Skip to main content

Glossary

This glossary defines the terms these docs use, in alphabetical order. Each entry links to the page that explains the term in full.

A​

  • Admin token: A token with no org. It reaches every org. An admin token from priompt init, or the server's PRIOMPT_TOKEN, also has write access. See Orgs, tokens, and access.
  • Author: Who a commit is recorded as. It's the JWT's sub claim, else the static token's org, else anonymous when the server runs without auth.

B​

  • Backup: A file written by priompt backup that holds prompts, commits, and branch pointers. Compare with an export, which holds served content only. See priompt CLI.
  • Branch: A named pointer to a prompt's latest commit on one line of work. Each prompt has its own branches. Only main is served. See Versioning.

C​

  • Change event: The message the server publishes over NATS when main moves. It carries the new version hash and the verdict. See gRPC API.
  • Commit: One recorded version of a prompt, with a parent, an author, a message, and a time. A merge commit has two parents.
  • Commit hash: The ID of a commit: a SHA-256 over the URI, the version hash, the parents, the author, and the message. Two commits with the same content have different commit hashes when their lineage differs. Pin to a commit hash for an exact point in history.

E​

  • Embedder: The model that turns lines of text into vectors for the semantic diff. Without -embed-url, Priompt uses an offline lexical embedder. See Use a real embedding model.
  • Export: A file written by priompt export that holds only the served content of each prompt, without commits or branches.

J​

  • JWKS: The JSON Web Key Set that priompt-auth serves at /jwks. The server uses it to verify JWTs offline. See priompt-auth CLI.
  • JWT: A short-lived signed token issued by priompt-auth. Its claims name the subject, the org, and the write grant. See priompt-auth CLI.

L​

  • L1 cache: The cache inside an SDK client, set with cache_ttl. It saves the network round trip.
  • L2 cache: The server's cache of served prompts: in-process by default, or shared through Redis. See Caching.

M​

  • main: The branch that agents are served. Publishing, merging, or rolling back on main changes what GetPrompt returns.
  • Merge: Combining one branch into another with a two-parent commit. The result takes the source branch's content.

O​

  • Org: The first segment of a prompt URI, as in acme in priompt://acme/support/agent. It's the unit of access control: a token scoped to acme reaches only priompt://acme/....

P​

  • Pin: Fetching a fixed version instead of the served one, by passing a ref to GetPrompt. An agent that pins upgrades only when you change the ref.
  • Prompt: A versioned record with a URI, a template, and a list of slots. See Prompts and addresses.
  • Publish: Committing a new version through the server. On main this also changes the served version and notifies subscribers.

R​

  • Ref: What GetPrompt accepts to fetch a specific version: a branch name or a full commit hash.
  • Rollback: Pointing main back at an earlier commit with SetBranch. Nothing is deleted.

S​

  • Scope: The org a token is limited to. A token without one is an admin token.
  • Semantic diff: Priompt's comparison of two versions of a prompt. It measures how far a change's meaning spreads through the surrounding lines, and gives a verdict. See Semantic diff.
  • Served HEAD: The version of a prompt at the tip of main: what agents get from GetPrompt without a ref. Also called the served version.
  • Service account: A non-human client, such as ci-bot, with a secret it exchanges at priompt-auth for JWTs.
  • Signal 1, 2, 3: The three parts of a semantic diff: the changed lines, the meaning shift at those lines (point_delta), and how the shift spreads up and down.
  • Slot: A named blank in a template, written {name}, that the calling app fills in. Every slot used in the template must be declared, and every declared slot must be used.
  • Static token: A token listed in the server's tokens file. See Configuration.
  • Subscriber: A client listening for change events, such as priompt watch or an SDK's subscribe method. See Live updates.

T​

  • Template: The text of a prompt, with slots.

U​

  • URI: A prompt's address: priompt://<org>/<path>, for example priompt://acme/onboarding/welcome.

V​

  • Validation: The check that a prompt is well formed: a valid URI, a non-empty template, and slots that match the placeholders. It runs on every write and again on every read. See Errors.
  • Verdict: The class of a change from the semantic diff: minor edit, localized tweak, or structural. A change event uses new for a first publish. Agents use it to decide whether to reload a prompt on their own. See Hot-reload prompts.
  • Version hash: The ID of a prompt's content: a SHA-256 over the template and the slots. The same content always has the same version hash, whatever its history. Compare with the commit hash.