Exercise 01: Vocabulary

Objective

Define 9 key terms from the Foundation glossary in your own words. Demonstrates you understand the concepts, not just that you can copy definitions.

Required Reading

• Foundation README -- Glossary section
• Agents | Cursor Learn -- What agents are and how they operate
• Customizing Agents | Cursor Learn -- Defining custom agents, models, and roles
• Rules | Cursor Docs -- What rules are (.mdc files that give agents persistent instructions)
• Agent Skills | Cursor Docs -- What skills are (SKILL.md files that provide reusable capabilities)

CursorClaude Code

The exercises and validation below work in Cursor. Use the Cursor documentation links in Required Reading.

These 9 terms are IDE-agnostic. In Claude Code, "agents" map to model prompts, "rules" map to CLAUDE.md directives, and "skills" use the same SKILL.md format under .claude/skills/. Understanding these concepts transfers directly.

Terms to Define

1. Agent
2. Subagent
3. Rule
4. Skill
5. Artifact
6. Pipeline
7. Frontmatter
8. Acceptance criteria
9. State

Output

Write to docs/foundation/tutorials/outputs/01-vocabulary.md. Use a ## <Term> heading for each term, followed by a 1-3 sentence definition in your own words.

Hint

The "State" term refers to how pipelines track their progress so work can be resumed if interrupted. Think about what information a pipeline would need to checkpoint and restore.

Do NOT copy the glossary definitions verbatim. Rephrase using your own understanding.

Validation

python3 docs/foundation/tutorials/verify.py --exercise 01

Checks: file exists, all 9 terms have headings, each definition is at least 10 words, no definition is an exact substring of the glossary.

Answer

The 9 terms to define, with key points each definition should cover:

• Agent: An AI that uses tools (file editing, search, terminal) in a loop to accomplish a goal. Not just a chatbot -- it takes actions autonomously.
• Subagent: A specialized agent spawned by the main agent for a specific role (e.g., planning, testing). Defined in .cursor/agents/*.md.
• Rule: A .mdc file in .cursor/rules/ that gives agents persistent behavioral instructions. Activated by alwaysApply, globs, or description matching.
• Skill: A reusable instruction set (SKILL.md) that agents pull in on-demand when the task matches the skill's description. Unlike rules, not auto-injected.
• Artifact: A JSON file one agent writes and another reads. Creates traceable handoffs between pipeline stages (e.g., plan.json, worker-result.json).
• Pipeline: A sequence of agents that pass work forward via artifacts. Each agent handles one stage (plan, implement, test, review, ship).
• Frontmatter: YAML metadata at the top of a rule or agent file, between --- markers. Controls activation, model selection, and behavior.
• Acceptance criteria: Conditions that define when a task is done. The plan maps these to implementation steps; the tester verifies them.
• State: A checkpoint of pipeline progress (stored in state.yaml) that enables resuming interrupted work without re-running completed stages.

Your definitions must be in your own words -- the grader rejects verbatim copies of the glossary.