The Agent Glossary

A plain-language A–Z glossary of the words AI coding shipped before writing the docs: agent, harness, tool, context window, and the rest of the dialect.

Live at https://agent-glossary.col.ad.

What this is

A single static HTML page. No build step, no framework, no JavaScript. Open index.html in a browser and you have the whole site.

Every entry has a stable #anchor so you can link to a specific term: https://agent-glossary.col.ad/#harness.

Contributing

Pull requests welcome for:

• Missing terms — if a word is in widespread use and isn't here, add it.
• Corrections — if a definition is wrong or out of date, fix it. Include a source if the call is non-obvious.
• Clarifications — if a definition is technically correct but unclear, tighten it.

Style

• Plain English. No marketing language. No hype.
• Short — usually 1–3 sentences. If the definition needs paragraphs, link to a fuller source instead.
• Honest about ambiguity. If a term is contested (e.g. agent, AGI), say so.
• Cross-link with <a href="#other-term"> when one definition leans on another.
• Keep entries alphabetised within their letter section. Anchors are kebab-case.

Adding an entry

1. Find the right <section class="letter" id="x"> in index.html.

2. Insert an <article> block in alphabetical position:

   <article id="your-term">
     <h3>Your term <a class="anchor" href="#your-term" aria-label="link">¶</a></h3>
     <p>One to three sentences. Cross-link <a href="#related-term">related terms</a>.</p>
   </article>

3. If the term needs a new letter section that doesn't exist yet, add <section class="letter" id="..."> and the matching link in the top .atoz nav.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.

Inspiration

The site exists because @dailydotdev tweeted on 2026-06-05:

we need a dictionary for 'agent', 'harness', 'tool', 'context window' because AI coding invented a new dialect and shipped it before writing the docs

This is that dictionary. Suggestions for new terms can be filed as GitHub issues.