Glossary
The words pmcp's documentation and messages use, each with the page that owns it.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| skill | A SKILL.md an agent loads when its task matches: a description that decides when, and a body with the instructions. Skills reference |
| catalog | The skills pmcp finds in installed packages, workspace packages and marketplaces; skill_find searches it. Getting started |
| marketplace | A collection of plugins that native runtimes install; pmcp ships a free public one. Skills reference |
| projection | The native files pmcp project writes for each tool from pmcp.toml and .agents/; pmcp.lock records what it owns. pmcp.toml reference |
| hook bundle | The guards, checks and session bookkeeping [hooks] compiles and every targeted runtime runs on its tool calls. Hooks |
| session | One running agent conversation in the repository, as the hooks record it. Run several agents |
| shared checkout | The repository's main checkout when linked worktrees exist; an edit left there blocks syncing it for every session. |
| linked worktree | A separate checkout pmcp git worktree create makes for one agent. Messages address it as worktree:<path>; desk:<path> is an older spelling that still works. Git workflow |
| mainline | The branch deliveries go to: [git] mainline, else the remote's HEAD branch, else main. |
| delivery | pmcp git deliver: replay commits onto the mainline, run the gate, push. "Being delivered" in a message means one is in progress. |
| gate | The test command a delivery must pass, [git.mainline.gate]. |
| lease | A hold on a file two sessions must not change at once, such as a lockfile; the listed commands wait while a delivery holds it. |
| pause | pmcp sessions pause: every other session's edits and mutating commands are refused until resume. |
| broadcast | Text every running session receives once, as context. |
| sessions mailbox | Addressed messages between the sessions of one repository, pmcp sessions send. Run several agents |
| local mailbox | Messages between actors that hold their own credentials, pmcp mailbox, across projects and hosts. Local mailbox |
operator | A name, not a role: the default sender of pmcp sessions pause, broadcast and send (--by), and a mailbox actor you may register. The docs call the person "you". |
| runtime id | How each table names a native runtime; the ids differ between tables. Compatibility |
| main and worker | In a terminal workspace or harness group, the session you mainly talk to and the ones it delegates to. Terminal workspace |
| harness group | The sessions one pmcp-pty daemon hosts for pmcp tui or pmcp harness, with a budget and a generation that changes when the group is replaced. Native terminal control |
| control | Holding the lease on a hosted session so only you type into it; program input waits until you release it. |
host ([host]) | The long-running sessions pmcp harness host runs from pmcp.toml, once you approve the projected policy. Sessions pmcp-pty hosts |
| platform package | @modootoday/pmcp-<os>-<cpu>, the npm package that carries the native binaries for one platform. Compatibility |