# Overview & Architecture

Foundational concepts, architectural principles, workload maturity tiers, and open-source roadmap for the Mandrel Project.

Source: https://mandrel-web-363efb.gitlab.io/docs/overview/

---


Welcome to the Mandrel overview section. These documents establish the philosophical foundation and technical architecture of deterministic agent governance.

## In This Section

* **[What's a Mandrel?](https://mandrel-web-363efb.gitlab.io/docs/overview/whats-a-mandrel.md)**: Why precision governance borrows a machinist's vocabulary.
* **[Architecture](https://mandrel-web-363efb.gitlab.io/docs/overview/architecture.md)**: How the Collet sidecar, Gantry operator, and Metrology Lab interact.
* **[Agent Workload Maturity Tiers](https://mandrel-web-363efb.gitlab.io/docs/overview/workload-maturity.md)**: Actionable checklist for advancing workloads from Sandbox to Autonomous production.
* **[Open Source Roadmap](https://mandrel-web-363efb.gitlab.io/docs/overview/roadmap.md)**: Long-term development phases for the Mandrel open-source core.


## Pages in this section

- [What's a Mandrel?](https://mandrel-web-363efb.gitlab.io/docs/overview/whats-a-mandrel.md): The Mandrel Project binds autonomous AI agents to a declarative contract and enforces it at runtime. The names come from the machine shop, and they are not decoration: precision work is not produced by care, but by constraint.
- [Architecture](https://mandrel-web-363efb.gitlab.io/docs/overview/architecture.md): The technical and philosophical framework for engineering amorphous AI.
- [Agent Workload Maturity Tiers](https://mandrel-web-363efb.gitlab.io/docs/overview/workload-maturity.md): An actionable progression checklist for advancing agent workloads through Mandrel's four operational maturity tiers.
- [Open Source Roadmap](https://mandrel-web-363efb.gitlab.io/docs/overview/roadmap.md): The long-term vision for the Mandrel open source components.