> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.tempestai.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Glossary > Every term Tempest uses, defined once. # Glossary Tempest borrows plain words — workspace, session, channel — for very specific machinery. This page defines each term once, alphabetically, and links to the page with the full story. New to Tempest? The [Quickstart](https://docs.tempestai.dev/quickstart.md) gets a first session running, and [Architecture](https://docs.tempestai.dev/architecture.md) explains how the pieces below fit together. * **Agent / agent session** — A CLI coding agent such as Claude Code or Codex CLI, run by Tempest in a PTY. Each agent session belongs to a workspace. See [Agents](https://docs.tempestai.dev/agents/overview.md). * **Agent manifest** — The registry of supported agents at `config/agents.json`, extended in place by a minisign-signed remote patch channel. See [Agent manifest](https://docs.tempestai.dev/agents/manifest.md). * **Atlas** — Tempest's semantic code graph and MCP server, shipped as the `@usetempest/atlas` npm package. Agents query the graph instead of scanning files from scratch. See [Token Intelligence](https://docs.tempestai.dev/token-intelligence/overview.md). * **Attribution** — The co-author git trailer Tempest adds to commits on your behalf. Configure it in **Settings → Attribution**. * **Automations** — Scheduled, repeatable agent runs that execute headlessly, without a visible session. See [Automations](https://docs.tempestai.dev/automations/overview.md). * **Base image** — In dbiso, a committed PostgreSQL container that database branches are created from, built once from your project's real database. See [Database branches](https://docs.tempestai.dev/database-branches/overview.md). * **Branch prefix** — A string set in **Settings → Git** that is prepended to the branch name of every new worktree. * **BYOK** — "Bring your own key": provider API keys you supply yourself, stored in the OS keyring under the service name `tempest-byok`. See [API keys](https://docs.tempestai.dev/settings/api-keys.md). * **Channel** — A typed Tauri streaming primitive. Tempest streams PTY output to the frontend over a per-session channel. * **Chat node** — A conversation node on the Threads canvas, powered by BYOK providers, CLI bridges, or the experimental Warp backend. See [Chat](https://docs.tempestai.dev/chat/overview.md) and [Threads](https://docs.tempestai.dev/threads/overview.md). * **Conversation ID** — A persistent agent UUID used to resume a conversation in a later session. Distinct from the session ID, which is ephemeral. * **DB Clones panel** — The right-sidebar panel listing a project's active database branches. See [Database branches](https://docs.tempestai.dev/database-branches/overview.md). * **Hephaestus** — Tempest's process isolation layer (`crates/hephaestus`): Job Objects on Windows, Seatbelt on macOS, bubblewrap on Linux. See [Security](https://docs.tempestai.dev/security/overview.md). * **Hook / lifecycle hooks** — A precise agent-status mechanism: agents report lifecycle events to a loopback HTTP receiver instead of Tempest inferring status from terminal output. See [Hooks](https://docs.tempestai.dev/agents/hooks.md). * **invoke** — Tauri's request/response IPC call from frontend to backend. Every backend command is invoked this way. See [Tauri commands](https://docs.tempestai.dev/internals/tauri-commands.md). * **Junction** — A Windows directory reparse point. Tempest uses junctions to share `node_modules` and `.venv` into worktrees instead of copying them. * **Knowledge Base** — The in-app, visual view of the Atlas graph. See [Knowledge Base](https://docs.tempestai.dev/knowledge-base/overview.md). * **Lifecycle job** — An always-on, kill-on-close Job Object attached to every session, even unsandboxed ones, so child processes never outlive Tempest. * **MCP** — The Model Context Protocol — the standard Tempest uses to expose Atlas tools to agent CLIs. * **Message Queue** — The per-session queue of prompts, drained automatically when work-done detection fires. See [Agents](https://docs.tempestai.dev/agents/overview.md). * **Models manifest** — The chat model registry at `config/models.json`, updated through an unsigned remote patch channel. See [Models](https://docs.tempestai.dev/chat/models.md). * **PTY** — Pseudo-terminal — the terminal Tempest allocates with `portable-pty` for every session. * **Provider presets** — Ready-made provider recipes for MiniMax and Z.ai GLM shipped in `config/providers.json`. See [Supported agents](https://docs.tempestai.dev/agents/supported.md). * **Ring buffer** — The sessionManager scrollback store: 2 MB while a session is attached, 128 KB once detached. Agent sessions restore their recent output from it after a restart. * **Root session** — A session running in the project root instead of a worktree. * **Runtime state** — The preferences blob persisted in SQLite under the `app_state` key `"runtime"`: settings, keybindings, theme, and more. See [App state internals](https://docs.tempestai.dev/internals/state.md). * **SandboxSpec** — The per-session isolation spec: a mode (`off`, `monitor`, `enforce`, or `lifecycle`) plus allowed hosts, paths, and resources. See [Security](https://docs.tempestai.dev/security/overview.md). * **Session ID** — The ephemeral identifier of a running PTY session. Contrast with conversation ID. * **Splits / pane tree** — The binary split layout that arranges sessions and panes inside a workspace. See [Panes](https://docs.tempestai.dev/components/panes.md). * **Threads canvas** — The spatial, node-based workspace where chat, text, agent, and terminal nodes live side by side. See [Threads](https://docs.tempestai.dev/threads/overview.md). * **Token Intelligence** — The umbrella for Atlas, semantic search, and context compression: a local code-knowledge graph shared across every parallel agent session. See [Token Intelligence](https://docs.tempestai.dev/token-intelligence/overview.md). * **Warm pool** — Three pre-created worktree slots with a 5-minute TTL, staged so a new workspace opens near-instantly. See [Worktrees](https://docs.tempestai.dev/git/worktrees.md). * **Worktree** — A git feature that checks a branch out into a separate directory while sharing the project's `.git` directory. Tempest places them under `.tempest/`. See [Worktrees](https://docs.tempestai.dev/git/worktrees.md). * **Workspace** — Tempest's UI term for one worktree together with its session. See [Workspaces](https://docs.tempestai.dev/workspaces/overview.md). * **Zen window** — A secondary frameless window. The infrastructure is present; the UI entry point is disabled ("coming soon"). This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.