Active metadata
Metadata that triggers action as it changes, through events, rules and agents, instead of waiting to be looked up.
Passive metadata is documentation: someone has to go look. Active metadata emits events when it changes, and other systems subscribe and act: block a deploy that breaks a critical element, alert a steward, update an AI agent's context, reassign ownership.
Test: if nothing breaks when the metadata is wrong, it isn't active yet.