aDNA Glossary

aDNA (Agentic DNA) is a way of organizing project knowledge so that AI agents — and humans — can find what they need, do their work, and hand off to eac...

The triad is the three-folder structure at the heart of every aDNA project: `what/` (what the project knows), `how/` (how the project works), and `who/`...

The knowledge layer of an aDNA project — everything the project *knows*.

The operations layer of an aDNA project — everything about *how* the project works.

The organization layer of an aDNA project — everything about *who* is involved.

The question test is the three-question method for deciding where a file belongs in the aDNA triad.

A bare triad is the simplest way to set up an aDNA project: the three folders (`what/`, `how/`, `who/`) sit directly at the project root, alongside the ...

An embedded triad wraps the three aDNA folders inside a hidden `.agentic/` directory, keeping them separate from a codebase's source files.

The deployment form is *how* you physically set up the aDNA folders in your project.

An ontology extension is a new type of content you add to an aDNA project beyond the base set.

A governance file is one of the ALLCAPS markdown files at the root of an aDNA project that tells agents and humans what the project is, how it works, an...

AGENTS.md is a guide written *for agents* that sits in each directory of an aDNA project.

README.md is the guide written *for humans* that sits at the project root and optionally in subdirectories.

Frontmatter is the structured metadata block at the top of every aDNA file, wrapped in `---` fences.

Conformance levels are three tiers — Starter, Standard, and Full — that define how much of the aDNA standard a project implements.

A conformant instance is any project directory that meets the requirements for at least the Starter level of the aDNA standard.

A session is one stretch of work by an agent (or human).

A SITREP (situation report) is the structured status update written at the end of every session.

A mission is a chunk of work too big for a single session.

A template is a reusable blueprint for creating new files of a specific type.

A skill is a reusable recipe that an agent can follow step-by-step to accomplish a specific task.

Content-as-code is a workflow pattern where a file's *location* tells you its *status*.

The context library is a structured knowledge store inside `what/context/` that agents load before starting domain work.

A coordination note is a short message from one agent to another, left in `who/coordination/`.

Collision prevention is how aDNA protects files from being accidentally overwritten when multiple agents (or humans) work in the same project.