Glossary
This page explains the words this manual uses, in alphabetical order.
Agent
An AI coding tool that runs in a terminal on the canvas, such as Claude Code or Codex. You choose a terminal’s agent under Runs in its right-click menu. See Add an agent.
Agent account
The account an agent signs in with. An agent uses this computer’s own sign-in unless you give it another account in Agent accounts…. See Roles, models and options.
Arrangement
A saved set of nodes and wires that you can add to any canvas again. Agents in it start fresh, and notes keep their text. See Arrangements.
Attention
What Cuewire knows about what each agent is doing: working, waiting for input, waiting for approval, done or failed. Cuewire learns it from the agent’s own reports or from its screen. See Know when an agent needs you.
Background service
The program that runs your terminals, cuewired. It keeps running when you close Cuewire, so
your agents keep working. See Workspaces and canvases.
Base
The layer that is your project folder itself. Every canvas starts in Base. See Projects and layers.
Canvas
The large surface where your nodes are. You pan and zoom it. A workspace can hold several canvases. See Move around the canvas.
Command palette
The list of every command in Cuewire. Press Ctrl+K to open it, then type to filter it. See
Commands.
Companion
A phone or a browser that you paired with Cuewire. It shows which agents need you, and you can answer them from it. See Your phone as a companion.
Concurrency cap
The most agents of one kind that may run at the same time. You set it in the usage panel, under At once (concurrency caps). See Usage and limits.
Connection
Another word for a wire.
cuewire command
The command agents use inside their terminals to hand each other tasks, read notes and use
portals. Cuewire teaches each agent how to use it. See cuewire CLI reference.
Draft
A terminal that has not started yet. In a new layer, every terminal starts as a draft. Right-click it and choose Start in this layer to run it.
File, file tree
A file tree is a node that lists your project’s files and their git status. A file node shows one file: its text or its changes. See Files and the editor.
Group
Nodes kept together. Select two or more nodes and press Ctrl+G. Drag the group’s tab to move
them all. See Terminals, notes and shapes.
Label
A node with a short title in large text. Use it to name an area of the canvas.
Layer
A separate copy of your project for one task. A layer is a git worktree with its own copy of the canvas, so agents in it can’t touch your main checkout. See Projects and layers.
Layer chip
The button at the top left of the canvas. It shows the layer you are in, and its menu lists the others.
Lock
A locked node can’t be moved, resized, renamed or deleted. Right-click a node and choose Lock or Unlock.
Needs you
An agent needs you when it waits for your answer or your approval. The Needs you list at the top right shows every such agent, most urgent first. See Know when an agent needs you.
Node
Anything on the canvas: a terminal, a note, a browser portal, a file tree, a file, a label, a rectangle or a text block. See Terminals, notes and shapes.
Note
A node with text that you and your agents share. Agents wired to a note can read it and change it.
Orchestrator
An agent that may change the canvas: add and remove agents, add notes and portals, and wire them. Turn it on in the agent’s right-click menu. See Roles, models and options.
Plan
The Cuewire plan of your account, for example Free plan or Pro plan. The account button in the sidebar shows it. See Plans, the free trial and pricing.
Portal
Short for browser portal: a node that shows a web page. Agents wired to it can use the page. See Browser portals.
Preset
The program a terminal runs: a plain shell, or one of the agents Cuewire knows. You choose it under Runs in the terminal’s right-click menu.
Project
A folder with your code. Each project you add becomes a workspace in the sidebar.
Prompt box
The box where you write a prompt for one or more agents. Select the agents and press
Ctrl+Enter. It is named after them, for example Prompt · Builder.
Rectangle
A coloured box on the canvas. Use it to mark an area.
Relay
The Cuewire server that passes messages between your computer and your companion. The messages are end-to-end encrypted, so the relay can’t read them.
Remote project
A project on another machine, reached over SSH or in WSL. Its agents run on that machine. See Remote projects.
Review
A check of the work in a layer. Review changes adds a reviewer agent, which may only read, and a review note for its findings. See Review your agents’ work.
Role
Instructions given to an agent when it starts. A role can also hold the agent to rules, such as read-only. Cuewire has two built-in roles, Builder and Reviewer. See Roles, models and options.
Sandbox
A container that an agent runs in. It sees only its layer’s files. A project sets it up in
.cuewire/layers.toml, and it needs Docker. See Sandboxes and safety.
Saved view
A place and a zoom level on a canvas, kept in a slot from 1 to 9. Ctrl+Alt+3 saves one, and
Alt+3 goes back to it.
Session
An agent’s conversation. Cuewire remembers each agent’s session, so the agent can pick it up again after a restart, if the agent supports that.
Settings sync
Keeps your agent accounts, roles, concurrency caps and arrangements the same on all your computers. Keys stay on each computer. See Settings sync.
Shell
A plain command line with no agent in it. Choose Terminal on the Start here card, or Shell under Runs.
Skill
A short guide an agent reads to learn a tool. Cuewire installs one named cuewire into your
agents’ settings, so they know how to use the cuewire command. See
Agents working together.
Skip permission prompts
An agent option. The agent acts without asking you first. Your organisation can allow it only inside a sandbox.
Start here
The card on an empty canvas. It helps you open a project, add an agent and connect agents.
Support file
A text file that Report a problem… makes. It helps someone find out what went wrong. You read all of it before you save it. See Troubleshooting.
Task
Work that one agent hands to another over a wire, with the cuewire command. The other agent
does the work and reports back. See Agents working together.
Terminal
A node that runs a real terminal, with a shell or an agent in it.
Text
A node with a block of smaller text.
Tidy up
A command that arranges your agents by who hands tasks to whom, with their notes and portals under them.
Toolbar
The row of tools at the bottom of the canvas: Select, Terminal, Note, Rectangle, Label and Text.
Usage chip
The button at the bottom left of the canvas. It shows how many tokens your agents used in the last 24 hours. Click it for more. See Usage and limits.
While you were away
A card that sums up what each agent did while you were gone. It shows when you come back after five minutes or more.
Wire
A line between two nodes that lets them work together. Two wired agents can hand each other tasks. An agent wired to a note can read and change it. An agent wired to a portal can use its page. See Agents working together.
Workspace
One project in the sidebar. It holds one or more canvases, which all work in the project’s folder. See Workspaces and canvases.
Worktree
A git feature: a second checkout of the same repository, in its own folder. Each layer is a worktree. See Projects and layers.