Key Concepts
Understand the ideas behind Fabriq's design — the mental model you need before using the product.
Before you dive into the step-by-step guides, it helps to understand a few foundational ideas. Fabriq is built on a simple principle: AI agents should be powerful but never invisible. Every design decision flows from that.
These concepts appear throughout the docs. Skim them now, then come back when you encounter a term you don't recognize.
The Two Surfaces
Fabriq separates your work into two distinct surfaces:
- Workspace assets — long-lived, shared product knowledge (docs, specs, ADRs, design tokens)
- Feature worktrees — short-lived, isolated branches where the agent does its work
The shell enforces this boundary. The agent can never accidentally write across it.
→ Read more: Workspace vs Feature: Two Surfaces
Confirmation Gates
Every state-changing action the agent takes surfaces as a confirmation prompt — you see the target file, the dimension, the payload, and the expected effect. Nothing hits disk until you approve.
→ Read more: Confirmation Gates
Stages & Gates
A feature progresses through stages — from analysis through design, implementation, validation, review, and close. Between each stage is a gate: a deterministic check that ensures prerequisites are met before you can advance.
→ Read more: Feature Lifecycle · Stage Gates
The Audit Trail
Every capability call, every confirmation, every stage advancement is logged in an append-only JSONL audit trail. Every agent decision leaves sourced, attributable evidence.
CDR (Cognitive Derivation & Reverse Engineering)
Fabriq doesn't just manage features — it learns from your codebase. CDR scans your source code and extracts structured knowledge: behaviors, business rules, state machines, and evidence that both humans and agents can navigate.
Next steps
- New to Fabriq? Start with Your First 15 Minutes
- Want the big picture first? Read Workspace vs Feature
- Ready to dive in? Head to Installation
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