Glossary · AI-native development

Scope Contract

A concrete agreement that defines a task's goal, allowed and forbidden surfaces, expected artifacts, verification requirements, and stopping conditions.

Why it matters

It prevents an agent from turning a narrow fix into an unreviewable refactor or from claiming completion without evidence.

In practice

State that only the parser module and its tests may change, public APIs must remain compatible, and the named test suite must pass.

Common confusion

A task description says what you want. A scope contract also defines boundaries and proof.

Related terms

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