Core Concepts

Five concepts. That's all you need to understand GAAI.

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1. Dual Track

GAAI separates two fundamentally different activities:

Discovery Track — figuring out what to build and why

• Human-facing. Produces artefacts. Asks questions. Validates intent.
• Owned by the Discovery Agent

Delivery Track — building it correctly and verifiably

• Execution-focused. Implements. Tests. Passes QA.
• Owned by the Delivery Agent

Discovery must complete before Delivery begins. This prevents the most common AI failure mode: building the wrong thing fast.

These two tracks are not just different phases — they are architecturally different systems:

Dimension	Discovery Agent	Delivery Agent
Primary interlocutor	The human	The backlog
Nature of work	Conversation + clarification + artefact generation	Deterministic execution against a plan
Output	PRDs, Epics, Stories (~short, structured)	Code, tests, QA reports
Expected interruptions	Frequent — asks the human questions	Rare — only escalates when blocked
Context requirement	Conversational continuity is critical	Phase isolation improves quality
Authorization source	Human intent + project constraints	Backlog item with status: refined
When it stops	Never stops mid-conversation	Stops on QA failure or ambiguity

This asymmetry is why Discovery and Delivery have different agents, different authority models, and different activation patterns. They are not interchangeable.

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2. The Backlog (The Only Authorization Mechanism)

If it's not in the backlog, it must not be executed.

The backlog is not a to-do list. It is the only authority that permits the Delivery Agent to act.

• Location: .gaai/project/contexts/backlog/active.backlog.yaml
• Format: YAML (one file for all active items)
• States: draft → needs-refinement → refined → in-progress → done

The Delivery Agent reads the backlog, picks the next refined item, and executes it. Nothing else.

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3. Agents vs Skills

Agents reason, decide, and orchestrate. They have authority.

Skills execute. They do one thing and produce explicit output. They never decide anything.

	Agent	Skill
Interprets intent	Yes	No
Selects context	Yes	No
Decides strategy	Yes	No
Executes procedure	No	Yes
Produces artefacts	No	Yes

The Delivery Agent invokes the implement skill. The implement skill cannot decide what to implement. That separation is what makes AI execution predictable.

If a skill appears to think, it is wrongly designed.

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4. Explicit Memory

Memory in GAAI is never automatically loaded. Agents select what context they need. Always.

This matters because:

• Auto-loading all memory wastes tokens and introduces noise
• Context pollution leads to drift and contradictions
• Explicit selection makes agent behavior predictable and auditable

Memory lives in .gaai/project/contexts/memory/. The structure — project context, decisions log, patterns, summaries — is defined in .gaai/project/contexts/memory/README.memory.md. You can add domain-specific memory files; agents select them explicitly using memory-retrieve.

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5. Artefacts as Evidence (Not Authority)

Artefacts (Epics, Stories, Plans) are documentation. They explain intent and decisions. They are not the authorization mechanism.

Documents intent	Authorizes execution
Epic artefact	Backlog item
Story artefact	Backlog item with status: refined
PRD	Backlog items it generates

An artefact with no backlog item cannot trigger execution. A backlog item with no artefact can still be executed (though artefacts are strongly recommended for clarity).

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Putting It Together

Human intent
    ↓
Discovery Agent (reasons, produces artefacts, validates)
    ↓
Backlog items (status: refined — authorization granted)
    ↓
Delivery Agent (invokes skills, executes plan, runs QA)
    ↓
Done items (move to done/)
    ↓
Memory captures decisions for future sessions

→ Getting Started — set it up → Quick Start — try it now