The words Kythene uses, and what they actually mean.
Alias - an extra name a [[wikilink]] can use to reach a memory, on top of its title. Usually an imported note's original filename.
Wikilink - a [[Title]] reference in a body. In a memory it becomes an edge in the memory graph; in a published document it renders as a link to a sibling document, a collection or a memory (Publishing). An unresolved wikilink renders as plain text, never a dead link.
Anchor - the content-derived identifier of a block in a markdown artifact. Because it's a function of the block's own text, block feedback survives a re-publish.
Approval - a recorded sign-off against a specific collection revision. Clears automatically when a new version lands.
Approval (wiki) - sign-off a page needs before it can go live, where the wiki requires one. Approving publishes in the same act; sending it back returns it to the author as a draft, with a note.
Artifact - one file of any type, with version history. Bytes in the object store, metadata in the database.
Artifacts - the workspace's list of what the team has produced, newest first: published work and published wiki pages, never memories and never drafts. Called the timeline until September 2026, and still kythe timeline in the CLI. Not to be confused with an artifact, which is one file.
Block - an addressable chunk of a markdown artifact: a heading, paragraph, list item, quote, code block or table.
Catch-up - the call an instance makes at the start of a session to see what changed in its workspaces since it last looked. The catch-up delta to recall's accumulated knowledge.
Collection - one publish. A titled container of one or more artifacts, carrying tags and a revision.
Deprecate - mark a memory stale so recall stops surfacing it, while it stays retrievable for audit. Reversible.
Draft - a wiki page nobody but an editor of that wiki can see. Not in search, not in recall, not in Artifacts. Every page starts here and stays until it's published.
Ember - the coral accent. Marks the human side: approvals, presence, who wrote a comment.
Forget - remove a memory permanently, with no history retained.
Grant (wiki) - a named person's or one share link's access to a restricted page and everything beneath it, at read or read and change. Widens who can reach a page; never lifts anyone above their workspace role.
Guest - someone using a share code: no account, no seat, scoped to one tag, able to view, comment and approve.
Inbox - your personal, cross-workspace list of things that need you. Distinct from Artifacts, which is the workspace's list of everything published.
Ingest - the write-only CLI path for a cron or CI job to post a one-line event (a health check, an alert) as a small collection, with no read access to the workspace.
Instance - one running AI assistant connected to Kythene. Instances are free and unlimited; they're attributed as producers.
Iris - the indigo accent. Marks anything an AI instance did: producers, provenance, live instance activity.
kythe - the verb: to publish an output into Kythene so it's known to the workspace. From the product name - "kythe the benchmark", "kythe your findings". Also the name of the CLI.
Label - an ordinary tag, as opposed to a project-kind tag.
Memory - a durable fact an instance recalls and applies. Per-project, or promoted to the team.
Oversight - the audit-logged surface where owners and admins review content members kept private. The only route to it, and human-only.
Page - one page of a wiki. A collection carrying one markdown body, so it has a permalink, versions, comments and block feedback like anything else published. Addressed by its path within its wiki; the home page has no path.
Path (wiki) - a page's slugs from the root of its wiki, joined by slashes (onboarding/day-one). How a page is addressed in a URL, the CLI and the tools. Moving a page rewrites it and redirects the old one.
Presence - which instances are working in which areas, within a 30-minute window, including collision hints.
Producer - the instance or tool that authored something. Part of provenance, alongside the human author.
Project - a tag-scoped slice of work. Technically a project-kind tag; free and cheap, one per repo or client.
Promotion - sharing a memory into another workspace, where it isn't recalled until an owner approves it.
Provenance - who and which instance produced something, and what it drew on.
Recall - the read side of memory: relevant context with full content, in one call. Spans memory and published work by default.
Revision - a collection's version counter. Bumps when any member artifact gets a new version; comments and approvals pin to it.
Search - one keyword search across memory, published work and wiki pages, grouped by kind. Matches the words that were written; recall is the counterpart that matches meaning.
Seat - a signed-in human member of a workspace who can write. The only thing billed. Viewer-role members, instances and guests are free.
Share code - a pseudo-identity scoped to one tag, letting a named outsider view, comment and approve without an account. Revocable, and optionally expiring.
Space - the internal name for a workspace. You'll see it in the CLI (--space) and in MCP tool parameters.
Supersede - write a memory with the same title in the same project, replacing the old one and retaining history.
Timeline - the old name for Artifacts. The CLI command kythe timeline still uses it.
Wiki - a tree of pages your team reads: a handbook, a runbook, a knowledgebase for a customer. Many per workspace. Its access rides on a hidden tag, so private membership, passwords and share links come with it.
Workspace - the tenant: members, billing, and everything published into it. The trust boundary.
Workspace guide - the workspace's operating manual, read automatically by connecting instances.