FirstMate is a local plugin host. It runs a person's own tools on their own machine and gives each one a process, a page and an address, so that no tool has to build a runtime of its own.
Host: The single long-running FirstMate process. It supervises Plugins, serves their pages, and owns the address they are reached at. Avoid: orchestrator, daemon, server, runtime, engine
Index Page: The Host's own page. It lists every Plugin, its state, and a link to each Plugin Page. Avoid: dashboard, home, shell
Registry: The Host's record of which Plugins exist, where their directories are, and what Grants they hold. Avoid: manifest, catalogue, config, lockfile
Shelf: The directory a fetched Plugin lands in. The operator chooses it, the Host remembers it in its settings file, and nothing ever scans it. Avoid: store, library, vendor directory, plugins folder
Tray: The Windows program that holds FirstMate's notification-area icon and shows the Index Page and Plugin Pages in a window of its own. Avoid: systray, notification icon, menu bar
Shortcut: A key combination the Tray holds for all of Windows, bound from a terminal to one address of one Plugin. Pressing it opens that address in a Popup. Avoid: hotkey, keybinding, accelerator, bind
Popup: The small window with no frame that a Shortcut opens, on top of every other window. It is not the FirstMate window, and it hides when it loses focus or when its page leaves its own address. Avoid: quick window, overlay, modal, dialog
Notice: A short message the Tray shows in a Windows pop-up, sent by a Plugin Server or by the Host itself. It names who sent it, and a click opens the sender's address. It has no severity: good news and bad news are both Notices. Avoid: notification, warning, alert, toast
Plugin: A directory the Host runs and serves. It may hold a Plugin Page and a Plugin Server, and nothing else is asked of it. Avoid: extension, addon, module, integration, app
Official Plugin: A Plugin the FirstMate project itself offers, known to FirstMate by name and address before it is fetched. It is not in the Registry until it is installed, and once installed it is a Plugin like any other. Avoid: catalogue, marketplace, store, featured, recommended
Plugin Name: The name a Plugin is given when it enters the Registry. It identifies the Plugin in every address. Avoid: id, slug, key
Plugin Page: The web interface a Plugin ships and owns. The Host serves it and never reaches inside it. Avoid: view, board, dashboard, UI, frontend
Plugin Server: The MCP server a Plugin ships. Its tools are everything the Plugin can do. Avoid: backend, worker, daemon, adapter
Stopped: The state of a Plugin whose Plugin Server is no longer running. Avoid: crashed, failed, dead, unhealthy
Tool Bus: The Host in its role of carrying a call from one Plugin to another Plugin's tools. Avoid: broker, router, event bus, IPC
Grant: Permission for one named Plugin to call another named Plugin's tools. A Grant covers one pair. Avoid: permission, scope, capability, ACL
Sampling: A Plugin asking the Host for a model completion instead of holding a model key of its own. Avoid: inference, completion, LLM call, AI call