Language简体中文· English only
Glossary
Cordis, Pi, capability mesh, IPC bridge — the vocabulary.
Source file:
GLOSSARY.md11 min readUpdated 2018-10-20On this page
Terms used across OpenBuddy's docs, code, and UI. Keep this up to date as new concepts emerge.
English
Core
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| OpenBuddy | The open-source desktop AI workspace this repo builds. |
| OpenBuddy Pi | The full product name, including the underlying Pi agent runtime attribution. |
| Pi | The agent runtime that powers OpenBuddy's prompt loop. |
| Agent | A Pi-managed entity that owns prompts, tools, permissions, plans, and tasks. |
| Session | A single conversation between a user and an agent. |
| Cordis | The dependency-injection framework OpenBuddy uses for its capability mesh. |
| Context (Cordis) | The shared service registry that all capabilities attach to. |
Architecture
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Renderer | The React + Vite UI process that runs in Electron's BrowserWindow. |
| Main | The Electron main process — hosts Cordis and + the IPC surface. |
| Preload | The Electron preload script — exposes the allowlisted window.api to the renderer. |
| IPC | Inter-process communication between renderer and main. OpenBuddy uses allowlisted channels. |
| contextBridge | Electron's safe API for exposing preload functions to a sandboxed renderer. |
| moon | The monorepo tool that orchestrates all build / test / dev / release tasks. |
| Vite | The build tool for the renderer. |
| electron-vite | The Vite-based bundler for main + preload + renderer in one orchestration. |
Capabilities
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Capability | A Cordis service that exposes a feature (@openbuddy/capability-*). |
| Plugin | A runtime-loadable Cordis service from ~/.openbuddy/plugins/ (no rebuild). |
| Skill | A Markdown file with YAML frontmatter that teaches the agent a new behavior. |
| MCP | Model Context Protocol — the standard for tool integration. |
| MCP connector | A registered MCP server, configured in OpenBuddy settings. |
| Expert | A persistent agent configuration (system prompt + tools). |
| Task | A sub-agent spawned by the main agent. |
| Team | A coordinated group of agents with shared rooms and inbox. |
| Room | A shared space for cross-agent messages. |
| Inbox | A cross-agent message queue. |
| A2A | Agent-to-agent — the protocol OpenBuddy uses for inter-agent communication. |
User-facing features
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Plan mode | A mode where the agent plans before executing, with user approval. |
| Rewind | Undo the last N steps in a session, optionally forking. |
| Fork | Branch a session at a rewind point. |
| Slash command | A /-prefixed shortcut in the composer (e.g. /plan, /rewind). |
| Automation | A scheduled task that runs the agent on a cron / event trigger. |
| Notification | An in-app or OS-level alert about agent activity. |
| Memory | Long-term context the agent can recall across sessions. |
| Web search | A provider-pluggable way for the agent to look things up online. |
| Inspiration | A prompt template / starter for common tasks. |
Persistence
