Glossary · ModernCI

Standard term	Older term	What it means
merge queue	merge train, train	The line of approved PRs waiting to merge into a target branch. PRs are tested together in batches before they merge. API: `wait.on = "train"`.
a PR in the merge queue	car	One PR's place in the merge queue. API: `wait.position` of `wait.of`.
pull request (PR), or change	move	A branch headed for a target branch: a PR, or a pushed branch that has none yet. API: the `move` and `moves` operations.
merge, merged	land, landed	The PR's commits are on the target branch. API: the state `landed`, the `on.landed` steps.
run checks, checks running, check run	judge, judging, judgement	Running a PR's checks on the commit it would merge as. API: the state `judging`.
check result	verdict	Whether a commit's checks passed (green) or failed (red), with the evidence. API: the `verdicts` operation.
batch	unit, prefix	The PRs from the front of the merge queue up to one PR, merged together into one commit and tested once. API: `wait.unit` is that commit.
bisect	bisect	When a batch fails, smaller batches and each suspect PR on its own are tested at once to find the PR that fails.
removed from the merge queue	ejected	A PR whose failure only it causes leaves the queue, is tested on its own, and rejoins once it passes.
escalation step, escalation	rung, ladder, failure ladder	Who gets a failing check or a conflict next: an agent's attempts first, then a person. API: `ladders`, `rung`.
sent back for a fix	appeal	A failing PR becomes a work item for an agent or its author, with everything a fix needs.
protected paths	sealed paths	Files an agent may not weaken (tests, golden files); only a person may loosen them.
cache key	input key	What a check's stored result is reused by: the tree, the inputs the check declares and the environment it runs in.
overflow	spill	Work that goes to extra machines (elastic or cloud runners) when the usual ones are busy.
superseded	moot	A newer push replaced this run, so it is stopped. API: the waste class `superseded`.
latest commit	tip	The newest commit on the target branch.
target branch (base branch)	target	The branch a PR merges into.
failed, passed	red, green	A check that failed, or passed.
infrastructure failure	infra red	A failure of the machine, not the code (a lost runner, a full disk). It is not a check result; the check runs again by itself.
already failing on the target branch	standing	A failure the target branch has too, so the PR is not blamed for it.
CI config file	branch file	The checks for PRs into one branch: `.ci/<branch>.yaml`.

The same table is the Glossary page in the ModernCI web UI.