Glossary

Glossary

A quick reference for every term used in Paperclip's UI and documentation, in plain English. If you hit a word in a guide that isn't clicking, look it up here.

For deeper explanations of the core concepts, see Key Concepts (/docs/quickstart/key-concepts).

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A

Adapter — The bridge between Paperclip and the AI system that actually runs an agent. When you hire an agent, you choose an adapter type (like claudelocal or codexlocal) and configure it with the details Paperclip needs to launch that agent. Different AI runtimes require different adapters — like power adaptors for different countries.

Agent — An AI "employee" in your company. An agent isn't just a model call — it's a full configuration that includes a role, a manager, a budget, and an adapter that defines how it runs. Agents are organised in a hierarchy where every agent reports to exactly one manager (except the CEO).

Approval — A governance checkpoint that pauses an action and asks the board operator (you) to review and sign off before it proceeds. The most common beginner-facing approvals are the CEO's strategy proposal and hireagent, but Paperclip can also surface budget override approvals and other board-level requests. Approvals can be approved, rejected, or sent back for revision.

Atomic checkout — The mechanism that prevents two agents from working on the same task simultaneously. When an agent moves a task to inprogress, it claims exclusive ownership. If another agent tries to claim the same task at the same moment, one of them is turned away.

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