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How to read this page. These are the same terms you will see throughout the docs. On most pages, the first time a term appears it is underlined and shows this definition when you hover over it, so you rarely need to leave the page you are on. This glossary is the full list, in alphabetical order, for when you want to look something up directly.

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A

ABS (American Bureau of Shipping) One of the major classification societies that publishes binding ship-design rules. Abstention When the AI declines to answer because it is not confident enough. In Forge this is treated as a good behavior. A high-quality system abstains often when the information it needs is missing, rather than guessing. Append-only Data that can be added to but never modified or deleted. Corrections happen by adding a new record that supersedes the old one, so the full history is always preserved. As-built / as-repaired The ship as it was actually constructed, and as it actually stands after repair work. Both routinely differ from the drawings, which is the gap Forge exists to close. Audit signature A cryptographic proof (Forge uses a scheme called Ed25519) that a specific decision was made by a specific person at a specific time, and has not been altered since. Authority level The trust grade given to a source. Three values: authority (binding), evidence (a factual record about the vessel), and reference (informational only). Availability A scheduled period in which a vessel is taken out of service for repair and maintenance work. The planning window Forge is designed to serve.

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C

Calibration Whether the AI’s stated confidence matches its actual accuracy. A well-calibrated system that says “90% confident” is right 90% of the time. Forge tracks this explicitly. Capability A named, versioned, rule-bound move the AI is allowed to make (for example, “retrieve prior similar designs” or “draft a rule applicability assessment”). Each one has a defined input, output, confidence threshold, and autonomy limit. The AI cannot invent new moves on the fly. CAD (Computer-Aided Design) The software used to author drawings and 3D models (ShipConstructor, AutoCAD, CADMATIC, Rhino, AVEVA, and others). CFR (Code of Federal Regulations) Where USCG rules are written down in law. Class / Classification society An organization that sets and verifies structural and safety standards for vessels, and surveys ships against them on a fixed cycle. ABS, DNV, and Lloyd’s Register are examples. A ship out of class is generally uninsurable and uncharterable. Cost-asymmetric verification Running fast, automatic evidence checks first, then bringing in engineers, Class, or regulators once the proposal is ready for their attention. This protects specialist review time without reducing human authority.

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D

Dead CAD A 3D file that can no longer be used as a model: a format nobody supports, a frozen export, or a single fused solid with no part boundaries or structure. You can look at it, but you cannot change or decompose it. Decision ledger The append-only record of every engineering decision and the reasoning behind it. Diminution Loss of material thickness over time, usually from corrosion or wear. Measured against original scantlings to decide whether structure needs renewal. Drydock Taking a vessel out of the water so underwater and structural work can be done. The most expensive and most schedule-sensitive part of most repair work, and the point at which unknown scope becomes costly.

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E

Ed25519 A modern, fast, well-studied cryptographic signature scheme. What Forge uses for audit signatures. Evidence A source that records a fact about the vessel but does not by itself authorize an engineering choice (for example, a measured drawing or a survey report). Evidence state What stands behind a particular component in the model: which sources support it, what was assumed, which moment in the vessel’s life it describes, and what remains unresolved. Carried per component rather than assumed for the model as a whole.

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G

glTF A lightweight standard format for display geometry. Used for fast viewing and sharing, never as the authority for an engineering number.

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I

IACS (International Association of Classification Societies) The umbrella body for the classification societies, including ABS. Idempotent Safe to retry. An idempotent operation produces the same result whether it runs once or five times, so a network hiccup that causes a retry does not create duplicate decisions. IMO (International Maritime Organization) The UN body that publishes international maritime conventions.

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K

Knowledge graph Data stored as connected, typed objects (nodes and the relationships between them) rather than as rows in tables. Forge’s model of a vessel lives as a knowledge graph.

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L

LiDAR / point cloud Laser scanning of a physical space, producing a dense cloud of measured points. Captures current condition accurately, but only for surfaces the scanner can see, and only once the vessel is physically accessible.