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Pi data directory | Where Pi stores its config (provider keys, etc.). |
| OpenBuddy data directory | ~/.config/openbuddy/ on Linux/macOS, %APPDATA%\openbuddy\ on Windows. |
| Session JSONL | Append-only JSON-lines file per session. |
| Audit ledger | Append-only, hash-chained log of privileged operations. |
| Folder trust | A user-granted permission for the agent to access a folder. |
| safeStorage | Electron API for encrypting secrets in the OS keychain. |
Providers
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Provider | An LLM API that OpenBuddy can call (Anthropic, OpenAI, NewAPI, …). |
| BYOK | "Bring Your Own Key" — user supplies their own API key. |
| Service Token | A server-side token for OpenBuddy to call NewAPI on behalf of a user. |
| NewAPI | The self-hosted model aggregator we integrate with. |
| Anthropic | Maker of Claude. |
| OpenAI | Maker of GPT-4 / o1. |
| NewAPI channel | A single LLM provider registered inside a NewAPI instance. |
Enterprise
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Casdoor | The OIDC IdP we ship a full client + admin REST for. |
| OIDC | OpenID Connect — the SSO protocol OpenBuddy uses. |
| PKCE | Proof Key for Code Exchange — OIDC extension for desktop apps. |
| SAML | Security Assertion Markup Language — federation protocol. |
| SCIM | System for Cross-domain Identity Management — provisioning protocol. |
| OIDC tenant | An isolated Casdoor organization with its own users / policies. |
| Audit log shipping | Streaming the audit ledger to a SIEM. |
| Transactional outbox | Pattern for at-least-once webhook delivery. |
Development
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| moon project | One unit of the monorepo DAG (renderer / Electron / 30+ packages). |
| moon task | A script that runs against a project (e.g. dev, build, test). |
| Vitest | The test runner. |
| Playwright | The browser-automation tool used for Electron smoke tests. |
| Zustand | The state-management library for the renderer. |
| Cordis plugin | A Service subclass that gets injected into a context. |
| IPC channel | A named string like "agent:prompt" that bridges renderer ↔ main. |
Build / ship
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| NSIS | The Windows installer format OpenBuddy uses. |
| DMG | The macOS installer format. |
| AppImage | The portable Linux installer format. |
| electron-builder | The tool that produces cross-platform installers. |
| electron-updater | The auto-update library that talks to GitHub Releases. |
| Notarization | Apple's process for verifying that a binary is safe to run. |
| Code signing | Cryptographically signing a binary to prove its origin. |
简体中文
核心
| 术语 | 定义 |
|---|---|
| OpenBuddy | 本仓库构建的开源桌面 AI 工作台。 |
| OpenBuddy Pi | 完整产品名称,包含底层 Pi agent runtime 归属。 |
| Pi | 驱动 OpenBuddy prompt 循环的 agent runtime。 |
| Agent | 由 Pi 管理的实体,拥有 prompt、工具、权限、计划、任务。 |
| Session | 用户与 agent 之间的单次对话。 |
| Cordis | OpenBuddy 用于能力网格的依赖注入框架。 |
| Context (Cordis) | 所有能力挂载的共享服务注册表。 |
架构
| 术语 | 定义 |
|---|---|
| Renderer | 运行在 Electron BrowserWindow 中的 React + Vite UI 进程。 |
| Main | Electron 主进程 —— 承载 Cordis 与 IPC 表面。 |
| Preload | Electron preload 脚本 —— 把白名单 window.api 暴露给 renderer。 |
