Terminology
Terminology
A glossary for the current public Bolt Foundry and Gambit story.
Company and product names
Bolt Foundry
In public-facing materials, Bolt Foundry usually refers to the company behind
Gambit.
In repo history, Bolt Foundry can also refer to a broader product direction
around assigning, reviewing, and improving agent work. That broader product
story is still narrower and less public than the Gambit story, so public docs
should not treat it as a broadly launched product surface.
Gambit
Gambit is the open-source foundation and runtime for building trustworthy
agents.
Public docs should describe Gambit as the primary public-facing product story
today.
Agent-building terms
Agent
An agent is a structured unit of AI work with explicit instructions, inputs,
tools, and outputs.
Public-facing docs should prefer agent language by default.
Deck
Deck is an older repo term for a Gambit agent definition. You will still see
it in file names, code, and older posts.
When writing new public docs, prefer agent unless you are explaining legacy
repo compatibility.
Action
An action is a callable piece of work an agent can invoke during execution. It
usually handles a focused task such as retrieval, computation, or I/O.
Schema
A schema defines the shape of inputs or outputs so agent behavior stays typed,
inspectable, and easier to verify.
Execution and review terms
Runtime
The runtime is the execution layer that runs agent work.
Publicly, Gambit is the runtime foundation. Public docs should avoid implying
that Bolt Foundry and Gambit are the same layer.
Trace
A trace is the execution record of what happened during a run. It helps teams
inspect, debug, and verify agent behavior.
Verification
Verification is the process of checking whether an agent behaved the way you
intended. Depending on the workflow, that can include tests, review, traces,
comparisons, or other evidence.
Bolt Foundry direction terms
Project intent
A project intent is the explicit assignment that defines why work exists, what
success means, what constraints matter, and when to escalate.
This term is central to the broader Bolt Foundry product direction, but public
surfaces should use it carefully and avoid implying that the full Bolt Foundry
product loop is generally available today.
AAR
AAR stands for after action report. It is the structured record of what
happened during execution and what should be learned from it.
For external-facing copy, execution record or work report may be easier to
understand than the acronym.
Legacy terms
These terms may still appear in older posts, code, or compatibility surfaces:
deckas the primary public categoryagent harnessquality control layersystem of record- eval-only or grader-first language used as the whole public Bolt Foundry story
They reflect earlier framing, not the preferred current public terminology.
Last updated: March 11, 2026