# Glossary Every term Borago Board uses, from account to write-only, in one or two sentences each, with a link to the page that explains it. The words Borago Board uses, in alphabetical order. Each entry is one or two sentences and links the page that explains the thing in full. One name is used per thing throughout the docs, so a term found here is the term found in the app. ### Account A cloud account, made of an email address and a password, that a desktop app may sign in to for [cloud sync](/docs/guides/cloud-sync-browser-and-phone/), browser and phone access and the relay. A desktop that never signs in works fully without one. See [Accounts](/docs/reference/accounts/). ### Agent The AI that executes a task. It runs a model from the project's provider and works inside the project's container through a shell, a file editor, a content search and a tool that creates tasks, plus web search, page fetch and the investigator where the provider supports them. See [What the agent can do](/features/agent/) and [How a run works](/docs/reference/how-a-run-works/). ### Attachment A file on a task. The file is kept beside the desktop's database, and on the cloud on the Pro and Max plans and during the trial, up to the plan's storage allowance. Images are shown to the model during a run. See [Attachments, screenshots, paint and camera](/docs/guides/attachments-and-screenshots/). ### Awaiting response The state of a board task whose agent asked a question that has not been answered. Every device shows the same answer. While a task is awaiting a response it cannot be moved to To Do or In Progress, because a fresh run would ask the same question again. Done, Blocked and Canceled stay reachable. See [When the agent asks a question or needs you](/docs/guides/questions-and-actions/) and [States](/docs/reference/states/). ### Base image The operating system image the generated Dockerfile starts from. The choices are Ubuntu 26.04 LTS, the default for a new project, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS and Debian 13. A project created before the setting existed stays on Ubuntu 24.04, and a hand-written Dockerfile's own first line wins. See [Change the base image or pin an architecture](/docs/tutorials/base-image-and-architecture/). ### Board The Kanban board of one account, with its projects, tasks and columns. A board belongs to one person. Business accounts share credentials and billing, never a board. See [What Borago Board is](/docs/for-ai/what-it-is/). ### Board task and user task A board task is run by the agent. A user task is done by the person, so the queue never starts it and its In Progress column means the person is working on it. See [States](/docs/reference/states/). ### Browser access The desktop app's optional HTTP server, which lets a browser on the same local network open the same board. It is off by default and has no login, so it is meant for a trusted network. See [Browser access on your network](/docs/guides/browser-access/). ### Business account A business with members, verified email domains and shared provider credentials that no single party can decrypt alone. Members share credentials and billing. They do not share boards. See [Business accounts](/docs/guides/business-accounts/). ### Chat A conversation about a requirement, held against the board, that ends in proposed tasks the user reads and approves. Chat never creates a task on its own. See [Chat to tasks](/docs/guides/chat-to-tasks/). ### Cloud sync Two-way synchronisation between the desktop's local database and the account's cloud copy, so a browser or a phone shows the same board. It is opt-in, off by default, and credentials travel as ciphertext under a key the cloud never stores. Task text, comments, run output and chat are readable by the cloud service when sync is on. See [Cloud sync](/docs/reference/cloud-sync/) and [Security](/security/). ### Column One of the six places a task can be on the board: Planning, To Do, In Progress, Done, Blocked and Canceled. The column is the task's status, and a drag between columns is the same change as any other edit. See [States](/docs/reference/states/). ### Connected projects Two projects whose containers can reach each other over a small network of their own, for a frontend and a backend for example. The connection is kept symmetric and syncs with both projects. See [Connected projects](/docs/guides/connected-projects/). ### Container The Docker container in which a project's agent, terminal, scripts and flows run. Each project has exactly one, built from the generated Dockerfile and Compose file or the user's own. See [Containers](/docs/reference/containers/). ### Container management A per-project option, off by default, that lets the agent create and control containers beside its own, such as a database for the project. The agent reaches Docker only through the policy proxy. See [Container management](/docs/guides/container-management/). ### Cost budget A ceiling in US dollars per project and per provider, on the machine that runs the container. When the recorded spend reaches it the queue holds until the spend is reset. See [Set a cost budget