| IPC | renderer 与 main 之间的进程间通信。OpenBuddy 仅使用白名单通道。 |
| contextBridge | Electron 用于把 preload 函数安全暴露给沙箱化 renderer 的 API。 |
| moon | 编排所有 build / test / dev / release 任务的 monorepo 工具。 |
| Vite | renderer 的构建工具。 |
| electron-vite | 一次性编排 main + preload + renderer 的 Vite 打包器。 |
能力
| 术语 | 定义 |
|---|---|
| Capability | 暴露某项特性的 Cordis 服务(@openbuddy/capability-*)。 |
| Plugin | 从 ~/.openbuddy/plugins/ 运行时加载的 Cordis 服务(无需重新构建)。 |
| Skill | 带 YAML frontmatter 的 Markdown 文件,教会 agent 新行为。 |
| MCP | Model Context Protocol —— 工具集成的标准协议。 |
| MCP connector | 在 OpenBuddy 设置中注册的 MCP server。 |
| Expert | 持久化的 agent 配置(系统 prompt + 工具集)。 |
| Task | 由主 agent 创建的子 agent。 |
| Team | 共享房间与收件箱的协同 agent 组。 |
| Room | 跨 agent 消息的共享空间。 |
| Inbox | 跨 agent 消息队列。 |
| A2A | Agent-to-Agent —— OpenBuddy 用于 agent 间通信的协议。 |
用户面功能
| 术语 | 定义 |
|---|---|
| Plan mode | agent 在执行前先制定计划,经用户批准的模式。 |
| Rewind | 撤销 session 中最近 N 步,可选 fork 出新分支。 |
| Fork | 在 rewind 点 fork 出新的 session。 |
| Slash command | composer 中 /-前缀 的快捷方式(如 /plan、/rewind)。 |
| Automation | 按 cron 或事件触发运行 agent 的定时任务。 |
| Notification | 关于 agent 活动的应用内或系统级提醒。 |
| Memory | agent 可在 session 之间回忆的长期上下文。 |
| Web search | 由 provider 插拔实现的网络搜索能力。 |
| Inspiration | 常见任务的 prompt 模板 / 起点。 |
持久化
| 术语 | 定义 |
|---|---|
| Pi data directory | Pi 存储配置的位置(provider key 等)。 |
| OpenBuddy data directory | Linux/macOS 上为 ~/.config/openbuddy/,Windows 上为 %APPDATA%\openbuddy\。 |
| Session JSONL | 每个 session 的 append-only JSON-lines 文件。 |
| Audit ledger | append-only、hash-chained 的特权操作日志。 |
| Folder trust | 用户授予的、允许 agent 访问某文件夹的权限。 |
| safeStorage | Electron 提供的、把密钥加密到系统 keychain 的 API。 |
Provider
| 术语 | 定义 |
|---|---|
| Provider | OpenBuddy 可调用的 LLM API(Anthropic、OpenAI、NewAPI 等)。 |
| BYOK | "Bring Your Own Key" —— 用户自带 API 密钥。 |
| Service Token | 服务端 token,允许 OpenBuddy 代表用户调用 NewAPI。 |
| NewAPI | 我们集成的自托管 model aggregator。 |
| Anthropic | Claude 的出品方。 |
| OpenAI | GPT-4 / o1 的出品方。 |
| NewAPI channel | 在 NewAPI 实例内注册的单个 LLM provider。 |
企业
| 术语 | 定义 |
|---|---|
| Casdoor | 我们提供完整 client + admin REST 的 OIDC IdP。 |
| OIDC | OpenID Connect —— OpenBuddy 使用的 SSO 协议。 |
| PKCE | Proof Key for Code Exchange —— 面向桌面应用的 OIDC 扩展。 |
| SAML | Security Assertion Markup Language —— 联邦身份协议。 |
| SCIM | System for Cross-domain Identity Management —— 配置供应协议。 |
| OIDC tenant | 拥有独立用户 / 策略的 Casdoor 组织。 |
| Audit log shipping | 将 audit ledger 流式推送到 SIEM。 |
| Transactional outbox | at-least-once webhook 投递模式。 |
开发
| 术语 | 定义 |
|---|---|
| moon project | monorepo DAG 中的一个单元(renderer / Electron / 30+ 包)。 |
| moon task | 针对 project 运行的脚本(如 dev、build、test)。 |
| Vitest | 测试运行器。 |
| Playwright | 用于 Electron 烟雾测试的浏览器自动化工具。 |
| Zustand | renderer 的状态管理库。 |
| Cordis plugin | 会被注入到 context 中的 Service 子类。 |
| IPC channel | 形如 "agent:prompt" 的具名字符串,桥接 renderer ↔ main。 |
构建 / 发布
| 术语 | 定义 |
|---|---|
| NSIS | OpenBuddy 使用的 Windows 安装包格式。 |
| DMG | macOS 安装包格式。 |
| AppImage | Linux 便携式安装包格式。 |
| electron-builder | 产出跨平台安装包的工具。 |
| electron-updater | 与 GitHub Releases 通信的自动更新库。 |
| Notarization | Apple 用于验证二进制安全性的流程。 |
| Code signing | 对二进制进行密码学签名以证明其来源。 |
A shared vocabulary prevents confusion. / 共同词汇库,避免误解。
Missing a term? Open a PR editing this file. / 缺词条?开 PR 编辑此文件。