Manage the global terminology glossary (~/.claude/docs/GLOSSARY.md) and its Vale integration. The glossary is the Single Source of Truth (SSoT) for terminology across all projects.
When to Use This Skill
Use when:
-
Manually syncing glossary to Vale vocabulary files
-
Validating glossary format and structure
-
Checking for duplicate or conflicting terms across projects
-
Adding new terms programmatically
-
Troubleshooting Vale terminology warnings
Quick Commands
# Manual sync to Vale
bun ~/.claude/tools/bin/glossary-sync.ts
# Check for duplicates/conflicts across projects (invokes terminology-sync hook)
bun ~/eon/cc-skills/plugins/itp-hooks/hooks/posttooluse-terminology-sync.ts <<< '{"tool_name":"Edit","tool_input":{"file_path":"/tmp/test-CLAUDE.md"}}'
Architecture
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ GLOSSARY.md (SSoT) │
│ ~/.claude/docs/GLOSSARY.md │
└─────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────┘
│
┌───────────────┼───────────────┐
│ │ │
▼ ▼ ▼
┌─────────────────┐ ┌───────────┐ ┌────────────────────┐
│ accept.txt │ │ Term.yml │ │ Project CLAUDE.md │
│ (Vale vocab) │ │ (subs) │ │ (bidirectional) │
└─────────────────┘ └───────────┘ └────────────────────┘
SCAN_PATHS Configuration
The terminology sync hook uses SCAN_PATHS to discover project CLAUDE.md files. This is configured via an HTML comment in GLOSSARY.md:
<!-- SCAN_PATHS:
- ~/eon/*/CLAUDE.md
- ~/eon/*/*/CLAUDE.md
- ~/.claude/docs/GLOSSARY.md
-->
Format rules:
-
Must be an HTML comment starting with
<!-- SCAN_PATHS: -
Each path on its own line with
-prefix -
Supports glob patterns (
*,**) -
Paths are relative to home directory (
~)
Default paths (if not specified):
-
~/eon/*/CLAUDE.md- Top-level project CLAUDE.md files -
~/eon/*/*/CLAUDE.md- Package-level CLAUDE.md files
Table Schema (5 Columns)
Every term in GLOSSARY.md follows this 5-column format:
| Term
| Yes
| Bold term name (**Term**)
| **Time-Weighted Sharpe**
| Acronym
| Yes
| Abbreviation (or - if none)
| TWSR
| Definition
| Yes
| Clear, concise definition
| Sharpe ratio for range bars
| Unit/Range
| Yes
| Measurement unit or valid range
| ratio, [0, 1], -
| Projects
| Yes
| Comma-separated project names
| alpha-forge, trading-fitness
Example row:
| **Time-Weighted Sharpe** | TWSR | Sharpe ratio for variable-duration bars using time weights | annualized ratio | alpha-forge |
Automatic Sync (Hooks)
Two PostToolUse hooks handle automatic sync:
| posttooluse-glossary-sync
| Edit ~/.claude/docs/GLOSSARY.md
| Sync to Vale vocabulary
| posttooluse-terminology-sync
| Edit project CLAUDE.md
| Merge terms → GLOSSARY.md, detect conflicts
Manual Operations
Sync Glossary to Vale
When automatic sync fails or you need to force a refresh:
bun ~/.claude/tools/bin/glossary-sync.ts
Output:
=== Glossary Bidirectional Sync ===
Source: /Users/you/.claude/docs/GLOSSARY.md
Found 25 acronyms, 24 substitutions
Updated: .vale/styles/config/vocabularies/TradingFitness/accept.txt
Total terms: 27
Updated: .vale/styles/TradingFitness/Terminology.yml
Substitution rules: 24
Updated timestamp: 2026-01-22T00:00:00Z
=== Sync Complete ===
Validate Glossary Format
Check that GLOSSARY.md follows the correct table format:
# Check required columns
grep -E '^\| \*\*[^|]+\*\* \|' ~/.claude/docs/GLOSSARY.md | head -5
