Workflow Reliability term
Source of truth: meaning, examples, and expert terminology.
Defines which place owns the real state when UI, server, URL, and draft storage disagree.
What it means
Plain meaning
Defines which place owns the real state when UI, server, URL, and draft storage disagree.
Aliases
canonical state, single source of truth
People say / experts say
People usually say
- state mismatch
- ui server url
- cannot tell what state
- two tabs
- builder state
- client state
Experts usually say
Source of truth, State reconciliation, Draft persistence, URL state
When to use it
Use it when
Your rough ask sounds like: state mismatch, ui server url, cannot tell what state. The term gives your coding agent a clearer problem shape.
When not to use it
Do not use this term as a request for a quick screen fix. Use it when the system needs explicit state, rules, failures, or recovery behavior.
Copy-ready handoff phrase
Before and after examples
Conflicting state
Weak ask: The UI and server disagree.
Exact Terms ask: Define the source of truth for this flow across UI state, URL state, server state, and saved drafts, then write reconciliation rules for conflicts and stale data.
Two tabs
Weak ask: Two tabs mess up the builder.
Exact Terms ask: Choose a source of truth for builder progress, detect stale tab versions, reconcile draft changes, and show users which version will be kept before overwriting.
URL step state
Weak ask: The URL step does not match the form step.
Exact Terms ask: Define whether URL, server, or client owns the current step, then add source-of-truth rules for refresh, direct links, back button, and saved drafts.
Handoff examples by use case
Architecture prompt
Audit this workflow for Source of truth and related concerns: State reconciliation, Draft persistence, URL state. Return states, rules, failure modes, and recovery behavior before code.
Implementation prompt
Implement Source of truth for this app flow. Include data ownership, edge cases, fallback behavior, and acceptance tests.
Test prompt
Create tests that prove Source of truth works across refresh, retry, back/next movement, partial failure, and return visits.
Common mistake
What goes wrong
Asking for code before defining states, transitions, persistence, and failure behavior.
Better move
Use Source of truth with the related vocabulary trail: State reconciliation, Draft persistence, URL state.
Related terms
Missing a better term?
Turn feedback into vocabulary
If this page almost names your problem but misses the exact term, send the rough phrase and the term you expected. Accepted feedback becomes a better trigger, explanation, comparison page, or new term.