Glossary
Every word these docs use, in plain English. Each one links to the page that explains it.
The big pieces
| Word | What it means |
|---|---|
| The box | The one small server the system runs on. It never sleeps. |
| The vault | A folder of plain text files that holds everything true: contracts, skills, memory, the box's own code. Every change is saved in git. Read more |
| The logbook | One database on the box that holds what is happening right now: questions, inboxes, plans, settings, history. Read more |
| The Office | The front screen. One row per agent, and a pixel-art room where each agent has a desk. Read more |
| Door | Any way to talk to the system: the Office, chat, email, Discord, WhatsApp, a laptop session. Read more |
| Owner | The person whose company it is. The one who says yes. |
| Mechanic | The person with full access who builds and fixes the box. On a client's box, the owner's chat can read everything but cannot change the box itself. |
Agents and routines
| Word | What it means |
|---|---|
| Resident agent | An AI worker that holds one goal for weeks, wakes itself, and picks its own next wake time. Read more |
| Routine | A job that runs on its own without thinking. Scheduled means the clock starts it. Triggered means an event starts it. Read more |
| Skill | One written procedure the AI can follow, like "draft the weekly post". Read more |
| Wake | One run of an agent. It starts, reads its files, does work, writes back, and stops. Nothing stays in its head between wakes. Read more |
Contract (agent.md) | The agent's job, goal, and hard limits. Only the owner changes it. Read more |
| Trust ramp | Four rungs (new, learning, proven, trusted) that decide what an agent may do alone. Read more |
| Ask | A question an agent sends the owner, with its own recommendation. Read more |
| Delegation tree | The test for which steps of a job a person keeps and which an agent may take. Read more |
| Otto | The fixer agent. Every broken routine reports to him. Read more |
| Routine pulse | A small checker that looks every 5 minutes to see that each routine ran, and checks its proof when it has one. Read more |
| Done check | The proof a routine ran: a fresh file, or a command that passes. Read more |
Registry (routines.json) | The one list of every routine on the box, in plain words. A timer with no row here is refused. Read more |
Safety
| Word | What it means |
|---|---|
| Prompt injection | Text from outside (an email, a web page) that tries to give the AI orders. Read more |
| Quarantine | The path every outside email takes. A model with no tools reads it and fills a short form. Agents only see the form. Read more |
| Send guard | The last check before any message leaves. It sends, or it holds the message for the owner's yes. Read more |
| Hold | What the send guard does when a message needs the owner's yes first. |
| Tap to approve | A one-time link the owner taps to approve or decline one exact action. Read more |
| Canary | A fake secret planted in private files. If it ever shows up where it should not, an alarm goes off. Read more |
| Memory guard | A check that stops outside text from being written into files that load every session. Read more |
| Hook | An automatic check that runs at the moment the AI tries to do something, and can stop it. |
Work and projects
| Word | What it means |
|---|---|
| Project | A piece of work the system carries over days or weeks, with a file that says where it stands. Read more |
| Parked | Turned off or set aside on purpose. The reason is written in the row. |
The technical words, translated
| Word | Plain meaning |
|---|---|
| git | A tool that saves every version of a folder, so nothing is lost and every change has a name on it. |
| systemd | The box's built-in job scheduler. It starts timers and keeps services running. |
| Timer | A systemd setting that starts a job at set times. |
| Service | A program the box keeps running all the time. |
| SQLite | A small database that lives in one file. The logbook uses it. |
Markdown (.md) | Plain text with a few marks for headings and lists. Any person or AI can read it. |
| Model | The AI itself, like Claude Opus or Sonnet. Bigger models think harder and cost more. One setting picks the model every door uses. Read more |
| API key | A password a program uses to reach a service. Read more |
| DMARC | A stamp the sender's mail provider adds that proves the email really came from that domain. Read more |
| Drift | When the live box no longer matches the vault. It is treated as a bug. Read more |