🪶 Vocabulary
Glossary
Every term that appears on this site, defined in plain English. Algorand-specific stuff, the crypto + protocol vocabulary, AI / agent terminology, and the tooling lexicon. Linked where the term has its own page.
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Algorand
- Algorand
- Layer-1 blockchain CorvidLabs is native to. ~3-second finality, ~$0.001 fees, mature SDK in every language we touch. Carbon-negative.
- ASA Algorand Standard Asset
- On-chain token type. Fungible (like USDC) or non-fungible (NFT). The native asset primitive on Algorand.
- ARC Algorand Request for Comments
- Standards process for Algorand. ARC-69 is the standard for ASA-backed NFT metadata; ARC-19 for upgradable NFT URIs. CorvidLabs uses ARC-69 heavily for the agent memory system.
- USDC
- Dollar-backed stablecoin on Algorand. Used for in-app tips, hosted-tier billing (planned), and pay-per-task agent fees.
- Localnet
- Local Algorand network for development. `fledge-plugin-localnet` spins it up. Mints test ALGO, runs test ASAs, simulates federation tests without burning real money.
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Crypto / Protocol
- AlgoChat
- CorvidLabs's E2EE messaging protocol. X25519 + ChaCha20-Poly1305 + HKDF-SHA256 + two-level ratchet. Six language implementations. Used by corvid-chat for every message in flight.
- PSK Pre-Shared Key
- Out-of-band shared secret used by AlgoChat to bootstrap encrypted channels. Two parties can establish a contact via QR code, paste-pair, or a deterministic derivation from a BIP-39 phrase.
- Federation
- Multi-server protocol where corvid-chat homeservers route messages between each other. Ed25519-signed `SignedFrame<FederationFrame>` envelopes; anti-replay protected.
- Sealed-sender
- Privacy property where the server can't tell which channel member produced a ciphertext. Planned for corvid-chat M10. Today's tombstoned deletes still leak `from_user` metadata; sealed-sender closes that gap.
- X25519
- Elliptic-curve Diffie-Hellman key exchange. AlgoChat uses it to derive the shared secret each pair of identities encrypts with. Fast, standardized, and easy to implement consistently across six languages.
- ChaCha20-Poly1305
- Authenticated encryption (AEAD) cipher used by AlgoChat for the message body. Confidentiality + integrity in one primitive. Tampered ciphertext fails decryption instead of silently corrupting.
- HKDF-SHA256
- HMAC-based key derivation. Used by AlgoChat's two-level ratchet to derive per-message keys from the long-term shared secret. Each message gets a fresh key; compromise tomorrow's, yesterday's stays sealed.
- Ed25519
- Elliptic-curve signature scheme. Algorand addresses are Ed25519 pubkeys; corvid-chat homeservers sign federation frames with the same key. One identity, two cryptographic roles.
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AI / Agents
- MCP Model Context Protocol
- Anthropic's protocol for LLM ↔ tool integration. Merlin supports MCP transports; spec-sync exposes its registry over MCP.
- Agent
- An LLM-driven program that takes actions on your behalf. CorvidLabs's agent team (CorvidAgent / Magpie / Rook / etc.) runs on the corvid-agent platform; Merlin is the in-house runner for spawning agents on tasks.
- Sub-agent
- An agent spawned by another agent with a fresh context window. The pattern that closes Merlin's context-retention gap. Main agent stays lean, delegates heavy work to ephemeral sub-agents that return summaries.
- Flock Directory
- Planned on-chain registry of CorvidLabs agents. Discovery, reputation, capabilities. ASA-backed entries; queryable via spec-sync schemas.
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Tooling
- spec-sync
- CorvidLabs's spec-to-code validation tool. `.spec.md` files are contracts; spec-sync ensures the code matches the spec (in both directions) and fails CI when they drift.
- fledge
- The dev-lifecycle CLI. Task runner + plugin protocol + AI review + scaffolding. The single CI gate across every CorvidLabs project.
- Merlin
- CorvidLabs's in-house AI agent runner. Multi-provider, tier-aware, plugin-shaped. Built on the fledge plugin protocol and spec-sync contracts.
- Lane
- An ordered list of tasks in fledge. E.g. `verify = ["fmt-check", "lint", "test", "spec-check"]`. The unit of CI work; one lane = one PR check.
- Plugin
- A `fledge-v1`-protocol subprocess that extends fledge or Merlin with new commands. WASM-sandboxed plugins planned (canary-wasm prototype proves the model).
- Worktree
- Git feature that materializes a branch into a separate working directory. corvid-agent uses one worktree per agent task so multiple agents can edit different branches in parallel without stepping on each other.
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