# Verify table structure (should have | Term | Acronym | Definition | Unit/Range | Projects |)
head -25 ~/.claude/docs/GLOSSARY.md
Expected format:
| Term | Acronym | Definition | Unit/Range | Projects |
| ------------------------ | ------- | --------------------------- | ---------- | ----------- |
| **Time-Weighted Sharpe** | TWSR | Sharpe ratio for range bars | ratio | alpha-forge |
Check for Duplicates
Scan all project CLAUDE.md files for terminology conflicts:
# Full duplicate check (scans ~/eon/*/CLAUDE.md)
bun ~/eon/cc-skills/plugins/itp-hooks/hooks/posttooluse-terminology-sync.ts <<< '{"tool_name":"Edit","tool_input":{"file_path":"/tmp/test-CLAUDE.md"}}'
Conflict types detected:
-
Definition conflict: Same term, different definitions
-
Acronym conflict: Same term, different acronyms
-
Acronym collision: Same acronym used for different terms
Add New Term
To add a new term to the glossary:
- Edit GLOSSARY.md directly:
| **New Term** | NT | Definition of the new term | - | project-name |
-
Sync will auto-trigger via
posttooluse-glossary-synchook -
Verify Vale recognizes it:
echo "The NT is important" | vale --config=~/.claude/.vale.ini
Vale Integration
Files Generated
| ~/.claude/.vale/styles/config/vocabularies/TradingFitness/accept.txt
| Accepted terms (won't be flagged)
| ~/.claude/.vale/styles/TradingFitness/Terminology.yml
| Substitution rules (suggests canonical form)
Running Vale
# Check a single file (run from file's directory for glob patterns to match)
cd ~/eon/trading-fitness && vale --config=~/.claude/.vale.ini CLAUDE.md
# Check all CLAUDE.md files
find ~/eon -name "CLAUDE.md" -exec sh -c 'cd "$(dirname "$1")" && vale --config=~/.claude/.vale.ini "$(basename "$1")"' _ {} \;
Important: Vale glob patterns in .vale.ini (like [CLAUDE.md]) are relative to cwd. Always run Vale from the file's directory or use absolute paths with matching glob patterns.
Troubleshooting
Terms Not Being Recognized
- Check sync timestamp:
grep "Last Sync" ~/.claude/docs/GLOSSARY.md
- Force manual sync:
bun ~/.claude/tools/bin/glossary-sync.ts
- Verify Vale config path:
cat ~/.claude/.vale.ini | grep StylesPath
Hook Not Triggering
- Check hook is registered:
grep "glossary-sync" ~/.claude/settings.json
- Verify hook file exists:
ls -la ~/.claude/plugins/marketplaces/cc-skills/plugins/itp-hooks/hooks/posttooluse-glossary-sync.ts
Vale Output Shows "0 files" But File Exists
This happens when Vale's glob patterns don't match the file path. The posttooluse-vale-claude-md.ts hook handles this by:
-
Walking up from the file's directory to find
.vale.ini -
Changing to the file's directory before running Vale
-
Stripping ANSI escape codes for reliable output parsing
If running Vale manually, ensure you're in the file's directory:
# Wrong - may show "0 files"
vale --config=/path/to/.vale.ini /absolute/path/to/CLAUDE.md
# Correct - cd first
cd /absolute/path/to && vale --config=/path/to/.vale.ini CLAUDE.md
Duplicate Vocabulary Directories
If you see Vale inconsistencies:
# Check for duplicate vocab dirs (should only have config/vocabularies/)
ls -la ~/.claude/.vale/styles/
# Remove any stale Vocab/ directory
rm -rf ~/.claude/.vale/styles/Vocab/
References
-
GLOSSARY.md:
~/.claude/docs/GLOSSARY.md(local file)