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Glossary

The product's terms, and the distinctions behind them. Several pairs are easy to conflate and OpsPilot treats them as genuinely different: air-gapped against private or VPN-only, a connection against a session, AI Providers against AI Assistants, a license key against a license file. Where a term has a page of its own, it is linked.

Air-gapped
No network route to the internet at all. OpsPilot is fully air-gapped only when the model runs locally and the license needs no network either: offline activation or a deployment license — see Offline with Ollama. With a cloud provider the workstation still reaches the internet, which is private or VPN-only, not air-gapped.
AI Assistant
An external application you already use — Claude Desktop, ChatGPT Desktop, ChatGPT Web, VS Code Copilot Chat — connected to OpsPilot over MCP. Model usage is covered by your Claude, ChatGPT or Copilot plan rather than an API key; using an assistant with OpsPilot needs an active OpsPilot free trial or subscription. See AI Assistants. Distinct from an AI Provider.
AI badge
The indicator next to each SSH and Local connection in the side list. It says whether AI is on for that connection — AI or AI off — or why the license keeps it off, such as AI off · trial limit or AI off · no subscription. A connection you turned AI off for is invisible to every model and every assistant. Clicking the badge turns AI on or off, except where it only gives a license reason. See Groups & environments.
AI Provider
A model backend you configure inside OpsPilot with an API key or a sign-in, driving OpsPilot's own AI panel. Ten ship. See AI Providers and the provider matrix. Distinct from an AI Assistant.
Approval gate
The human decision between a proposal and execution. It is the point every AI path converges on, whichever model or assistant produced the proposal. See Approvals & auto-run.
Auto-run
Running a proposed command without an approval click. It is set per Command Safety profile with Run commands without asking me: Ask me every time (how every profile ships), Only read-only commands, or Everything except dangerous ones. A dangerous command always needs a click. See Approvals & auto-run.
Command Safety profile
A named policy holding dangerous patterns and three rules: what may run without a click, what counts as a dangerous command, and whether a dangerous command needs a typed reason. Resolves connection → group → Default, and replaces rather than extends. See Command Safety profiles.
Connection
A saved definition of something to connect to — type, host, credentials, environment, group and AI scope. Creating one does not open anything. The open thing is a session. See Add a connection.
Dangerous pattern
A plain-text, case-insensitive substring that forces a proposed command to the High risk tier. Deliberately not a regular expression. A match can only add the dangerous classification, never remove one. See Dangerous patterns.
Data Handling profile
A named redaction policy: which of the eleven built-in categories are on, plus your own regular expressions. Resolves connection → group → Default. See Data Handling profiles.
Deployment license
One organisation-wide license file, approved by NubeStack and installed by IT in the managed folder, for sites where nothing may leave. It is not tied to one computer and needs no network. See Licensing for IT.
Detached session
A session moved into its own window, so a terminal can sit on a second monitor while the AI panel stays on the first. It is the same session as its tab. Some main-window features do not follow it. See Sessions & tabs.
Device code
Six characters such as R59-EFG that tell computers apart. Settings → License shows it, and the NubeStack portal shows the same code next to the same computer, so the right one is released when several have the same name. It licenses nothing.
Environment
A colour-coded tag such as production or staging, used for visual separation and as a unit for scoping policy. production and staging are seeded on a new install. See Groups & environments.
Execution boundary
The architectural property that the AI has no execution capability — its only output channel is a proposal. Not a setting; the product reports it as Always enforced. See Execution boundary & risk tiers.
Free trial
15 days from the first launch, with no account and no email: your first 10 saved connections, up to 10 sessions open at once, and AI on 2 connections at a time that you choose. Afterwards, without a subscription, the terminal keeps working with the same limits and AI off. See Free trial and limits.
Group
A folder of connections that can carry policy. Assigning a Command Safety or Data Handling profile to a group applies it to everything inside, which makes groups the efficient place to set policy.
Hypervisor console
A VNC connection attached to a virtual machine's console through its hypervisor — KVM/libvirt over SSH and virsh, or OpenStack Nova over Keystone and Nova — rather than to a VNC server inside the guest. What you need when a machine will not boot or has no SSH. See Hypervisor consoles.
License file
A .opslic file signed by NubeStack and imported with Import license file in Settings → License: an offline license for one computer, a renewed file, or a deployment license. Importing it needs no network.
License key
The OPSP-… key for one user's seat, used for online activation on up to 2 devices. OpsPilot sends it once, when activating, and does not store it. IT can set it in policy.json. A key that appears in a terminal is redacted before anything reaches a model.
Locked connection
A saved connection beyond your first 10 during the free trial or without a subscription. It stays in the side list, greyed out with a lock, and keeps everything about it; it opens again after you subscribe, or when deleting one of the first 10 lets it in.
Managed folder
The machine-wide folder IT controls — %ProgramData%\NubeStack\OpsPilot\ on Windows — holding policy.json and license files that apply to every user of the machine. See Licensing for IT.
MCP
Model Context Protocol, the standard external assistants use to reach tools. OpsPilot exposes itself as an MCP server bound to 127.0.0.1 only. See MCP tools.
Offline activation
Licensing a computer with no network: Settings → License shows a request code, which is entered in the NubeStack portal, and the license file that comes back is imported. Nothing on that computer touches the network. See Activate OpsPilot.
Private / VPN-only
The deployment most regulated teams actually need: the targets are isolated, and the OpsPilot workstation reaches both them and a cloud AI. Not air-gapped — keep the two apart when describing what a deployment achieves.
Profile precedence
The order in which a profile is resolved for a session: the connection's own, then its group's, then Default. Because profiles replace rather than extend, a more specific profile can be less strict than Default.
Proposal
A command the AI suggests. It has not run, and it runs only when a person approves it or a rule that person set in a Command Safety profile allows it. Never describe a proposal as something the AI did.
Redaction
The local removal of secrets from text before it reaches any AI, replacing each match with a typed placeholder. Every route to a model passes through it first. See What gets sent.
Redaction badge
The 🔒 indicator, with a count, on any turn where something was scrubbed; hovering it names the categories. Hiding the badge hides the indicator only — redaction still happens.
Request code
The short code Settings → License shows under Activate offline. Entered in the NubeStack portal, it returns a license file for this computer. It is not secret.
Risk tier
One of three classifications for a proposed command: Read-only, Low risk or High risk. Determined by the model's own assessment combined with your pattern list, where, under the default The AI's warning and my list, the list can only make the tier stricter. A profile set to Only my list uses the list alone.
Secure tunnel
The outbound connection that lets browser and mobile ChatGPT reach OpsPilot. It forwards only to a validated loopback address with a token, opens no public listener, and needs an active trial or subscription. See Remote & mobile operation.
Session
An open connection — a terminal, an embedded desktop or a file browser, in a tab. Sessions are what the AI can see, what proposals target and what profiles resolve against. Distinct from a connection.
Session limit
How many sessions can be open at once: 10 in the free trial, without a subscription and while a paid license has a problem; no limit with a subscription. Tabs of every kind count, and so do programs OpsPilot starts in their own window. Licensing never closes an open session.

See also