Glossary

Accomplice — The AI that works with you inside Mandala, defined by you. Your accomplice

Action — The only way a record changes: typed arguments, validation, then changes to the state. DHL concepts

Agent — An identity run by a person or organisation, such as your accomplice. Its grants never exceed its runner's.

Approval — A card showing exactly what an action will do, waiting for your decision by tap, notification or words. Approvals

Artifact — A compiled contract (schema + Wasm), identified by its hash. What actually runs.

Back office — The Data page and boards generated from contracts.

Conflict — A change from another device that no longer applies after merging; kept for you to settle. Sync and conflicts

Constitution — The text that tells your accomplice who it is and how it works. Meet your accomplice

Contract — A DHL file describing one kind of record, its actions and queries. DHL concepts

Delegation — A signed grant to act for another identity, with a scope and an optional end. Delegation

Device key — Each node's own key; signs its changes and identifies it on the mesh.

DHL — The language of contracts. DHLQ — its query language. DHL language reference, DHLQ query reference

Dharma — The part of the engine that compiles and runs contracts and checks authority.

Docs — The vault holding this manual, shipped with each release. The Docs vault

Durability class — When a contract's writes are acknowledged: confirmed, grouped or buffered. Durability classes

Exchange — Signed documents sent directly between identities' nodes. Exchange between businesses

Exchange key — The key an identity signs exchanged documents with.

Goethe — Mandala's typed Markdown document system: vaults, types, views, tasks, links. Knowledge

Home — The node where your identity lives, always reachable; other devices join it.

Identity — A person, organisation, space or agent: a key and a record of who it is. Identities

Initiative — A piece of work your accomplice proposes towards one of your goals. Goals, initiatives and reflection

Intent — A signed change in a node's log, exchanged with your other nodes when syncing.

Jev — A risk and classification model hosted by TypeSafe, used optionally for approval by words, the risk check, smart boxes and routing.

Karma — The engine's storage, keeping accepted state durably and maintaining query projections.

Merge rule — How concurrent changes to a contract's records merge: commutes, last_writer, exclusive. Merge rules for sync

Node — One running Mandala with its data directory.

Organisation — A legal identity you own, such as a company.

Record — One instance of a contract (one invoice, one list), with its signed history. Also called a subject.

Root key — The authority that certifies which devices are yours: a paper key, security keys, trustees. Keys and recovery

Passkey — The key your device keeps for your account, unlocked by Face ID, Touch ID or Windows Hello. It signs you in and is one of your root authorities.

Seal — A drawing made from an identity's key, the same on every device, used to recognise it (Settings → Security).

Session — A signed-in browser or device, listed in Settings → Security.

Step-up — A fresh Face ID asked before a sensitive act (keys, people, money, autonomy, computer use, secrets).

Shadow mode — Your accomplice reflects and proposes but works on nothing. Goals, initiatives and reflection

Space — A shared, non-legal identity, such as a household.

Standing rule — An instruction your accomplice always follows. Memory and rules

Tenant — The identity whose records a contract's records belong to.

UI file — A file beside a contract that gives its records and actions labels, formats, forms and refusal sentences. UI files

Vault — A folder of Goethe documents with its types and views.

Workbench — Where you write, try and install contracts. The Workbench

Workload — A kind of work routed to a model: conversation, triage, follow-ups, sensitive, simple, complex. Models and workload routing