docs(glossary): land the plain-words glossary (ID-293 first slice)

CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -77,6 +77,11 @@ Precedent renames: edge -> profile, surface/spoke/sources -> app,
 hub -> board (2026-07-16, sync module), leg -> stage / Specify-Execute-Observe-Govern -> Shape-Build-Watch-Check
 (2026-07-18, ADR-0034 amendment; Learn kept).
 
+The still-coined terms that are too semantic-everywhere to rename yet (gate,
+lane, ledger, mega, harness) have their plain-word equivalents in
+[docs/glossary.md](docs/glossary.md), so a reader always has the everyday word
+even before the rename migration (ID-293) runs.
+
 ## Source
 
 The "rejection-first" framing of this document is adapted from [obra/superpowers v5.0.7 `AGENTS.md`](https://github.com/obra/superpowers/blob/main/AGENTS.md). Same source we adopted in v1.3 for `commands/kit-health.md` (see ADR-008). Specific rejection criteria here are the kit's own from `docs/PHILOSOPHY.md`, not lifted verbatim.

docs/glossary.md

@@ -0,0 +1,81 @@
+# Glossary: the kit's words in plain English
+
+The kit tries to speak the simplest everyday word that fits (see the
+[Plain words rule](../CONTRIBUTING.md#plain-words-rule-2026-07-16)). Some coined
+or jargon terms still survive in code, config, and file names because renaming
+them touches hundreds to a thousand+ files each, a migration project per term,
+not a doc sweep. This page is the bridge: it maps each surviving jargon term to
+the everyday word so a new reader never has to learn a coined concept to
+understand the docs.
+
+Source of the ranked list: `docs/research/2026-07-16-plain-words-inventory.md`.
+
+## Semantic-everywhere terms (ID-293, rename deferred)
+
+These are the load-bearing coined words. Each appears in 300-1000+ files (code
+identifiers, config keys, module and file names, test assertions), so a full
+rename is its own migration project (ID-293) and is deliberately NOT done here.
+Read the plain word; the jargon is what the code still calls it.
+
+| Jargon (in code) | Plain word | What it means |
+|---|---|---|
+| gate | a check / quality check | A checkpoint at a phase boundary that must pass before the work proceeds (e.g. the ship-gate refuses a push that has no proof of done). "Quality gate" is quasi-standard, so this one may stay. |
+| lane | risk level | How much ceremony a task gets, sized to its risk: `tiny` / `normal` / `full`. A one-line typo fix is a low risk level; an auth change is a high one. |
+| ledger | a log / an append-only history | The append-only record of what the run did (gates run, tokens spent, overrides). Never edited in place, only appended, so it is an audit trail. |
+| mega / mega-goal | a roadmap (multi-goal program) | One destination decomposed into several dependent sub-goals shipped one PR at a time. `bin/mega` drives the reconcile/report/review of such a program. |
+| harness | the kit | The whole machinery of this repo (hooks, commands, gates, agents). "The harness" and "the kit" mean the same thing; prefer "kit". |
+
+## Reader-facing jargon (plain word in prose; code name kept)
+
+Lower-blast-radius terms. The code keeps the name; when you write operator-facing
+prose, prefer the plain word.
+
+| Jargon | Plain word |
+|---|---|
+| dispatch | hand work to a worker / send |
+| orchestrate | coordinate (run sub-goals together) |
+| lens | a review angle |
+| verifier | a read-only checker |
+| mirror | copy / sync the board out |
+| promote | approve a staged item onto the board |
+| scaffold | generate the starting skeleton |
+| registry | a lookup table / manifest |
+| spec-drift | the code no longer matches its spec |
+| quiz-gate | the understanding-check nudge |
+| over-suggest | the advisor's extra-suggestions mode |
+| tombstone | a removed-item marker |
+| surface | an operator-facing entry point (the sync-target sense is already "app") |
+
+## Terms kept because they are already standard
+
+These are industry words a user already knows; they earn their keep and are NOT
+renamed: `git`, `PR`, `branch`, `commit`, `kanban`, `backlog`, `retro`,
+`triage`, `cron`, `worktree`, `snapshot`, `debt`, `intake`, `adopt`, `manifest`,
+`contract`, `proof-of-done`, `V-model`, `fan-out`, `wavefront`, `spanner`,
+`descent`, `staging`.
+
+## Already renamed (for reference)
+
+The plain-words pass already landed these (old name kept as a legacy alias for
+one release where it was a config key or command):
+
+| Old | New |
+|---|---|
+| edge | profile |
+| surface / spoke / sources (sync target) | app |
+| hub | board |
+| leg | stage |
+| Specify / Execute / Observe / Govern | Shape / Build / Watch / Check (Learn kept) |
+| verif-counts | verify-counts |
+| SDD (first use) | spec-driven development (SDD) |
+
+## Why the big five are not renamed here
+
+`gate` (~1016 files), `ledger` (~780), `lane` (~647), `mega` (~532), and
+`harness` (~319) are semantic-everywhere: the name is a code identifier, a
+config key, a module directory, and a file name, not just prose. Renaming any
+one of them is a dedicated migration project with its own PR, legacy-alias
+window, and full-suite run (ID-293). This glossary is the deliberate first slice:
+it delivers the onboarding benefit (a reader always has the plain word) without
+the destabilising code churn, and it is the precondition ID-293's own backlog
+note names ("unpark after the glossary lands").