Plain-language glossary

Technical language is useful when it gives a team a shared meaning. It becomes unhelpful when it makes a simple idea sound inaccessible.

This glossary defines Paraline terms in plain language. The definitions explain the intended product model; they are not released API schemas.

The workspace and application

Term	Plain-language definition
Workspace	An isolated environment for one organization, team, or client and its operation.
Application definition	The blueprint that describes the workspace’s records, screens, actions, workflows, roles, and policies.
Module	A reusable group of definitions for one business capability, such as service intake or document review.
Version	A reviewable snapshot of the application blueprint.
Publication	The controlled decision that makes an approved version active.
View	A screen or projection that presents business information for a purpose, such as a queue or dashboard.

Business data and behavior

Term	Plain-language definition
Object	A type of business thing, such as a customer, case, project, or document.
Record	One individual instance of an object, such as customer Acme Industries.
Relationship	A meaningful connection between records, such as a case belonging to a customer.
Field	One defined piece of information on a record or relationship.
State	The durable position of work, such as new, awaiting approval, resolved, or failed.
Action	A defined business operation with known input, permission, validation, effect, and result.
Event	A recorded fact that something meaningful happened.
Provenance	Information explaining where data came from and how it changed.
Source of truth	The system whose value is authoritative when systems disagree.

People, AI, and authority

Term	Plain-language definition
Actor	An identified person, agent, workflow, or integration that requests or performs an operation.
AI model	The intelligence service that interprets input and generates or proposes an output.
Agent	An AI-enabled actor that uses permitted context and tools toward a defined responsibility.
Responsibility	The measurable business condition a person, agent, or workflow is expected to advance or complete.
Permission	A rule that decides which information or operation an actor may access.
Tool	A defined capability an agent can request, such as retrieving a case or creating a draft.
Tool grant	Permission for a particular actor to use a tool within a defined scope.
Approval	A recorded human decision required before a proposed action may proceed.
Delegation	A visible transfer of a limited responsibility from one actor to another.

Workflows and execution

Term	Plain-language definition
Workflow	The coordinated path through triggers, rules, AI steps, actions, approvals, waiting, and outcomes.
Run	One identifiable execution of a workflow or agent responsibility.
Trigger	The event, request, schedule, or condition that starts or resumes work.
Context	The permitted records, policies, evidence, and prior state supplied for a responsibility.
Outcome	The observable business condition used to decide whether work is complete.
Exception	A visible state that needs retry, correction, escalation, or another recovery action.
Idempotency	Protection that prevents a repeated request from duplicating the same effect.
History	The attributable record of sources, proposals, actions, approvals, errors, and results.

Connections and technical interfaces

Term	Plain-language definition
Runtime	The durable operating layer that stores state, applies rules, authorizes actions, and records history.
Connection	An authorized link to an external system, source, or service.
Import	A controlled process that maps external data into workspace records while preserving its source.
Synchronization	The continuing exchange of changes between Paraline and another system.
API	A versioned way for software to request data or actions programmatically.
SDK	Developer tools that make it easier to define modules or use runtime capabilities in code.
MCP	Model Context Protocol, a standard way for compatible AI applications and servers to exchange context and tools.

A short example using the vocabulary

A new email triggers a service workflow. The workflow creates one case record and connects it to a customer through a relationship. An agent receives permitted context and a tool for drafting a reply.

The agent’s draft is not yet an outcome. A manager gives approval, and an action sends the message through an external connection. Delivery is recorded as an event, and the full sequence remains in the history.

That is the vocabulary of a complete operation rather than an isolated AI response.