One term per concept. One concept per term.
This is rule W1 of the docs house style, and it is the highest-leverage rule we have: before this file existed, the running software was called the gateway / Postern / the app service / the stack / two containers / the published image inside a single section, and the record of agent requests had seven names across two pages.
The one exception: a string that appears on a screen is quoted exactly as it
appears, in code font or bold, even when it breaks a rule here. The reader must be
able to match our words to their screen. Poll cadence stays Poll cadence
because that is what the Console prints.
| concept | use this | never |
|---|---|---|
| the running software | Postern | the gateway, the app service, the stack, this gateway, your gateway, two containers, the published image |
| the computer Postern runs on | the machine Postern runs on | the box, the host, the server, the target machine |
| the computer the reader is sitting at | your computer | your laptop, the client machine, this end |
| port 8787 | the Console port | the admin surface, the REST edge, that admin group, the admin group |
| port 8788 | the agent port | the agent edge, the MCP edge, the agent-facing edges, the remote MCP edge |
| the per-agent credential | the agent key | bearer, the bearer token, the secret, a credential, a fresh secret, the token |
| to encrypt a stored credential | encrypt | seal, re-seal, sealed |
| the credential store | the vault | the encrypted store, the secret store |
| the record of agent requests | the record | the ledger, the audit log, the audit trail, the gate's memory, the log |
| a source's own credential | your source password | provider credential, upstream credential |
| how often Postern checks a source | how often Postern checks | cadence, the poll interval, the schedule |
| a computer with no screen | a computer with no screen | headless, a headless box |
| bound to 127.0.0.1 | it only answers on the machine it runs on | binds loopback, published on loopback, loopback-bound |
| to open a port to this computer only | opened to this computer | published, publishes that port |
| a port open to nothing | not opened at all | published nowhere |
| to create an agent key | create | mint (keep Mint a key where it is the button) |
| the AI program connecting to Postern | the agent | the client, the consumer, the harness |
| an AI program running on a company's servers | a hosted agent | hosted client, cloud client, a vendor cloud |
| one area of life Postern covers | a sector | a domain, an area, a scope |
| permission for one agent to reach one sector | a grant | permission, access, entitlement |
the settings file beside docker-compose.yml |
.env |
the environment file, the config |
| Postern's web interface | the Console | the UI, the admin UI, the dashboard, the Gatehouse |
| banned | why | use |
|---|---|---|
| publish / published (of a port) | reads as made public — the opposite of what Compose does | opened to this computer |
| the box | jargon, and ambiguous with the machine you sit at | the machine Postern runs on |
| headless | most readers do not know it | a computer with no screen |
| quiesce | nobody says this | stop |
| idempotent | jargon | running it twice is safe |
| no-op | jargon | delete the sentence |
| opaque blob | jargon | unreadable |
| tenant | SaaS vocabulary; Postern has no tenants | delete |
| green / start green | not a word the Console shows | ok — the word the Console shows |
| drill / one-row drill | invented | row detail |
| detective rather than preventive | jargon | it records what happened; it never stops anything |
| egress | jargon | connect out |
| bring the Console to yourself | the banned lift-and-carry register | open it over SSH |
| poppy | a brand ink name; meaningless to a reader and to a screen reader | name the thing, or delete |
| simply, just, easy, don't worry, unfortunately, please note | softeners — R28, untouched by any amendment | delete |
| № · field guide · specimen · plate · the gate (as metaphor) · admission · the keeper · raising · bring one up · Fig. n | the founder's voice ruling, 2026-08-04 | plain English |
Delete on sight, or reduce to one plain clause — none of these changes a
reader's action, and the crypto detail belongs in SECURITY.md:
percent-encode · PID 1 · mDNS · CGNAT · KDF · S256 · RFC 9728 · PKCE-bound token
exchange · jsonb · oracle · constant-time · AES-256-GCM byte counts.
These carry a load a synonym would lose. Write the sentence once. Paste it unchanged wherever it is needed. Do not improve it in one place only.
| term | the canonical sentence |
|---|---|
| loopback / localhost / 127.0.0.1 | Only this computer can reach these addresses. Nothing on your Wi-Fi, and nothing on the internet, can. |
| sector | A sector is one area of your life: finance, mail, calendar, contacts, health, home. It is the smallest thing you can grant. |
| MCP | MCP is the standard way AI assistants connect to outside tools. Postern speaks it, so Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor connect the same way. |
| tailnet | Your tailnet is the private network Tailscale builds between the devices signed into your account. Nothing else can reach it. |
| the key is shown once | Postern cannot show you this key again. It keeps a scrambled copy it can check against, never the key itself. |
| default-deny | A new key can reach nothing until you tick a sector. |
| the two volumes | Docker keeps two storage areas outside the containers: your data, and the key that unlocks every account you connect. docker compose down -v deletes both, permanently. |
| single-use setup token | You can use a setup token one time. Postern uses it up when you press Connect. |
| 200 / 401 / 404 | 200 means it answered. 401 means it answered and wants a key. 404 means nothing is there. |
| a curl command | This prints only the three-digit answer code. Paste it into a terminal on your computer. |
| bare origin | The address only — https:// and the machine name, with nothing after it. |
| redirect URI | The address the provider sends you back to after you approve. They match it exactly, character for character. |
| scopes | Permissions — the list of things your app may read. |
| app-specific password | This is a separate password, made just for Postern. Your real Apple password is never asked for and never stored — and pasting it here fails. |
| push vs poll | Your phone sends data to Postern when it decides to. Postern cannot ask for it, so there is no Sync now button. |
| envelope | Postern stores who sent it, the subject, the dates and the preview line. It never stores the message text. |
.env |
.env is the settings file beside docker-compose.yml. Create it if it is not there. The leading dot makes it invisible in Finder and File Explorer. |
| a hosted agent | An AI app that runs on a company's servers, like claude.ai or ChatGPT. It can never reach your home network on its own. |
| Certificate Transparency | A public list of every secure-website certificate ever issued. Anyone can read it, and entries cannot be removed. |
| fail-closed boot | If Postern cannot open the vault at start-up, it refuses to start rather than starting broken. |
raw |
raw is the untouched copy of what the source sent. Its names, units and signs differ from the columns beside it. |
| rows the source deleted | rows the source has deleted — never "tombstone" |
| Item / Link | Item and Link are Plaid's words. An Item is one bank connection at Plaid. Link is Plaid's connect-your-bank window. |
| key custody | Either you hold the master key or Postern does. Which one it is decides half of this page. |
- W1 — any concept with two names in the built site fails review.
- W9 — every quoted control traces to a
file:lineinapps/web/src, or to a dated witness for a third-party screen. - A term added to column 1 of §1 must be added here before it is used, not after.