Glossary
The technical words, in plain English
Every technical term the site uses, in one line. On each page, the first time a term appears, it comes with its definition and a link to this page.
Terms
The terms, from A to Z
- API
- An interface that lets another system use a service through requests and responses, without going through a screen.
- Cache
- A fast store for data that also lives somewhere else or can be computed again.
- Canary
- A new version that first reaches only part of the users, so it can be seen working before everyone gets it.
- Commit
- A change saved in the history of the code, with a unique identifier that tells which version something comes from and lets you go back to it.
- Compiler
- In GrailAOS™, the piece that checks the whole solution before anything runs and, for each error, says what happened, where and how to fix it.Runs today
- Container
- A program packaged with everything it needs to run the same way on any server.
- Deployment
- A specific installation of a system, with its own configuration and data.
- Embeddings
- Numbers that represent the meaning of a text, so it can be searched by closeness in meaning and not only by words.
- Framework
- A set of libraries on which an application is programmed in code.
- Gateway
- An intermediary that takes requests through a single interface and passes them on to different providers.
- GitOps
- Operating by declaring in a repository what should run: a tool applies it, and going back means returning to an earlier version of the repository.
- Helm
- A package manager for Kubernetes: it installs an application with its resources from a template, called a chart.
- Hybrid search
- A search that combines matching words with closeness in meaning.
- Idempotency
- Repeating an operation has the same effect as doing it once: a retry does not duplicate a payment or a message.
- JSON
- A text format for structured data, which programs read without ambiguity.
- k3s
- A lightweight distribution of Kubernetes, with the same standard interface.
- Kubernetes
- The standard system for running containers across several servers: it spreads the work, restarts what fails and updates one copy at a time.
- Language
- In GrailAOS, the way a solution is declared in text documents: its agents, workflows, tools, knowledge, tests and the rest of its pieces.Runs today
- LLM
- A large language model, such as Claude, that reads and writes text. This site calls it “the model.”
- llms.txt
- A file with the index of a site, meant to be read by models.
- Markdown
- Plain text with simple marks for headings, lists and links, which reads well for both people and models.
- MCP
- Model Context Protocol: an open protocol that lets a model use the tools and data that another server offers.
- NDA
- A non-disclosure agreement: what is shown under NDA cannot be disclosed.
- OAuth
- A standard that lets one application access another on someone's behalf without knowing their password.
- OIDC
- OpenID Connect: a standard, built on OAuth, for signing in to an application with the identity that another provider gives.
- OpenTelemetry
- An open standard for sending traces and metrics to whatever observability tools each company uses.
- Outbox
- A queue stored in the database with what has to be sent: if a send fails, it is retried from there without being lost.
- Pod
- The unit in which Kubernetes runs one copy of a service: adding pods means adding copies that serve at the same time.
- Postgres
- A widely used relational database that stores data durably.
- Probe
- The periodic check Kubernetes uses to know whether a service has started, whether it is ready to receive traffic and whether it is still alive.
- Prometheus
- A standard system that collects a service's numeric metrics to chart them and raise alerts.
- Prompt
- The written instruction given to a model.
- Push notification
- A notification that reaches a phone or a computer even when the app is not open.
- Readiness
- The check Kubernetes uses to know whether a pod is ready to receive traffic: if it is not, no requests are sent to it.
- Redis
- A very fast in-memory store, used as a cache and to coordinate several copies of a service.
- Rollback
- Going back to the previous version when the new one is not working well. As a verb, roll back.
- Rolling update
- An update that replaces the copies of a service one at a time, so it keeps serving while it changes version.
- Runtime
- The engine that runs a program that is already written. In GrailAOS, the one that operates the compiled solution.
- SAML
- A standard, older than OIDC, for signing in to an application with a company's identity provider.
- SDK
- A software development kit: libraries and tools for programming against a service.
- SSO
- Single sign-on: signing in to several applications with the same company account, the one from the company's identity provider.
- Streaming
- Showing a response as it is generated, instead of waiting until it is complete.
- Tenant and multi-tenant
- A tenant is an account, for example a business, with its data kept apart; multi-tenant means that several of them share the same installation without seeing each other's data.
- Token
- The unit in which a model reads and writes text, and in which providers charge: a few letters per token.
- Trace
- The record of what happened in a turn: what was done, which tools were called, how long it took and how much it cost.
- Webhook
- A notice that one system sends to another over the web when something happens, for example when a message arrives.
- White-label
- A product offered under the brand of whoever uses it, not the brand of whoever makes it.