Cognitive pull requests
A cognitive pull request is the reviewable seam where agent-surfaced lessons become durable project guidance. A code PR proposes a change to software; a cognitive PR proposes a change to the working memory, guidance, or operating assumptions of an AI-assisted development system.
Plain definition
A code pull request proposes a change to software.
A cognitive pull request proposes a change to the working memory, guidance, or operating assumptions of an AI-assisted development system.
Why it matters
Without a reviewable seam, lessons either silently harden into the system's behavior or evaporate with the chat history. The cognitive PR is the seam where human judgment decides what becomes durable.
What it is not
- A normal code pull request.
- A chat summary.
- RLHF.
- The marketing/PR analytics meaning of "Cognitive PR" (Hobson 2016 lineage).
- The atomic-PR / reviewer-cognitive-load discourse.
Example
An AI coding agent notices a recurring violation of a project's architectural rule. Instead of silently absorbing it or flagging it once and forgetting, the agent opens a cognitive PR proposing the rule as durable guidance. A human reviews. Approved lessons hydrate into future sessions.
Where it appears in Ubiquity
Context Grapple Gun uses cognitive pull requests as the review seam in its capture → review → promote → hydrate lifecycle.
Ladder context
Demand ladder
Related terms
Frequently asked
- What is a cognitive pull request?
- A reviewable proposal to change the working memory, guidance, or operating assumptions of an AI-assisted development system.
- How is it different from a code pull request?
- A code PR changes software. A cognitive PR changes the operating assumptions the AI uses to write or review software.
- Why does human review matter?
- Because without review, an AI system can promote its own mistakes into its own future behavior.
- How does CGG use cognitive pull requests?
- As the review seam between capture and promotion in its governance lifecycle.