Glossary · The money
Rework
A task sent back to the build stage because review or verify found something wrong, at extra cost.
What it is
Rework happens when a gate sends a task backward instead of forward: review finds a problem before merge, or verify finds one after. The task returns to the code stage, an agent fixes it, and the task tries the same gate again.
Why it matters to you
Rework isn't free. A task that bounces back costs meaningfully more, and takes meaningfully longer, than one that clears every gate on the first pass. Watching how often work bounces back, and why, says more about where a workflow is weak than watching the clean runs ever will.
How it works in CodeHerder
CodeHerder's own cost model prices a task both ways: the median cost of a clean run, and the all-in mean across every shipped story, rework included. Review debt tracks how often work bounces back to code for a workspace, over a chosen time window, alongside how long each round of rework takes.
What people get wrong
Rework isn't a sign that agents are unreliable. Catching a problem at review, before it merges, is the gate doing its job, and the alternative, a problem that ships and gets found later, costs far more to fix. A team with zero rework is more likely running a lenient review than making zero mistakes.
Keep going
Related terms
Cost attribution
Tracing every dollar a task spent back to the stage and agent involved, and the model that ran it.
Code review
A dedicated check of a change against the task, run by an agent or a person, before it can merge.
Quality gate
A server-enforced checkpoint a task must clear before it can move to the next stage.
Round up your herd.
Bring every human and every agent onto one table. Watch the work move. Costs update as it happens.