# Glossary The words these docs use with a meaning of their own, in alphabetical order. Each has one or two sentences and a link to the page that covers it. There are 64 terms. | Term | Meaning | | ------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Abandon | To end an open run by hand, with `realm run abandon` or the `abandon_run` tool. The run's phase becomes `abandoned`. See [`realm run`: commands that act](https://realmengine.dev/docs/reference/cli/realm-run-acting.md#abandon). | | Adapter | The code that calls one outside service for a workflow. Realm has 10 built in, and a project can add its own. See [Adapters](https://realmengine.dev/docs/reference/adapters.md). | | Agent profile | A text file of standing instructions that an agent step is given with its prompt. See [Services, profiles and context](https://realmengine.dev/docs/reference/workflow/services-profiles-and-context.md). | | Agent step | A step whose output comes from an AI model. Realm checks the answer against the step's schema before it records it. See [Step kinds](https://realmengine.dev/docs/concepts/step-kinds.md). | | `agent_action` | The field of a tool's reply that tells the caller what to do after an error or a block. See [Error codes](https://realmengine.dev/docs/reference/error-codes.md#what-an-error-carries). | | Auto step | A step Realm runs itself, by calling a handler or an adapter. See [Step kinds](https://realmengine.dev/docs/concepts/step-kinds.md). | | Batch | Several runs of one workflow started with one call to `start_run_batch`. See [Idempotency and batches](https://realmengine.dev/docs/guides/idempotency-and-batches.md). | | Choice | One of the answers a gate offers, such as `approve` or `reject`. See [Gates](https://realmengine.dev/docs/reference/workflow/gates.md). | | Claim | The mark Realm puts on a step when it starts, so that no second caller runs the same step. See [`realm run`: commands that act](https://realmengine.dev/docs/reference/cli/realm-run-acting.md#reclaim). | | Cleanup step | Another name for a finalizer. | | Condition | A comparison of a value from the run with a fixed value, used by `when`, `preconditions` and `abort_unless`. See [Conditions](https://realmengine.dev/docs/reference/workflow/conditions.md). | | Deployment manifest | The file `realm.yaml`, which holds a project's settings. See [Deployment manifest](https://realmengine.dev/docs/reference/deployment-manifest.md). | | Drain | To run the finalizers that a run still owes after it has ended. See [`realm run`: commands that act](https://realmengine.dev/docs/reference/cli/realm-run-acting.md#drain). | | Drift | A difference between the project's code or settings on disk and what a run recorded when it ran. See [Project extensions](https://realmengine.dev/docs/reference/project-extensions.md#--check-drift). | | Drive failure | A failed request from `realm agent` to a model provider. Realm keeps the last 5 on the run's record. See [`realm agent`](https://realmengine.dev/docs/reference/cli/realm-agent.md#when-it-stops). | | Driver | Whatever calls Realm to move a run forward: an AI assistant over MCP, `realm agent`, `realm listen`, `realm workflow run` or `realm run advance`. See [Who drives a run](https://realmengine.dev/docs/concepts/who-drives-a-run.md). | | Engine | The part of Realm that decides which step can run, checks each answer and writes the record. The `realm` command and the MCP server are built on it. See [Core library](https://realmengine.dev/docs/reference/core-library.md). | | Evidence | What a run records about each step: what it was given, what it produced, and a hash of the output. See [Evidence](https://realmengine.dev/docs/concepts/evidence.md). | | Evidence entry | One item of a run's evidence: one attempt of one step, or one gate answer. See [Run record and export bundle format](https://realmengine.dev/docs/reference/run-record-and-export.md#evidence-entries). | | Export bundle | The one file that `realm run export` writes, with a run's record and its other files. See [Run record and export bundle format](https://realmengine.dev/docs/reference/run-record-and-export.md#the-export-bundle). | | Extensions | The code files of a project that give Realm adapters and handlers. A workflow names them with `extensions`. See [Project extensions](https://realmengine.dev/docs/reference/project-extensions.md). | | Finalizer | A step that runs after the run has ended, for cleanup or for a notice. It names the endings it runs for with `on_outcome`. See [Step kinds](https://realmengine.dev/docs/concepts/step-kinds.md). | | Fixture | A file that describes one test of a workflow: the parameters, a stand-in reply for each service call and agent step, and the expected ending. See [Test a workflow](https://realmengine.dev/docs/guides/test-a-workflow.md). | | Gate | A stop at a step, where the run waits until a person picks one of the gate's choices. A step has one when its `trust` is `human_confirmed`. See [Human gates and trust levels](https://realmengine.dev/docs/concepts/gates-and-trust.md). | | Guard | A step that checks conditions and stops the whole run if one is false. See [Step kinds](https://realmengine.dev/docs/concepts/step-kinds.md). | | Handler | A function from your project that an auto step or a finalizer runs. See [Handlers](https://realmengine.dev/docs/reference/handlers.md). | | Hash | A short fingerprint of a piece of data, which changes if the data changes. Realm records one for each step's output. | | Health finding | Something Realm notices is wrong or unusual about a run, such as a step whose caller has gone away. See [Run state and health findings](https://realmengine.dev/docs/reference/mcp/run-state-and-health.md). | | Idempotency key | A name given when a run is started, so that starting it twice with the same name gives one run. See [Idempotency and batches](https://realmengine.dev/docs/guides/idempotency-and-batches.md). | | Input map | The `input_map` of a step, which says where each of the step's inputs comes from. See [Input map and templates](https://realmengine.dev/docs/reference/workflow/input-map-and-templates.md). | | Lease | A short hold a process takes on a finalizer while it runs it, so that no other process runs it at the same time. See [`realm run`: commands that act](https://realmengine.dev/docs/reference/cli/realm-run-acting.md#drain). | | Loader | The part of Realm that reads a workflow file and refuses it if something is wrong. See [Loader diagnostics](https://realmengine.dev/docs/reference/workflow/loader-diagnostics.md). | | MCP | The Model Context Protocol, the standard way an AI assistant calls outside tools. Realm is an MCP server with 11 tools (10 in version 0.46.0). See [MCP tools](https://realmengine.dev/docs/reference/mcp/tools.md). | | Operation | One action of an adapter, such as `read` on the `filesystem` adapter. A step names it with `operation`. See [Adapters](https://realmengine.dev/docs/reference/adapters.md). | | Parameters | The values a run is started with. A workflow's `params_schema` says which it accepts. See [Workflow file: top-level fields](https://realmengine.dev/docs/reference/workflow/top-level-fields.md). | | Phase | Where a run stands: `running`, `gate_waiting`, `completed`, `failed`, `aborted` or `abandoned`. See [Workflows, steps and runs](https://realmengine.dev/docs/concepts/workflows-steps-and-runs.md). | | Precondition | A condition a step states with `preconditions`. If it is false, the step is blocked and the caller is told why. See [Conditions](https://realmengine.dev/docs/reference/workflow/conditions.md). | | Processor | A third kind of thing a project's code can give Realm, beside adapters and handlers. No workflow field uses one. See [Project extensions](https://realmengine.dev/docs/reference/project-extensions.md). | | Project | The folder a workflow belongs to: the nearest folder at or above it that holds a `package.json` or a `.git`. See [Deployment manifest](https://realmengine.dev/docs/reference/deployment-manifest.md#where-realm-looks-for-it). | | Provider | The company whose model `realm agent` calls: OpenAI or Anthropic, or code of your own. See [`realm agent`](https://realmengine.dev/docs/reference/cli/realm-agent.md). | | Purge | To delete an ended run's files, with `realm run purge`. See [`realm run`: commands that act](https://realmengine.dev/docs/reference/cli/realm-run-acting.md#purge). | | Reclaim | To take a step back from a caller that has gone away, so that it can be run again. See [`realm run`: commands that act](https://realmengine.dev/docs/reference/cli/realm-run-acting.md#reclaim). | | Register | To store a copy of a workflow under its ID in `~/.realm/workflows`, where the MCP server