and read every run's usage](/docs/tutorials/cost-budget/). ### Desktop link The rule that one account is linked to exactly one desktop app. A second desktop signing in must confirm a takeover, after which the replaced desktop is refused sync and the relay. See [Accounts](/docs/reference/accounts/). ### Device-local A setting or value that stays on the machine it was set on and never syncs. The cloud sync toggle, the browser access port, an environment variable flagged device-local and a self-hosted service's address override are device-local. See [Settings reference](/docs/reference/settings/). ### Environment variable A named value a project hands to its container, encrypted at rest and injected into the process at the moment a run, a shell, a script or a flow starts. It is never written into a Docker file. Each variable can be flagged write-only or device-local, and can be linked from the key vault instead of typed in. See [Secrets and environment variables](/docs/guides/secrets-and-environment-variables/). ### Flow A few steps written in plain language and run on a schedule. A model reads the steps once per edit and marks each as code, which then runs identically every time, as a judgement step for a model, or as data. Generated code runs in the project container. A flow is off until enabled, never runs two at once and never catches up a missed window. See [Flows reference](/docs/reference/flows/). ### gVisor A sandbox runtime for Linux that runs a container under a user-space kernel and intercepts its system calls. The app uses it for project containers when it is installed. It is not used on macOS or Windows, where Docker Desktop's virtual machine isolates the host. See [Containers](/docs/reference/containers/). ### Hold The queue not starting anything, with a stated reason such as a rate limit, a failed sign-in, a prerequisite, a cost budget reached or a blocked task interfering. The board shows the reason, and the holds that a person can lift offer a Resume control. See [The queue and its holds](/docs/reference/queue-and-holds/). ### Investigator A tool the agent can use during a run to look through the repository and report back what it found, without the searching filling its context. Limited to a few uses per run. The planning chat reads the repository through tools of its own, granted by a path mention. See [Limits and defaults](/docs/reference/limits-and-defaults/). ### Key vault The account's credentials held once and linked into projects by reference rather than copied into each. Writing a link is an ordinary field edit that works from a browser, and no screen ever shows a stored value. See [Secrets and environment variables](/docs/guides/secrets-and-environment-variables/). ### Mention A token typed in a task, comment, chat message or note that points at something the agent or the chat should read. There are four kinds. `@#42` names a task by its number. `@~3` names a note. `@=5` names an earlier conversation and works in chat only. The fourth kind points at the repository or the project's knowledge: `@/src/auth.ts` names a file to read, `@/src/` names a folder to list rather than read, `@/` on its own grants chat read-only access to the whole repository, and `@:auth` names a knowledge area. The picker fills these in after the `@`. See [Writing tasks the agent can do](/docs/guides/writing-tasks/) and [Chat to tasks](/docs/guides/chat-to-tasks/). ### Needs manual action A flag on a task whose agent left something for the person to do, recorded as an action comment. Moving the task clears the flag, because the move is the acknowledgement. See [When the agent asks a question or needs you](/docs/guides/questions-and-actions/). ### Note Free text kept beside the board, with a title taken from its first line when none is given. A note is not a task and appears in no column, and it can be mentioned as `@~3`. See [Writing tasks the agent can do](/docs/guides/writing-tasks/). ### Notification A notice in the bell at the top of the board, such as a question from the agent, a blocked task, a failed sign-in or an available update. Notifications are stored with the account and sync, so reading one on the desktop clears it on the phone. See [Notifications reference](/docs/reference/notifications/). ### Policy proxy The only path to Docker a project container has when container management is on. It permits the containers the agent created on the project's own network, applies the same port rule as the board, and refuses everything else. See [Containers](/docs/reference/containers/). ### Prerequisite A task that must be Done before another may start, declared by mentioning it as `@#42` in the other task's title or description. A Blocked task does not satisfy a prerequisite. The queue holds the dependent task rather than skipping it. See [The queue and its holds](/docs/reference/queue-and-holds/). ### Project A repository or workspace with its own container, queue, settings, credentials and five AI roles. Tasks belong to a project, and the project decides which provider and model run them. See [Project settings reference](/docs/reference/project-settings/). ### Provider The