oracle

An oracle is abcd's abstraction for an AI model used in a review or reasoning role. By default the oracle is host-delegated (adr-25): abcd's core does the deterministic work, hands a prompt to the host's subagent dispatch, and consumes the structured verdict. The verdict words depend on the role: a lifeboat review states SHIP / NEEDS_WORK / MAJOR_RETHINK, the intent auditor states MET, NOT_MET and their kin per criterion, and the implement loop's reviewers state words of their own (verdict-tag protocol). When an operator wants abcd to reach a model directly, a concrete oracle adapter — native, CLI, API, or MCP — is wired behind the same seam. Referring to it as "oracle" rather than by a generic model name emphasises its role as a decider rather than a generator.

When to use

Use "oracle" when referring to the AI model invoked for a review step in the abcd pipeline. The oracle is host-delegated by default; a wired oracle adapter reaches a model directly over the same seam.

When NOT to use

Do not reduce the oracle to a generic model or bot in workflow documentation — that elides its review-and-decide role. Do not confuse the oracle with the transport that delivers context to it.

Examples

• "A build run's validate stage hands the lane's diff to ruthless-reviewer, a host-delegated oracle, and records the verdict it reads back."
• "The oracle returned NEEDS_WORK on round 6."

Related terms

• record families — the one page that maps the record families and how they relate
• transport — the mechanism that delivers context to the oracle
• intent — one of the artefact types that oracles review