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Scope test

The question every proposed capability has to answer: does it read the model magus already had to build, or does it make magus learn something new about the world? Reads stay small; acquisitions are where a tool loses its shape.

Example

magus explain reads the model magus already built; it is the shape of a capability that passes.

magus explain internal/httpx

Used in

The knowledge graph holds no docs section or code type by this name outside the glossary.

See also

One-vocabulary ruleEach concept gets one name, used everywhere: target, spell, charm, op. A second word for the same thing is a house dialect, and it costs every reader (and every agent) a lookup that never ends. Unix survives at the verb, not the binaryEach verb answers one question, deterministically, from declared sources, and stops; the binary is as big as the monorepo problem. AgentA model working through an agent host such as Claude Code, Codex, Cursor or OpenCode. magus treats an agent as one more caller of its CLI, MCP tools and console, held to the same checks as a person. HarnessThe deterministic scaffolding around the work on a change, for a person or an agent: compiler errors, formatters, linters, checks, gates, leases and hooks, placed at points a person chose. Around an agent's loop, magus supplies one and keeps it outside.
glossarydesign-and-scope
Last updated (2df714e8)
Glossary

Op

A single tool-native command a target composes (long form: operation); the middle of the work hierarchy (Spell to Op to Target). Op in full.

Knowledge graph

The queryable graph of a workspace's spells, targets, docs, and code relationships; query it with magus query/explain/path. Knowledge graph in full.

Scope test

The question every proposed capability has to answer: does it read the model magus already had to build, or does it make magus learn something new about the world? Reads stay small; acquisitions are where a tool loses its shape. Scope test in full.

One-vocabulary rule

Each concept gets one name, used everywhere: target, spell, charm, op. A second word for the same thing is a house dialect, and it costs every reader (and every agent) a lookup that never ends. One-vocabulary rule in full.

Tool

An action a model can call through its host: a name, a description, a typed input and a result. magus serves its tools over MCP, each a read of the workspace model or a run of the CLI it already has. Tool in full.

Conventions

This page uses none of the site's convention markers. The full set is on the conventions page.