# Terminology Dictionary

## Objective

Agree on one word per concept, and use it in the UI, the docs, and support.

A single authoritative list of the product's concepts with the approved user-facing name for each, its deprecated alternatives, and its grammatical forms.

## Before You Begin

This feature is being added to an application that already exists and already
works. Do not scaffold a new project, and do not assume a blank slate.

Inspect the codebase first and establish:

- The existing application structure and where code of this kind already lives.
- The framework and version in use.
- The existing design system — colours, spacing, typography, and component conventions.
- Existing UI components you can reuse instead of writing new ones.
- The existing database structure, if this feature needs to persist anything.
- The existing authentication and authorization system, if this feature is user-scoped.
- Dependencies already installed, so you don't add a library that duplicates one.
- The existing test setup and conventions.

Only start writing code once you understand the above. If the application
already implements part of this feature, extend it rather than replacing it.

## Implementation Instructions

1. Walk the app's navigation, headings, table columns, and settings and record every noun it uses for a concept. Where two words describe the same thing, pick one, record the other as deprecated, and change the strings.
2. Record the internal name alongside the user-facing one for every concept whose database table, API field, or code identifier differs from what the interface says, so nobody assumes they must match.
3. Give each term its grammatical forms explicitly — singular, plural, the verb where one exists, and whether it is capitalised mid-sentence — because these are exactly the details that drift.
4. Make the dictionary the source the localisation files are keyed against, so renaming a concept produces a visible list of translations to revisit rather than silently leaving the old word in every other language.
5. Do not rename a concept in the interface without also handling the places the old word persists: URLs, saved searches, exported column headers, help articles, and the words your existing users already say to support.

## UI and UX Requirements

Match the application's existing design system exactly. Reuse its components,
spacing, and typography. This feature should look like it was always there.

## Responsive Requirements

Works on mobile, tablet, and desktop. Touch targets are large enough to hit on a
phone, and nothing overflows horizontally at 320px.

## Accessibility Requirements

- Fully keyboard navigable.
- Correct semantic elements and ARIA roles.
- Visible focus states.
- Meets WCAG AA contrast.
- Dynamic changes are announced to screen readers.
- Respects prefers-reduced-motion.

## Edge Cases

- The internal name and the user-facing name are allowed to differ, and often should. Recording both prevents an engineer renaming the UI to match a column, or a writer assuming the API exposes the word on screen.
- Retired words do not disappear on the day they are replaced. Keep deprecated terms listed with their replacement so support, search, and old help articles can still resolve them.
- Plurals, possessives, and verb forms are where consistency breaks first, so each entry must carry them rather than leaving them to whoever writes the next string.
- A term change must propagate to every localisation file at once, and the strings awaiting a new translation must be visible rather than quietly falling back to the old wording.
- Terms that are legally or contractually fixed — a plan name, a regulated document type — must be marked as unchangeable.
- Words that already mean something specific in the user's own industry must not be reused for a different concept in the app.
- The sentence patterns, tone, and error structure around these words belong to Microcopy Guidelines; this dictionary settles only which word is correct.

## Testing

Exercise the feature end to end in the running application. Cover every edge case
above, then run the existing test suite and confirm nothing regressed.

## Acceptance Criteria

- [ ] Each concept has exactly one approved user-facing term.
- [ ] Every entry records its internal name where that differs from the interface.
- [ ] Singular, plural, verb form, and capitalisation are recorded per term.
- [ ] Deprecated terms are listed with their replacement and remain searchable.
- [ ] The interface, navigation, help content, and localisation files use the approved terms with no exceptions.
- [ ] Renaming a term surfaces the affected translations rather than leaving them stale.
- [ ] The feature matches the existing design system.
- [ ] No existing functionality is broken.

## Adaptation Rules

- Match the existing design system. Do not introduce a new colour palette,
  spacing scale, or component library.
- Reuse existing components and utilities wherever they fit.
- Follow the naming, file layout, and code style already present.
- Do not upgrade, replace, or remove existing dependencies to make this
  feature fit. Adapt the feature to the app, not the app to the feature.
- Do not break existing functionality. If a change is genuinely required in
  existing code, make the smallest one that works and say so.
- If something in these instructions conflicts with how the application is
  built, follow the application and explain the deviation.

## Final Verification

Before you report the work as done:

1. Re-read the acceptance criteria above and check each one against what you
   actually built.
2. Run the application and exercise the feature end to end.
3. Run the existing test suite and confirm you have broken nothing.
4. Check the feature on mobile, tablet, and desktop widths.
5. Check keyboard navigation and focus handling.
6. Summarize what changed: files added, files modified, and anything you
   deliberately did differently because of how this application is built.

If any acceptance criterion is unmet, fix it before reporting completion.