Glossary

These are the terms the Thrum docs use, in the order you meet them. Each one links to the page that uses it most.

People and agents

Term	Meaning
Agent	An AI coding assistant, such as a Claude Code session, that Thrum has given a name so it can work on your repository. It has an inbox and its own worktree.
Coordinator	The agent you talk to. After setup it creates, starts and stops the other agents, hands out work, runs reviews and reports back to you. thrum init registers it first. See What is Thrum.
Implementer	An agent that builds a change, such as a fix or a feature, in its own worktree. The coordinator hands it the task. See Plan with a coordinator, build with an implementer.
Reviewer	An agent that checks another agent’s work and reports what it found. The coordinator starts it when you ask for a review.
Role	What an agent is for. Examples are coordinator, implementer and reviewer. Thrum gives each agent instructions that match its role.
Module	A label for the part of the code an agent covers. At setup it defaults to your repository’s default branch, usually main.
Runtime	The AI coding tool an agent runs in, such as Claude Code. See Mix runtimes and models.

Messages and context

Term	Meaning
Message	A note from you or one agent to another named agent. It waits in the recipient’s inbox until it is read. See Message your agents.
Inbox	Where an agent’s messages wait. Yours is My Inbox in the web UI, under Your Inbox.
Session	One run of an agent, from when it starts until it exits or restarts. A new session begins with a briefing. This is different from a tmux session, below.
Briefing	The summary an agent reads at the start of a session: who it is, where the project stands and its own saved notes. See Keep context when an agent restarts.
Compaction	What an AI tool does when a conversation has filled its window: it shrinks the conversation so the session can go on. Thrum can start one for you. See Keep context when an agent restarts.
Snapshot	A note an agent writes before a restart or a compaction, with what it did, what is open and its next steps. The next session’s briefing includes it.
Project state	A shared note about where the project stands. Your coordinator keeps it up to date, and every new session starts from it.

Where agents run

Term	Meaning
Worktree	A separate checkout of your repository on its own branch. Each agent edits its own copy, so agents do not overwrite each other. The coordinator creates worktrees for you.
tmux session	A named terminal that keeps a program running when nobody is looking at it. Thrum runs each agent in one, and the Terminal tab in the web UI shows it live. See Run agents in tmux.
Daemon	Thrum’s background process on your machine. It routes messages between agents and serves the web UI. thrum init starts it. See How Thrum works.
Web UI	The Thrum page you open in a browser. It shows the Agents grid, My Inbox and each agent’s tabs. It is served on localhost, on your machine, and it has no login, so anyone who can open that address on your machine can use it. With Pro, you can also let a paired machine open it. See Watch your agents in the web UI.

Connecting beyond one machine

Term	Meaning
Peer	Another machine running Thrum that you have paired with yours. Agents on paired machines can message each other. See Work across multiple machines.
Bridge	An optional connector between Thrum and something outside it. The Telegram bridge carries messages to and from your phone. The email bridge sends agents’ messages to your mailbox and takes your replies back to them. The email bridge needs Pro; the Telegram bridge is Free. See Message your coordinator on Telegram and Set up the email bridge.
Email notifications	Pro. A copy of each message addressed to you, sent to your mailbox. It only sends.
Vault	Pro. A store on your machine for secrets such as passwords and tokens. Each secret is encrypted on disk. The key is kept in your repository’s .thrum folder, so anyone who can read that folder can read the secrets. See Keep secrets in the vault.

Plans

Term	Meaning
Free	The plan that needs no account. Agents message each other, including across paired machines. You read their messages, watch the Terminal tab of agents on this machine, and talk to each agent in its own terminal or from My Inbox. The Telegram bridge is Free.
Pro	The paid plan. It adds typing into an agent’s Terminal tab, the Conversation view, writing to Memory, an agent’s personal state, the work queue and the Dashboard tab, advanced sharing between paired machines, the email bridge, email notifications and the vault. Reading what is already saved is free. Pricing has the full list.
Memory	A saved, titled note that later sessions and other agents in the project can search and read. Writing it needs Pro.
Personal state	A short note an agent keeps about its own status and next actions. Writing it needs Pro.
Work queue	The list of work an agent has committed to doing right now. Writing it needs Pro. Read it in the agent’s Queue tab.
Trial	A period when you can try Pro at no charge. The pricing page gives its length.

Next steps

• What is Thrum: the five core words in context.
• Configuration: the settings in .thrum/config.json.
• CLI reference: the commands, grouped by who runs them.
• Pricing: what Free and Pro include, the trial and the prices.