Shared vocabulary.
Consistent terms make the ecosystem easier to understand and easier to evaluate. This guide is the single source of truth for how we use each word across Sidian Labs.
- Agent
A machine actor that proposes or performs actions.
Example: A CI runner, an LLM-driven assistant, or a release bot.
- Action
A single, consequential operation an agent wants to perform.
Example:
shell:git push origin main- Capability
A class of action an agent is permitted to attempt.
Example:
file.write,payment.send,shell.exec- Policy
A set of rules that decide whether an action is allowed, denied, or requires approval.
Example:
payment.*over $1,000 requires approval.- Delegation
Transferring authority from one agent to another, usually with constraints.
Example: A parent agent issues a short-lived lease to a sub-agent.
- Identity
A stable, verifiable name for a machine actor. In OVARA, backed by ed25519 keys.
Example:
agent-7c9a1b...- Lease
A time-bound, scope-bound grant of authority.
Example:
lease-a3f7...valid for 5 minutes onshell.git.- Receipt
A signed record of a policy decision and, optionally, the resulting action.
Example: HMAC-SHA256 or ed25519-signed OVARA/MAP receipt.
- Provenance
Information about where evidence came from. It is not the same as truth.
Example: Source ID, stance, and source quality in DASH.
- Evidence
A source-bound record that supports, contradicts, or contextualizes a claim.
Example: A document excerpt tagged
supportsin DASH.- Trust
A dynamic score informed by observed behavior and environmental signals.
Example: OVARA trust_score degraded by anomalous drift.
- Assurance
Ongoing evidence that a system is behaving within its stated constraints.
Example: Continuous audit logs + periodic conformance checks.
- Enforcement
The act of preventing, allowing, or escalating an action before it executes.
Example: MAP denies
db.writeinproduction.