On this page
Words you meet first
Sessions and models
Safety
Workers and results
PackagesGlossary
Plain-language meanings of the words CLIO Coder uses, from target to worktree.
Words you meet first
Each term below in a sentence or two, with the guide that explains it. The full guide then gives the precise definitions, mapped to the source types that own them.
Sessions and models
| Term |
What it means |
| Session |
One conversation with CLIO Coder in a project. It is saved, so you can resume it later. See Commands and modes. |
| Target (connection) |
A place CLIO Coder sends prompts to: a provider account or a local model server, with its default model. Settings call it a connection. See Configuration and targets. |
| Chat route |
The target and model your main conversation uses right now. |
| Compaction |
Shortening a long conversation into a summary so it fits the model's context window. See Context continuity. |
| Handbook |
CLIO-CODER.md at the repository root: the project's name, conventions and rules, written by you and kept in Git. |
| Memory |
Notes CLIO Coder keeps while you work, such as your requirements and what failed, so it can remind the agent later. See Proactive memory. |
| Doctor |
clio-coder doctor, a read-only check of your install, connections and sandbox. See Doctor. |
Safety
| Term |
What it means |
| Autonomy level |
How much CLIO Coder may do without you: default asks when something is risky, yolo never waits for you. See Sandbox and safety. |
| Sandbox |
An operating-system wall around shell commands. Inside it a command can write only to the project and scratch folders and cannot read your credentials. |
| Contained |
A command that runs inside the sandbox. At default most contained work runs without asking. |
| Safety judge |
A model that checks a risky call against what you asked for, before you are asked. It allows it, refuses it, or passes it to you. |
| Approval card |
The question CLIO Coder shows when a call needs your answer. One nobody answers is denied after a timeout. |
| Snapshot |
A private copy of your files that CLIO Coder takes before it changes them. /rewind restores one. |
Workers and results
| Term |
What it means |
| Worker |
A separate agent that does one task for the main session, often on its own branch. See Fleet dispatch. |
| Fleet |
The workers available to you and the routes they run on. |
| Dispatch |
Handing a task to a worker, with /run in a session or clio-coder run --agent from a shell. |
| Worktree |
A separate checkout of your repository on its own branch, where a worker can change files without touching yours. |
| Run record |
The sealed record of a finished worker run: what it did, what it changed and which checks passed. /view verify <runId> checks it. |
| Check (verifier) |
A command in .clio-coder/verifiers.yaml that decides whether work is right, such as a test suite or a benchmark. |
| Peer |
Another coding agent, such as Claude Code, Codex or OpenCode, that CLIO Coder hands a task to. See Coding agent interoperability. |
| Store |
A place outside your working tree for result files and datasets, shared by every checkout of the project. See Store. |
| Research campaign |
A loop where the agent tries one change at a time and keeps it only when a measured number improves and every check still passes. See Research and arena. |
| Arena match |
The same task given to several models, each result run through the same check, so you can compare them and vote blind. |
| Sweep |
A set of run directories for one experiment, each checked on its own. See Slurm. |
Packages
| Term |
What it means |
| Skill |
Written instructions for a procedure, in a SKILL.md file, that the agent loads when the task needs it. |
| Prompt template |
A saved prompt you run as a slash command, such as /bugfix. |
| Library |
The installable packages CLIO Coder knows about, browsed with /library. See Library packages. |
| Plugin |
A package of content only: skills, prompts, agents and playbooks. Installing one never runs code. See Plugins. |
| Extension |
A package of code that changes CLIO Coder itself. It runs in its own process, after you review what it may do. See Extensions. |
