ChooChoo

The software development landscape is shifting rapidly. Three converging trends make Context Governance essential today. For a high-level view of how ChooChoo addresses these challenges, see the Architecture Overview.

1. The Rise of AI Agents

AI Agents are no longer just chat interfaces; they are autonomous actors that can plan, write code, and deploy infrastructure.

Problem: Agents lack "institutional memory." They don't know why a legacy system was built a certain way or who needs to approve a risky change. This is what we call Context Amnesia.
Solution: ChooChoo provides Agent Rails—explicit boundaries and context that ensure agents operate safely within corporate guidelines. Every agent action is captured via Agent Trace, and agents are governed by System Cards that document their capabilities and limitations.

Agents

Learn how to register and govern AI agents with boundaries and rails.

Agent Trace

Understand how AI context is persisted and attributed to code changes.

2. Spec-Driven Development

To work effectively with AI, we need precise specifications. Ambiguity leads to hallucinations and bugs.

Trend: The industry is moving toward standard schemas:
- ODPS (Open Data Product Standard) for data ownership — see Products.
- ODCS (Open Data Contract Standard) for data quality — see Contracts.
- Arazzo for API workflows — see Workflows.
ChooChoo: Native support for these standards allows ChooChoo to serve as the "glue" that validates and connects these specifications. The schema definitions ensure artifacts conform to their respective standards.

Standards Reference

Explore the open standards that ChooChoo builds upon.

Schema Definitions

Review the JSON Schemas enforced for all artifact types.

3. Regulatory Pressure

Governments are enforcing stricter controls on AI and data privacy.

Regulations: applicable laws and regulations.
Requirement: It is no longer enough to be compliant; you must prove compliance.
ChooChoo: The Decision Trace provides an immutable, cryptographic audit trail of every change, approval, and automated decision, satisfying strict regulatory reporting requirements. Compliance reports can be generated automatically using compliance tags.