OPERATIONAL GLOSSARY

Glossary

The 15 terms any AI operator needs to understand before starting. Direct definitions, no academic fluff.

CLI: Command Line Interface. The terminal. A text screen where you type commands directly to the computer, without buttons or menus. It's the most direct way to control a system.
Terminal: The program that gives you access to the CLI. On Mac it's Terminal or iTerm2. On Windows it's PowerShell or Windows Terminal. From here you launch tools, navigate folders, and run scripts.
VS Code: Visual Studio Code. The most widely used code editor in the world. Free and extensible. From here you'll write, edit, and review almost all of your projects. Claude Code runs inside it.
Git: Version control system. It records every change you make to your files with a message of what you changed and why. If something breaks, you can go back to any earlier point.
GitHub: Platform where you upload your Git repositories. It's the cloud for your code. It's used to save, collaborate, publish projects, and connect with tools like Cloudflare Pages or Vercel.
Commit: A save point with a message. Each commit is a snapshot of your project's state at that moment. "Added the glossary section." "Fixed the header bug." Use them often.
Repo: Repository. Your project folder with its entire change history. It can be local (on your computer) or remote (on GitHub). The two sync with git push and git pull.
API: Application Programming Interface. A gateway to an external tool or service. You send it a request and receive a response. That's how programs communicate with each other.
API Key: A unique password that identifies who is making the request to an API. Treat it like a bank password: don't share it, don't paste it in a chat, and never upload it to GitHub.
MCP: Model Context Protocol. A standard that lets Claude connect with external tools: file systems, GitHub, databases, browsers. It turns Claude from an assistant into an operator of real systems.
Claude Code: Anthropic's AI tool that runs in your terminal and your editor. It reads your project, writes code, runs commands, and works directly in your codebase. It's not a chatbot, it's a technical collaborator.
CLAUDE.md: An instructions file for Claude. It tells it what the project is, how it should work, what to do and what to avoid. It's the contract between you and your AI assistant. Without it, Claude works without context.
Deploy: Publishing a project so it's accessible on the internet. It turns local code into a real URL. For static projects, platforms like Cloudflare Pages, Vercel, or Netlify do it for free and in minutes.
Cloudflare Pages: A free hosting platform for static projects. You connect your GitHub repo, configure the build command, and every time you run git push, your site updates automatically.
Markdown: A lightweight text format that turns simple syntax into structured content. # is a heading. **text** is bold. - is a list. Use it for documentation, README, CLAUDE.md, and technical notes.