service whose model the agent runs: Claude, OpenAI, Gemini or Grok on the user's own API key, or a self-hosted server the user runs. The app labels the OpenAI runner "Codex" in places. See [Choosing an AI provider](/docs/guides/choosing-an-ai-provider/). ### Queue The per-project list of board tasks in To Do, run one at a time in the order the cards are placed, subject to prerequisites and holds. There is one run per project at a time and no reordering by the app. See [The queue and its holds](/docs/reference/queue-and-holds/). ### Recycle bin Where a deleted project waits for 30 days before it is purged. A project can be restored from it in Settings with its tasks, or destroyed at once together with its containers, images, volumes and networks. Tasks are never deleted, only closed. See [Recovery](/docs/reference/recovery/). ### Relay The persistent connection the desktop app opens to the cloud while cloud sync is on, so a browser or a phone signed in to the same account can open the container's terminal, run scripts, start and stop containers and chat through the desktop. When the desktop is off, those controls are shown disabled with the reason. See [The relay](/docs/reference/relay/). ### Restore point A copy of the whole board taken before a new version of the app is allowed to change the database. 2 are kept, and a restore chosen in Settings is applied at the next start. See [Recovery](/docs/reference/recovery/). ### Role One of the five jobs a project gives to a model, each with its own provider and model choice in the project's AI Roles tab: Task runner, Pre-run review, Post-run review, Chat and Flows. Only the task runner is required. See [Project settings reference](/docs/reference/project-settings/). ### Run One execution of a task by the agent, from the moment the queue claims the task to the moment the task lands in a column. There is no session resume, so a failed or stopped run is retried from the start with the previous output as context. See [How a run works](/docs/reference/how-a-run-works/). ### Script A named command a project keeps, run in the container from the board on any surface. Its output streams to the panel and is not stored. See [The terminal, scripts and the file browser](/docs/guides/terminal-scripts-and-files/). ### Self-hosted service A model server the user runs, speaking the OpenAI chat completions protocol, such as Ollama, vLLM, llama.cpp's llama-server or LM Studio. The list of services belongs to the account and syncs, while each service's address can be overridden per device. See [Run tasks on a local model with Ollama](/docs/tutorials/local-model-with-ollama/). ### Startup script Commands a project runs once each time its container starts, before anything else uses it. A failing step does not stop the container, so there is always a shell to debug in. See [Project settings reference](/docs/reference/project-settings/). ### Task A card on the board with a title, a description, comments and attachments. It is the unit of work the agent is given, and the description is re-read on every turn of the run that follows. See [Writing tasks the agent can do](/docs/guides/writing-tasks/). ### Task hook A flow that runs when a task reaches Done or Blocked, whether a person moved the card or a run ended there. See [Flows reference](/docs/reference/flows/). ### Task number The number a task has within its project, shown on the card as #42 and typed as `@#42`. It is the same on the desktop, the cloud, the phone and a second machine, and a number is never reused. Notes and conversations are numbered the same way. See [Writing tasks the agent can do](/docs/guides/writing-tasks/). ### Terminal An interactive shell into a project's container, opened from the board. Each project keeps its sessions in tabs until they are closed, and a browser or a phone reaches it through the relay. See [The terminal, scripts and the file browser](/docs/guides/terminal-scripts-and-files/). ### Two-factor authentication A second step at sign-in, a six-digit code from an authenticator app or a one-time recovery code. No email is sent for it. See [Set up two-factor sign-in and test the way back in](/docs/tutorials/two-factor-and-recovery/). ### Workspace On the desktop, the directory that holds one account's database, secret journal, restore points, attachments and log, named `default` for work created while signed out. A project's workspace is the local path its container's `/app` is bound to, which **Create a folder for me** can make for it. A project with no local path has none, and its `/app` lives inside the container. See [File locations](/docs/reference/file-locations/). ### Write-only A flag on an environment variable meaning its value is never returned by any read after it is set. The flag governs what leaves the server, not what the container receives, which is unchanged. See [Secrets and environment variables](/docs/guides/secrets-and-environment-variables/). Related: [States](/docs/reference/states/), [Limits and defaults](/docs/reference/limits-and-defaults/), [File locations](/docs/reference/file-locations/), [What Borago Board is](/docs/for-ai/what-it-is/).