# Market definitions

> Define voice, tone, grammar, and cultural conventions for each locale.

**Category:** Markets | **Tab:** features

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## What are market definitions?

Market definitions are structured guidelines attached to each locale that describe **how** content should sound in that market. They go beyond translation rules to capture voice, cultural expectations, and brand conventions specific to a region.

When you open a locale in the **Markets** page and expand the **Market Definitions** panel, you'll find ten structured sections — each designed to give translators, copywriters, and AI tools the context they need to produce content that fits the market.

## The ten sections

| Section | What it captures |
|---------|-----------------|
| **Market Snapshot** | Competitive landscape, audience segments, and market expectations |
| **Voice & Locale DNA** | Core personality traits, brand keywords, and anti-patterns for this market |
| **Tone & Style Rules** | Sentence structure, active/passive voice, formality level, and preferred patterns |
| **Culture & Pragmatics** | Implicit cultural expectations, communication norms, and sensitivity areas |
| **Grammar & Mechanics** | Spelling conventions, contractions, sentence length, and punctuation rules |
| **UX Microcopy Rules** | CTA patterns, system message tone, error handling, and UI label conventions |
| **Locale Conventions** | Currency format, date/time format, number separators, and pricing psychology |
| **Terminology Rules** | Preferred and avoided terms specific to this market |
| **Golden Examples** | Reference copy — headlines, subheadings, feature descriptions — that exemplify the right tone |
| **Output Constraints** | Hard rules: never claim X, always include Y, mandatory disclaimers |

Each section is a free-form text field. You can write as little or as much as needed — from a single line to detailed multi-paragraph guidance.

## Editing market definitions

1. Navigate to **Markets** in the sidebar
2. Click the **detail icon** on any locale row
3. Scroll to the **Market Definitions** panel
4. Expand any section and enter your guidelines
5. Click **Save** — changes are stored immediately

> Market definitions are workspace-scoped. Each workspace maintains independent definitions per locale.

## Source market vs. target markets

Your workspace has one designated **source market** (typically your primary locale, e.g., English US). The source market's definitions capture your canonical brand voice — the baseline that target markets adapt from.

Target market definitions describe how to **adapt** that voice for each region. For example:

- **Source (en-US)**: Casual, direct, uses contractions, second-person address
- **Target (de-DE)**: Formal register, no contractions, third-person where culturally expected
- **Target (ja-JP)**: Polite form (です/ます), indirect phrasing, honorific conventions

## How market definitions power AI agents

When you sync your ontology to GitHub via **GitHub Sync**, market definitions are exported as structured Markdown files in the `markets/` directory — one file per locale.

AI agents (Claude Code, Cursor, custom pipelines) read these files to understand **how** to write for each market. Instead of guessing tone and style, the agent follows your explicit guidelines:

```
ontology/
├── markets/
│   ├── en-US.md    ← Source voice: casual, direct
│   ├── de-DE.md    ← Formal register, legal disclaimers
│   └── pt-BR.md    ← Warm, conversational, adapted brand terms
```

This means every AI-generated translation or adaptation follows the same rules your human translators would — without re-briefing.

## Best practices

- **Start with Voice & Locale DNA** — This is the most impactful section. Define personality traits, keywords to use, and patterns to avoid.
- **Add Golden Examples early** — Concrete examples are more useful than abstract rules. Show what good copy looks like in each market.
- **Keep Output Constraints tight** — Use this for non-negotiable rules (legal requirements, brand mandates) that must never be violated.
- **Review quarterly** — Markets evolve. Revisit definitions as your product, audience, or regulatory landscape changes.
- **Don't duplicate terminology rules** — Term-level governance (preferred/allowed/forbidden variants) belongs in concept terms, not in market definitions. Use the Terminology Rules section for market-wide patterns only.