Failure mode

A technical term or concept is used as if the reader already knows it, with no inline definition or gloss. A link is not a definition — the reader should not have to follow a link to understand the sentence.

Test

On first encounter of each technical term, ask: does the surrounding sentence define it, paraphrase it, or give enough context to infer its meaning?

Exceptions — do not flag: - Standard technical vocabulary (LLM, context window, prompt, token, API). - Terms whose opacity is already covered by the notation-opacity gate (e.g., "external symbolic state" when the real access barrier is the K notation it labels). Do not double-flag the English phrase alongside a notation-opacity finding for the same concept.

KB vocabulary terms (kb/notes/definitions/ — currently: distillation, constraining, codification, context engineering) are NOT exempt. Authors know these terms from CLAUDE.md, but external readers do not. On first mention, provide both an inline gloss and a link to the definition note. The gloss lets the reader keep reading; the link lets them go deep.

Example (fail)

"An execution boundary usually creates two different questions"

Example (fail — KB vocabulary without gloss)

"The skill is produced by distillation from the methodology notes."

Example (pass)

"An execution boundary — any point where one LLM call ends and another begins — creates two distinct decisions"

"The skill is produced by distillation (directed context compression) from the methodology notes."