Referencecross-cutting-reference1,163 words · four sections, one avoid-list

Glossary

The shared definition source for every term the guide introduces. Don’t read it front to back — come back when a word turns up that you half-recognise.

Find a termfilters as you type

One plain line per term, plus where it is properly explained. Don't read this front to back. Come back to it when a word turns up that you half-recognise.

This exists because of a rule in blueprint §1: terms are explained on first use, never avoided. A guide that dodges the vocabulary leaves you fluent in nothing and unable to read anyone else's documentation. This file is what makes that rule enforceable instead of a matter of each writer's judgement.

Adding to it is not optional. Anything the guide introduces gets a line here, in the pass that introduces it.

1Using the tools

Term	In one line	Explained in
Claude	The app you type into, and the model behind it. Made by Anthropic	1.5 §1
Model	Software trained on a lot of text until it got good at continuing text sensibly	1.5 §1
Chat / conversation	One continuous exchange. Start a new one and it knows nothing about the last	1.5 §3
Context	Everything the model can currently see — this conversation, plus anything loaded. Not in context, doesn't exist	1.5 §3
Prompt	What you type. An instruction, not a search query — the most load-bearing definition in the guide	1.5 §4
Brief	This guide's preferred word for a prompt: the request plus every constraint attached to it	2 §1
Memory	Opt-in. A best-effort synthesis carried between chats. Useful; never where guardrails live	1.5 §3
Incognito chat	A chat saved to neither memory nor history	1.5 §3
Usage limits	Caps on how much you can do in a period. Apply on every plan, free included. They reset	1.5 §2
Extended thinking	The model working longer on a harder problem before answering	1.5 §2

2Organising work

Term	In one line	Explained in
Project	A self-contained workspace with its own chats and its own knowledge base. One per client	2 §8
Knowledge base	The files inside a project that every chat in it can see. The shared part	2 §8
Project instructions	Standing behavioural rules applied to every chat in one project. Not the same as the knowledge base	2 §8
RAG	Retrieval-augmented generation. Relevant parts of a large knowledge base get pulled in as needed. You don't configure it	2 §8
Skill	A folder with a `SKILL.md` in it — standing instructions for a job, written once. No plan gate	2 skills
Connector	Lets Claude reach into an app you already use, instead of you copy-pasting between windows	2 §7
Plugin	A bundle of skills and connectors installed together. Paid plans only	2 §7
MCP	Model Context Protocol. The plumbing behind custom connectors. You almost certainly don't need it	2 §7
Cowork	The agentic surface — describe an outcome, walk away, come back to finished work. Paid plans only	2 §6
Agentic	Something acting on your behalf across several steps, rather than answering one message	2 §2
Hand-off	This guide's word for agentic work: you describe the finished thing, the tool holds the loop	2 §2

3The craft

Term	In one line	Explained in
UGC	User-generated content. Content made by a creator that a brand pays for and uses as its own	0A
Niche	The specific thing you're known for. Noticed from what you already use, not invented — the whole point of Module 0B	0B
Content pillar	A recurring shape of post you can make repeatedly without a new idea each time. Not a topic	0A §4
Spec work	Something you made unpaid and uncommissioned, to show what you can do. Fine to show; must be labelled	4 §3
Hook	The opening line. The thing that decides whether the rest is watched	2 §1
Beat	A job a piece has to do, not a unit of time. Adjacent beats can share a shot	2 templates
Take	One recorded attempt. Numbered, kept, and shown — including the ones that failed	4
Deliverable	The thing the brand is actually buying, defined in the contract, not in the vibe	0A
Rate card	What you charge, written down before someone asks	0A
Usage rights	What a brand may do with your work, for how long, and where. Priced separately from making it	0A
The tell	The signs a piece was machine-made — stacked adjectives, even stress, symmetry nobody speaks in	2 §1, §3

4Keeping it honest

Term	In one line	Explained in
Intake / BV-01	The brand voice and guardrails form. One per client. The source of what a brand will and won't say	3
Experience file	Your own record of what you actually did with the product. Every claim traces back to it	2 skills
Barred claim	Something a client is legally or contractually forbidden from saying. A hard constraint, not a style note	3
Off-limits list	Words and phrases a client bans. Matched literally. Also a de-genericiser	3
Guardrail	Any recorded rule that constrains output. Lives in a file, never only in a conversation	3
Provenance	The honest record of how something was made: what generated it, when, from what, and what a human changed	4
Unsupported	A claim with no source behind it. Not the same as wrong — you don't know it's wrong, you know it isn't sourced	2 skills
Disclosure	Telling the audience a piece is paid or gifted. Requirements change — confirm, never assume	3

5Terms this guide deliberately avoids

Not because they're too hard. Because they're imprecise, and precision is the point.

Not used	Used instead	Why
"AI-powered"	Name what it does	Says nothing. Every tool is AI-powered now
"Prompt engineering"	Writing a brief	Makes an ordinary skill sound like a specialism
"Content" (as a mass noun)	Scripts, videos, posts	Vague enough to hide what's actually being made
"Automate"	Hand off, or batch	Implies nobody is watching. Somebody should be

Source: content/glossary.md