Glossary Decisions & governance
What is a ChangeSet?
A ChangeSet is a group of create, update and delete operations on a model that applies as one, with a record of each item before and after.
Also called change set.
ChangeSet
A change set is a group of changes that is applied, reviewed and recorded as one unit, a term used in version control and databases. Because it applies whole or not at all, the model is never left half-changed, and because it records what each item was before, it can be undone. In a systems model, one change set might add a subsystem together with its requirements and interfaces.
Why it matters
Reviewing changes as units makes them understandable: you see everything one request touched, together. Keeping the before state of every item is what makes undo, history and restore reliable.
How it goes wrong
- Bundling unrelated edits into one change, so neither can be reviewed or undone on its own
- Applying a change without recording what it replaced
- Accepting a large change without looking at what it deletes
In Cairn
In Cairn, every change to the model is a ChangeSet: a set of operations that create, update or delete records, made by hand or by AI. AI proposals open in Change Review, where you can untick operations and apply the rest as one change. Every ChangeSet passes the same guard and is refused whole if it would break the model. History keeps each one with its summary, the request that started it and a diff. Cairn records each item's before state from its own model, and that is what undo and restore replay.
Questions
- Are hand edits ChangeSets too?
- Yes. Every edit, by hand or by AI, is a ChangeSet checked by the same guard and kept in History. Only AI proposals stop in Change Review first.
- Can I undo an AI change after applying it?
- Yes. Undo it from History, or restore the model to the point before it. A restore is itself a change, so nothing is lost.
See it on your own system.
Describe what you are building and Cairn interviews you, then builds the first model with you.