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M

Measurement result A record of a numeric geometry value computed by the geometry service. Any numeric geometry claim in Forge must point to one of these. Multi-tenancy One software system serving many customers, with each customer’s data rigorously isolated from the others.

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O

Observe-only mode The starting posture for a new deployment. The AI reconstructs, reconciles, and flags, but nothing it produces is treated as authoritative. Lasts about 90 days minimum. OCX (Open Class 3D Exchange) An open format for exchanging ship structural data between systems without flattening it into plain geometry. Forge supports it so structural information stays structural on the way out. Offhire Time a vessel spends unable to earn because it is out of service. A drydock overrun driven by unexpected scope is offhire. Ontology A structured model of what kinds of things exist in a domain and how they relate. For ships: “a Vessel has Hulls; a Hull has Compartments; a Compartment contains Systems,” and so on. Open question An unresolved region of a reconstruction, kept in the model as a named, selectable identity with its evidence envelope and the specific question that would close it. Forge records these rather than generating geometry to cover them.

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P

Port engineer The person on the owner’s side responsible for a vessel’s technical condition, repair planning, and budget. One of the primary users of Forge. Provenance Knowing where every piece of data came from and what was done to it along the way. Pydantic A Python tool for defining and checking the shape of data. Used inside Forge.

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R

RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) Giving an AI the relevant documents to ground its answer, instead of letting it rely on memory. Reconciliation Keeping the 3D model true to the ship as repairs, retrofits, inspections, and drydock work change it. The continuing half of Forge’s job, as opposed to the one-time reconstruction. Reconstruction Building a structured 3D model of an existing vessel from the record that exists: legacy 2D drawings, dead CAD files, and inspection reports. Bounded by what the sources establish, with everything unresolved recorded as an open question. Reference A source that is informational only and never sufficient on its own to make a decision. Row-Level Security (RLS) A database feature that enforces who can see which rows at the database itself. How Forge keeps each customer’s data isolated even if the application has a bug. Rule supersession event What gets created when a new rule version replaces an old one, triggering a re-check of past decisions.

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S

SHACL A standard for validating knowledge-graph data. The graph-layer counterpart to Pydantic. Scantlings The dimensions of a ship’s structural members: plate thicknesses, frame sizes, stiffener spacing. What diminution is measured against. Sensitivity class The four-tier classification (public / internal / confidential / restricted) that controls where a piece of data is allowed to be processed. Sister ship A vessel built to the same design as another. Sister ships share structure, so a component resolved on one hull can inform the next instead of being reconstructed from scratch. Source Anything that comes into the system as input: drawing sheets, survey reports, rules, CAD files, datasheets. Sources are locked once ingested and carry their version, authority, and moment in time. Special survey The major Class inspection, carried out on a five-year cycle, at which a vessel’s structural condition is examined in depth. The event most repair planning is organized around. STEP / IGES Standard file formats for exchanging engineering CAD geometry. Forge reads and writes STEP in both directions. Superintendent The person managing a vessel’s repair work in practice, often on site at the yard during an availability. Along with the port engineer, a primary user of Forge. Supersession Replacing a prior decision or rule version with a new one while keeping the link back to what was replaced. Survey cycle The mandated five-year rhythm of Class inspection every commercial vessel runs on. It is what makes reconciliation a continuing need rather than a one-time project.

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T

Tenant One customer in a multi-tenant system. Tenant ID The field on every record that says which customer owns it. Enforced at the database layer. Thickness measurement A recorded reading of remaining material thickness, typically taken by ultrasonic gauging during survey. Compared against original scantlings to assess diminution.

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U

USCG (United States Coast Guard) The US regulator for commercial vessels in US waters.

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V

Verification ladder The ordered sequence of checks that runs on every AI output before it can become an authoritative decision, ending in human sign-off when required.

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W

Work package A defined scope of repair work handed to a yard for execution. Forge attaches the evidence and reasoning behind a scope to the package, so the yard receives the justification and not only the instruction.