# Core concepts

## Lifecycle

One state machine on both sides: initiated → in-negotiation → pending-approval → bound, with rejected and withdrawn as exits. Every step carries a sequence number.

## Templates

Machine-readable term schemas, versioned like software (freight-sla@v4). Open negotiations stay pinned to their version.

## The gate

Authority limits set by humans in the console. Accepts that cross a threshold return held_at_gate and route to the named governor.

## The record

Append-only, ordered, attributed. Corrections are new events; nothing is rewritten.