Core Concepts Glossary

Terms related to SCHEMABOUND’s architectural paradigm, schema operating modes, identity federation model, and billing units. These are the foundational concepts that differentiate SCHEMABOUND from traditional ORMs and data access layers.

Agentic Activity Unit (AAU)

A dimensionless measure of governance cost per tool call in SCHEMABOUND. AAU weights reflect the relative risk and computational overhead of different operation intents: Read = 1x, Write = 3x, Governed = 5x. The total AAU consumed by an agent session determines billing tier thresholds and rate limit windows.

Bring Your Own Identity (BYOI)

A federated identity pattern where SCHEMABOUND trusts external identity providers (IdPs) such as Entra ID, Okta, LDAP, or any OIDC-compliant provider rather than maintaining its own user registry. BYOI enables SCHEMABOUND to integrate into existing enterprise directory structures without recreating permission systems from scratch.

See also: OIDC Token Validation, RBAC Mapping

Code-First Mode

A schema operating mode where database tables are registered explicitly in application code via Rust derive macros (#[derive(LlmSchema)]) or Python declarative bases. SCHEMABOUND enforces strict schema validation against registered models; unregistered tables are rejected at runtime unless the mode is switched to Hybrid or Data-First.

See also: Hybrid Mode, Data-First Mode

Control Plane

A first-class workflow execution layer in SCHEMABOUND that tracks and drives multi-step agent workflows through stateful plans. Each plan consists of named steps with explicit dependency relationships (depends_on); when a step completes, the control plane returns an LlmContextUpdate carrying tool output and schema changes back to the LLM for the next invocation.

See also: Plan, Step, Llm Context Update

Data-First Mode

A schema operating mode where SCHEMABOUND introspects an existing database at runtime and builds a read-only mirror of tables, columns, indexes, and triggers. Useful for integrating legacy databases without rewriting code; however, this mode provides no compile-time validation and relies on heuristics to detect ORM conventions (Hibernate camelCase vs EntityFramework PascalCase).

See also: Code-First Mode, Hybrid Mode

Governance Cost Model

The principle that every tool call in SCHEMABOUND carries a governance cost proportional to its risk profile. Read operations cost less than writes; administrative operations (schema changes, user management) cost more still. The model is implemented via AAU intent classification and enforced through policy evaluation before any query reaches the mapper layer.

Hybrid Mode

A schema operating mode that combines Data-First introspection with Code-First registered models. Tables not explicitly registered in code are treated as Data-First (introspected at runtime); tables registered via derive macros are validated strictly against their declared schemas. This is the recommended production mode for incremental migration from legacy databases to SCHEMABOUND-managed schemas.

See also: Data-First Mode, Code-First Mode

Intent Classification

The process of categorizing a tool call’s intent (e.g., read_select, write_insert, admin) based on the SQL or query template being executed. Intent classification determines AAU weighting and policy enforcement severity — governed intents require approval workflows, while reads may pass through with minimal checking.

Llm Context Update

A feedback object returned by the SCHEMABOUND control plane after each step in a multi-step plan completes. Carries tool_output_json (serialized result), schema_additions (list of NEW/MODIFIED/REMOVED tables from schema_table_hints), and augmentation_hints (human-readable strings for system prompt insertion). The LLM always sees current schema state before choosing its next action, ensuring tool definitions stay accurate even when schema evolves mid-workflow.

See also: Control Plane, Plan

Object Agent Mapping (OAM)

The architectural paradigm that maps agent intent to data operations rather than simply mapping objects to relational rows (as an ORM does). Where an ORM translates application code to SQL, OAM mediates what agents can see and do based on schema mode, identity context, injection guard filtering, and policy enforcement. SCHEMABOUND is the reference implementation of OAM.

See also: ORM, Schema Operating Modes

ORM (Object-Relational Mapper)

A programming technique that translates application objects into database rows and vice versa. Traditional ORMs (Hibernate, Entity Framework, SQLAlchemy) focus on object persistence; OAM extends this by adding intent mediation, identity context enrichment, and policy enforcement between the application layer and the data access layer.

Plan

A named, versioned collection of steps with explicit dependency relationships in SCHEMABOUND’s control plane. Submitted via SubmitPlanRequest, a plan is assigned a stable plan_id that clients use for all subsequent operations (get status, execute step, cancel). Steps declare dependencies with depends_on; the control plane validates the dependency graph before any step executes and rejects cycles.

See also: Control Plane, Step

Schema Operating Modes

The three execution states that determine how SCHEMABOUND interacts with database schemas: Data-First (runtime introspection of existing databases), Code-First (strict validation against registered models), and Hybrid (combination of both). Mode selection affects security posture, development velocity, and migration complexity.

See also: Data-First Mode, Code-First Mode, Hybrid Mode

Step

A single tool call within a SCHEMABOUND control plane plan. Each step carries a tool_name, tool_intent (governing policy evaluation), a query_template that may reference prior step output via {{step.<id>.output}} syntax, and a depends_on list naming steps that must complete before this one executes. The control plane resolves template substitutions server-side before calling the query service.

See also: Control Plane, Plan

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