One place for system semantics
Objects, relationships, rules, permissions and state transitions belong to a shared, machine-readable model—not isolated pages scattered across a repository.
A SHARED SEMANTIC LAYER FOR SOFTWARE AND AI AGENTS
One shared understanding of your system.
Your software lives across code, documents, and decisions. Avouch brings that knowledge into one structured, source-grounded system model that people can explore, agents can query, and teams can evolve with confidence.
AVOUCH SPEC / AI SKILL + COMMAND / CLI / STUDIO
Continue where you left offContinue
Avouch Studio · Order lifecycle3 object types
ASK THE MODEL, NOT A STACK OF DOCSavouch CLI
$ avouch query writes Order.status orders.ontology.yaml
target: Order.status writers: - action: CONFIRM_DELIVERY - action: PAY_ORDER - action: SHIP_ORDER
Which actions write Order.status · Read-only query · linked to the versioned model
THE PROBLEM
Your system's knowledge should never be scattered.
Specifications multiply. Code changes. Agents operate with fragments of context. Avouch gives the whole team a shared description of the business rules and relationships that matter.
Give agents reliable context
Agents can query exactly what an action does, what a property depends on, and where a business rule comes from, without searching through competing documents.
Understand the impact of change
Trace claims to evidence, expose unanswered questions, and identify readers and writers before editing business behavior. The model becomes the foundation for controlled evolution.
THE AVOUCH ECOSYSTEM
From an existing codebase to a living system model.
A practical workflow built around one shared Avouch Spec.
Discover
Use an AI skill and command to inspect project documentation and code, draft a model, and surface disagreements for review.
/avouch:scan
Model
Capture your domain, business actions, state transitions, permissions and citations in a portable Avouch Spec.
*.ontology.yaml
Query
Let agents ask the CLI what writes a field, what reads a value, how an action is defined or what a rule cites—using structured answers.
avouch query · avouch check
Evolve
Explore models visually today; grow into editing, semantic diff, impact review and managed change workflows.
VIEW → EDIT → DIFF → MANAGE
Today: a project-scanning skill, a read-only CLI and a visual viewer. Scanned models are reviewable drafts. The editor, semantic diff and change management are the direction of Studio.
AVOUCH STUDIO
A workspace for understanding and changing complex systems.
As Avouch grows, Studio will bring model editing, change comparison and impact management together in one visual environment. You can start by exploring real models today.
Open Studio ↗Visual model explorerAVAILABLE
Inspect domains, object graphs, actions, state machines, source citations and schema findings directly in the browser.
Model editorROADMAP
Shape and update the system model with source-aware edits and validation as the specification evolves.
Semantic diff & change managementROADMAP
Compare meaning across versions, understand affected actions and dependencies, and review changes before they spread.
Open by design. Useful with what you already have.
Avouch Spec is a portable semantic contract. Avouch Studio also reads OWL and RDF, so existing ontologies stay useful alongside your system's behavioral model.
Avouch SpecOWL 2RDFSTurtleJSON-LDRDF/XML
TRY AVOUCH STUDIO
Explore your own ontology
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SELECTED EXAMPLES
Six models. Six ways to understand a system.
Choose a focused example to see how Avouch models real decisions, dependencies and unknowns. All examples are synthetic.
Online orders
Avouch · YAMLTrace an order through its lifecycle and see which actions cause each state change.
- 1Open Order states. Each arrow names the action that performs it.
- 2Click DELIVERED → RETURNED. No action performs it; the file says why.
- 3Open Actions × objects. PAY_ORDER creates a Payment; SHIP_ORDER only reads it.
Insurance claims
Avouch · YAMLExplore an approval decision with multiple permissions, thresholds and cross-context effects.
- 1Look at the Claim states. CLOSED → REOPENED loops back: REOPEN_CLAIM performs it, and ASSIGN_ADJUSTER takes the claim to UNDER_ASSESSMENT again.
- 2Click APPROVE_CLAIM. Its permission is any_of an adjuster, a claims manager or a director key; the decision table checks each limit, otherwise the claim is REFERRED.
- 3Open Actions × objects and click REFER_TO_SIU. It creates a FraudReview in Special investigations and puts the Claim ON_HOLD in the same operation.
Subscription billing
Avouch · YAMLFollow a subscription and payment process across contexts, conditions and decision paths.
- 1Click CHARGE_INVOICE, then PAUSE_SUBSCRIPTION, then CANCEL_SUBSCRIPTION. Idempotency key: required, not required, not declared. Each declared value quotes its source.
- 2Click RETRY_PAYMENT. A dunning decision table: the first failed check decides; otherwise a retry is scheduled and CHARGE_INVOICE runs next.
- 3Open Actions × objects. Actions from three contexts write Invoice; RECORD_PAYMENT_RESULT writes PaymentAttempt, Invoice and Subscription.
Refund policy: what the document leaves open
Avouch · YAMLSee how contradictory policies and missing requirements remain visible as source gaps.
- 1Click REVIEW_REQUEST. The refund window is unspecified: the policy page says 30 days, the FAQ says 14, and the file keeps both quotes.
- 2Click GRANT_EXCEPTION. Its permission is unknown: the policy names no role, and the file does not invent one.
- 3Read the overview (nothing selected). Four known source gaps, each of a different kind, each with what is open and a proposed fix.
A broken file
Avouch · YAMLSee how invalid specifications are detected and explained during schema validation.
- 1Read the schema badge. The schema check fails and counts the errors: schema ✗ 4.
- 2Click an error row. It shows the path and what the schema requires, and opens that entry.
- 3Hover a ? next to a field. It shows that field's description from the schema.
Orchard
OWL · TurtleOpen an OWL ontology to see how Studio works with established semantic web formats.
- 1Click FruitTree. Its restrictions read as text: bears some Fruit, planted in only Plot.
- 2Click Gardener. Cardinality reads as text: tends min 1 Tree, tends max 5.
- 3Click Plant. A label in another language keeps its tag: "Plante"@fr.
AVOUCH SPEC
Experimental specification · evolving rapidlyBuild on one shared semantic contract.
Avouch Spec defines the common language for people, agents and tooling. Explore its schema, source-citation model and agent authoring guide, or open a working example in Studio.