layer). Decided on: 2026-04-20 — ADR-014.
receive()
Definition: The operation where the orchestrator opens a session with a recipient and presents an artifact. Context: Second step of artifact exchange (after send). The orchestrator filters, contextualizes, or transmits only a part. Ref: protocol/exchange.md §send() and receive().
reportPattern()
Definition: A meta-operation that mitigates the residual opacity of the orchestrator — detects thematic convergence of rejections, challenges the orchestrator with 3 argued hypotheses. Context: Triggered when 3+ frictions are rejected on the same theme. The orchestrator must qualify their choice (LLM error, conviction, resistance). Auditable counter. Ref: protocol/friction.md §reportPattern.
Residual opacity
Definition: The structural limitation that the orchestrator cannot arbitrate their own resistance to friction — invariant 5 of H2A. Context: Not a bug to fix. Mitigated by reportPattern(), but no mechanism constitutes a guarantee. Ref: protocol/h2a.md §Invariants.
Resolution
Definition: One of 4 epistemic outcome tags for a friction — ratified, contested, revised, rejected. Closed set. Context: Set per friction point, after the → arrow. Can evolve across sessions via lineage. Not to be confused with: marker (the qualification of the position — resolution is the outcome). Ref: protocol/friction.md §Resolution.
Scope drift (derive de scope)
Definition: A miscalibrated persona absorbs the roles of others. Scope boundaries become invisible — tasks fall between chairs or overlap without anyone flagging it. One of 6 silent failure modes. Context: Not instrumentable by the dashboard. The orchestrator must recalibrate persona scope. Not to be confused with: emergence (discovering a new role — scope drift is unauthorized expansion of an existing role).
send()
Definition: The operation where a persona produces an artifact and deposits it in the recipient's shared space. Context: First step of artifact exchange (before receive). Cross-instance: the artifact goes to the recipient instance's shared/, not the emitter's. Ref: protocol/exchange.md §send() and receive().
Session
Definition: A synchronous exchange between the orchestrator and one persona — the primary interaction mechanism. Context: Produces a structured summary (Produced, Decisions, Shared notes, Open). Lifecycle: opening → exchange → closing. Not to be confused with: artifact (asynchronous) or conversation (a session may span multiple conversations if the context is reloaded). Ref: protocol/exchange.md §Sessions.
Shared blind spot (angle mort partage)
Definition: All personas are calibrated by the same human. Their implicit biases become the entire team's biases. Friction is real but plays within a thought space bounded by what the orchestrator knows they don't know. One of 6 silent failure modes. Context: Not instrumentable by the dashboard. Structural — no internal mechanism can detect what the orchestrator doesn't know they're missing. Not to be confused with: residual opacity (the orchestrator's inability to arbitrate their own resistance — shared blind spot is about shared ignorance, not resistance).
Shared space
Definition: The sole communication channel between personas — a directory (shared/) where artifacts are deposited and routed by the orchestrator. Context: Invariant 3 of H2A. Personas cannot access each other's workspaces. Not to be confused with: workspace (a persona's private space).
Slip (glissement)
Definition: Friction exists but is not arbitrated. Challenges are logged, resolutions don't come. The protocol runs idle — friction is decorative. H→A only: the orchestrator doesn't arbitrate. One of 5 instrumented failure modes (slip, wear, crush, asymmetry, instability). Context: Signal: non-resolution rate >60%, recurrence without resolution, reflexive ratification. Not to be confused with: pending resolution (a friction awaiting arbitration in the current session — slip is sustained non-arbitration over time). Ref: binding/filesystem/analysis/cli/mirror.py (compute_failure_modes)
sofia.md
Definition: The instance marker file — identifies a directory as a SOFIA instance and declares its method version. Context: Required at instance root (check PS1). Contains instance name, project, version, and team. Not to be confused with: Sofia (the guide persona) or the sofia/ repository.
Space
Definition: The isolated perimeter of a persona — one persona, one space. Context: A constitutive entity of the H2A model. Contains the persona's workspace and sessions. Not to be confused with: shared space (the exchange bus) or workspace (the implementation directory).
Validation without reading (validation sans regard)
Definition: The human approves without reading. Sessions become a ritual — open, validate, close. The better the system works, the less vigilant the orchestrator becomes. Bainbridge's automation paradox applied to the method. One of 6 silent failure modes. Context: Not instrumentable by the dashboard. The orchestrator must read what goes out (duty 3). Not to be confused with: trust (deliberate trust after verification — validation without reading skips verification). Ref: core/duties.md (duty 3: read what goes out)
Wear (usure)
Definition: The progressive alignment of a persona with the orchestrator's thinking frame, resulting in loss of friction. Surfaces polish each other — the form of friction is preserved, the substance has disappeared. One of 5 instrumented failure modes (slip, wear, crush, asymmetry, instability). Context: Signal: only [sound] frictions over a sustained period, challenge % descending, marker entropy decreasing. The persona stops challenging. Not to be confused with: calibration (deliberate adjustment of constraints — wear is unintentional drift). Ref: binding/filesystem/analysis/cli/mirror.py (compute_failure_modes)
Workspace
Definition: A persona's working directory containing CLAUDE.md and sessions/. Context: Implementation of the space concept in the filesystem binding. Not to be confused with: space (the protocol concept) or shared space (the exchange bus).