Words that come up

Every word this series uses that you would not already know, in one line each. Skim it, or search it. A 3 minute read if you take the lot, which nobody does.

What the kit writes down

Each one is a file in your project. Never a message in the chat. The readout says which comes next.

Where: both surfaces.

/builder-kit:status

• Idea Pack: the problem, who has it, and what a first version does.

• PRD: short for product requirements document, in enough detail to build from.

• User story: one sentence per thing a person can do, written from their side.

• Acceptance criteria: the checkable list that says whether a thing is done, agreed up front.

• ADR: short for architecture decision record. One page on a decision and why.

• Plan: the whole build split into phases, in order, each small enough to finish.

• Phase: one slice, taken all the way to working and tested before the next starts.

• Wireframe: grey boxes showing what sits on a screen and where. No colour, on purpose.

• Design system: the one file every screen is built against, so screen ten matches screen one.

• Decision log: a dated line for the calls too small for their own record.

• Derived: worked out from files you already had, rather than agreed with you. It still needs your yes.

• Spike: a throwaway attempt at the thing nobody is sure is possible yet.

How you talk to it

Two surfaces, one vocabulary. Type these the same way in a terminal and in the Claude Code panel of the Claude Desktop app. Every command has the shape below.

Where: both surfaces. Only when you want a new project.

/builder-kit:start

• Command: anything you type starting with a slash. Every step of this workflow is one.

• Skill: the instructions a command loads when you run it, which you never open.

• Agent: a reviewer started in a clean session, with no memory of writing what it reads.

• Hook: a check that fires on its own, before or after the model does something.

• MCP: a way for Claude to reach outside tools, like a browser or a documentation service.

• CLAUDE.md: the file at the top of your project, read at the start of every session.

• Artefact: any document the kit puts on disk, as opposed to something said in chat.

Words for the running thing

Later words. These turn up once there is something running.

Where: both surfaces. It lists what it would change, then waits for your yes.

/builder-kit:undo

• Gate: a mechanical pass or fail. Tests green, coverage held, no serious advisories.

• Coverage: how much of your code the tests actually run, as a percentage.

• Advisory: a published warning that a package you build on has a known problem.

• Deploy: putting the current version somewhere other people can reach.

• Rollback: putting the version that worked back in front of people.

• Snapshot: a point the kit saves as work happens, so you can always go back.

• Environment variable: a named setting that lives outside your code, so live and local can differ.

• Secret: a key or a password, kept in an environment variable and never in the code.

• Migration: a change to the shape of stored data, applied in order.

• Rate limit: a ceiling on how often anything expensive can be asked for.

Words only your track uses

Everything above is shared with two other series. This part is not, and it is the half people actually come back for.

• Simulator: an iPhone running on your machine, for looking at the app without a device.

• Xcode: Apple's own build tool. It is the only way to turn Swift into an app, and it is Mac only.

• TestFlight: Apple's route for handing a build to testers before the store ever sees it.

• Signing: proof to a phone that a build came from you. Real devices refuse anything unsigned.

• Bundle identifier: the one name Apple knows your app by, fixed once and awkward to change.

• Safe area: the part of the screen that belongs to you rather than to the notch and the bar.

• Archive: the packaged, signed build that gets uploaded. Not the thing you run while building.

• Entitlement: a permission the app declares up front, like the camera. Apple checks these.

Nobody memorises this. The map of the whole workflow, step by step with the file each one writes, prints without leaving the session.

Where: both surfaces.

/builder-kit:cheatsheet

One link left. Start at the beginning if you have not already.