> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.gegentic.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Criteria

> The individual checks that Controls compose together to decide whether a compliance requirement has been triggered.

A Criterion is a single, evaluable check — the building block that [Controls](/compliance/controls) compose together. A Control combines one or more Criteria using its `ANY`/`ALL` operator to decide whether it has been triggered for a given request.

## Fields

* **Name** (required)
* **Description** (optional)
* **Type** — the kind of check the criterion performs; each type has its own configuration (for example, a pattern-match criterion configures a regex, while a classifier-based criterion configures a confidence threshold)

## Status

Criteria can be `approved`, `rejected`, or `deprecated`. Only `approved` Criteria can be composed into a Control.

## Designing Controls from Criteria

Because Criteria are reusable across Controls, it's worth defining them at the smallest meaningful granularity — e.g. a single PII pattern, a single toxicity threshold — and composing several into a Control rather than duplicating logic across multiple Controls.