Workspace
The magus root directory that owns a set of projects and shared config; the unit magus operates over. Workspace in full.
Project
A directory magus recognizes as a unit of work (it has a magusfile); the unit of caching, scheduling, and dependency tracking. Project in full.
Magusfile
The magusfile.buzz that declares a project's targets (as export funs) and binds its spells. Magusfile in full.
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.
Spell
A language/runtime adapter (e.g. go, md) that maps generic targets onto a toolchain's real commands. Spell in full.
Charm
An execution modifier attached with : (lint:rw) that changes how a target runs, not which one; the built-in rw flips a check-only target to mutate in place, and ci always strips it. Charm in full.
CI
An ordinary target you compose yourself with ctx.needs; magus does not hardcode its stages. It is the anchor magus affected ci keys off, and ci strips the rw charm. CI in full.
Concurrency
How many targets run at once. It is bounded by the pool's capacity and set with --concurrency, MAGUS_CONCURRENCY, or the concurrency config key. Concurrency 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.
Agent
A 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. Agent in full.
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.
Harness
The 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. Harness in full.
Job
The unit of delegated work, and one row of the job store: what an orchestrating agent handed out, with its goal, the checkpoint it was cut against, the paths it may write or must not touch, and the one check it runs. A job's holder is either a session, for work an orchestrator handed out, or the daemon, for its own maintenance. The store records; the agent guard is what reads those facts back when grading a write. Job in full.
Run
One target executing under one magus invocation, such as magus run test web or magus affected ci. A run keeps its captured output behind an output reference. Every magus run is a run whether or not any job asked for it; see Job for how the two relate. Run in full.