finds it. See [`realm workflow`](https://realmengine.dev/docs/reference/cli/realm-workflow.md#register). | | Replay | A re-check of a run's `preconditions` against the outputs it recorded, with the outputs you choose changed. It runs no step. See [`realm run`: commands that read](https://realmengine.dev/docs/reference/cli/realm-run-reading.md#replay). | | Retry | To try a step again after it fails. A step asks for it with a `retry` block. See [Retry and timeouts](https://realmengine.dev/docs/reference/workflow/retry-and-timeouts.md). | | Run | One execution of a workflow. It has an ID, its parameters, and a phase. See [Workflows, steps and runs](https://realmengine.dev/docs/concepts/workflows-steps-and-runs.md). | | Run record | The JSON object that holds everything Realm knows about a run. See [Run record and export bundle format](https://realmengine.dev/docs/reference/run-record-and-export.md). | | Schema | A JSON Schema, which says what shape a piece of data must have. A workflow uses one for the run's parameters and for each step's answer. See [JSON Schema blocks](https://realmengine.dev/docs/reference/workflow/json-schema-blocks.md). | | Secret reference | `${secret:NAME}` in `realm.yaml`, which stands for a secret's value without writing it there. See [Deployment manifest](https://realmengine.dev/docs/reference/deployment-manifest.md#secret-references). | | Service | An outside system a workflow calls, declared under `services` with the adapter that reaches it. See [Services, profiles and context](https://realmengine.dev/docs/reference/workflow/services-profiles-and-context.md). | | Settle | To record a step's final result. After that the step cannot be started again in this run. | | Skipped step | A step that will not run, because its `when` was false, or because the steps it depends on ended in a way its `trigger_rule` rules out. See [Order and routing](https://realmengine.dev/docs/concepts/order-and-routing.md). | | Stale claim | A claim whose deadline has passed, which suggests its caller has gone away. The step can then be reclaimed. See [`realm run`: commands that act](https://realmengine.dev/docs/reference/cli/realm-run-acting.md#reclaim). | | Step | One unit of work in a workflow. Each has a kind: `auto`, `agent`, `guard` or `finalizer`. See [Step kinds](https://realmengine.dev/docs/concepts/step-kinds.md). | | Store | Where Realm keeps runs and workflows. The `realm` command uses files under `~/.realm`. See [Core library](https://realmengine.dev/docs/reference/core-library.md). | | Stuck run | An open run with a health finding, as listed by `realm run list --stuck`. See [`realm run`: commands that read](https://realmengine.dev/docs/reference/cli/realm-run-reading.md#list). | | Tool server | A separate MCP server whose tools an agent step's model may call under `realm agent`. See [Give an agent step tools](https://realmengine.dev/docs/guides/agent-tools.md). | | Trace | Notes a caller sends about how it worked on an agent step, recorded with the step. See [MCP tools](https://realmengine.dev/docs/reference/mcp/tools.md#append_trace). | | Trigger | The `trigger` block of a workflow, which lets `realm listen` start a run from a webhook request. See [Webhook trigger](https://realmengine.dev/docs/reference/workflow/webhook-trigger.md). | | Trigger rule | A step's `trigger_rule`, which says which results of the steps it depends on let it run. See [Workflow file: step fields](https://realmengine.dev/docs/reference/workflow/step-fields.md#when-the-step-runs). | | Trust | A step's `trust` field, which says whether the step has a gate. See [Human gates and trust levels](https://realmengine.dev/docs/concepts/gates-and-trust.md). | | Workflow | A file that lists the steps of a job and the order they run in. See [Workflows, steps and runs](https://realmengine.dev/docs/concepts/workflows-steps-and-runs.md). | | Workflow context | Text files a workflow names with `workflow_context`, whose text agent steps can be given. See [Services, profiles and context](https://realmengine.dev/docs/reference/workflow/services-profiles-and-context.md). | | Writer nonce | An identifier a caller gives with its trace entries and its answer, so that Realm can tell which entries came from the caller that completed the step. See [MCP tools](https://realmengine.dev/docs/reference/mcp/tools.md#append_trace). |