--- title: "Track changing definitions in agent Markdown" slug: track-changing-definitions-in-agent-markdown excerpt: "A term can keep its name while changing what it includes. Compare its first meaning with later passages before acting on an agent's conclusion." quickAnswer: "Start with the first passage that says what a named term includes and excludes. Read later uses against that boundary. When something first left out is counted in, mark that passage and pause the action it supports. Have the agent give its conclusion again with that meaning held fixed. Compare the new conclusion with the earlier passages." keyTakeaways: - Keep the first stated meaning beside the conclusion that depends on it. - Compare what counts as in or out, even when the same term appears throughout. - Mark the first passage that changes the boundary, rather than only the final sentence. - Ask whether the conclusion still holds when the earlier meaning stays fixed. publishedDate: 2026-10-24 dateModified: 2026-10-24 author: Bobby Huang cluster: A role: post status: published faq: - q: Does a repeated term mean the meaning stayed the same? a: No. A passage can keep the same term while counting more or fewer things under it. Compare the things included and excluded at each use. - q: Can a changed definition be intentional? a: Yes. The agent may need a wider meaning later. Ask it to name that change and revisit any conclusion that depends on the earlier meaning. - q: What if the first passage never defines the term? a: Treat the meaning as unsettled. Ask what the term includes and excludes before acting on a conclusion built around it. related: - how-to-review-markdown-your-ai-agents-write --- You reach the end of an agent's plan and recognize a term from the opening. The conclusion sounds familiar. Yet something that the opening left out now sits inside that term. Before acting, find the sentence where the boundary moved. This is a reading task you can do in the Markdown file itself. Unfamiliar with the extension? The [.md file guide](what-is-a-md-file.md) explains it. Here, the concern is what a repeated term covers across a long explanation, even when its spelling stays unchanged. ## Keep the first meaning in view Imagine Jane Doe reading an agent's plan for moving paper folders from one room to another. This fictional situation uses an invented person and invented passages. Nothing here describes a real person or project. Near the beginning, the agent writes: > In this plan, a ready folder has every page in place and has Jane Doe's approval to move. A folder awaiting approval is not ready. Keep that passage beside the later conclusion. The term is **ready folder**. Having every page is part of its meaning; approval is another part. A folder without approval falls outside it, even if every page is present. Do not shorten the meaning to "a folder with every page" in your own notes. That would drop the very boundary you need to compare. A short note such as "ready requires pages and approval" keeps both parts visible. If the opening only says "we can move the ready folders," you do not yet have a stated meaning to anchor. Pause there and ask what makes a folder ready. A familiar word can still leave the action unsettled. ## Compare what the later passage counts in Further down, Jane Doe reads: > The blue folder has every page in place. Approval is still pending. It belongs with the ready folders for the move. Compare the blue folder with the opening meaning. It has the pages, but it lacks approval. The later passage places it inside a group that the opening kept it outside. The repeated word "ready" does not settle that mismatch. Nor does the fact that the blue folder is nearly ready in everyday speech. In this plan, the opening tied the term to two conditions. The later passage uses only one. Read the surrounding paragraphs as well. There may be an explicit change between the opening and the blue-folder passage. If you find one, include that change in your reading of the conclusion. Without a stated change, keep the two meanings separate in your own reading rather than silently choosing one. ## Mark the point where the boundary moves The plan ends: > All ready folders can move to the other room. The blue folder can therefore move with them. The final sentence depends on the blue folder belonging to the ready group. Mark the earlier sentence "It belongs with the ready folders for the move." That is where an unapproved folder first enters the group in these passages. Beside it, write what changed: "Earlier, pending approval kept a folder out. Here, pending approval no longer keeps it out." Keep that observation tied to the passage. Merely writing "unclear conclusion" at the end leaves the agent to guess which meaning you are questioning. You can preserve the two short passages as block quotes while editing your own comments around them. Keep each passage intact. Text can also be set apart using [Markdown code blocks](markdown-code-blocks.md), but these prose passages need no code fence. If you keep a separate annotated copy, give it a name you can distinguish from the untouched file. For naming choices, see [Markdown file naming](markdown-file-naming.md). Keep both passages together in whichever copy you read next. ## Put one meaning back into the conclusion Before moving the blue folder, Jane Doe could ask the agent: > At the start, ready meant every page was in place and approval had been given. Later, you counted the blue folder as ready while approval was pending. Does the conclusion still hold if ready keeps its first meaning? Restate which folders can move with that meaning held fixed. This question names the term, the excluded case and the action at stake. It asks for the conclusion again under the opening meaning. A new definition alone would leave the move unresolved. Read the agent's next answer for how it treats the blue folder. If it keeps the first meaning, the pending approval still keeps that folder outside the ready group. If it proposes a wider meaning, ask what supports moving a folder that has not had approval. Renaming the group does not supply that missing support. You may decide the wider group is useful for a different purpose, such as gathering folders near the door. Keep that purpose separate from moving them to the other room. The same group of folders need not be suitable for both actions. ## Follow the changed meaning through the remaining text Once you have a revised conclusion, read later mentions of the term again. A paragraph farther down may still include the blue folder among those to move. Changing one sentence leaves that later use unresolved. Also watch for a boundary that gets narrower. If the opening includes approved folders on two shelves in the same room but a later passage counts only those on the upper shelf, name what dropped out. The question remains concrete: which things belonged under the first meaning, and which belong under the later one? Finish with a conclusion whose meaning you can state without swapping between passages. If the agent cannot yet say whether the blue folder can move under that meaning, leave the move undecided. A familiar term at the end is not enough to act on. ## Where Sashmark fits The reading and editing described here are the extent of Sashmark's planned part in the task. This Markdown desktop app, in development, includes no AI. Comparing the passages is your task; any follow-up question goes to your agent outside Sashmark.