Glossary

A quick reference for the vocabulary the platform uses. This is what the words on screen actually mean.

Account

Your Autonomy Edge identity, including credentials, profile, and settings. One account per email.

ACU (AI Credit Unit)

The credit consumed by AI Engineer jobs. Two pools: monthly allowance and extra credits (never expire). See AI Credit Units.

Agent (Orchestrator Agent)

The Python+Docker daemon that runs on your edge device. Pairs with the cloud via mTLS WebSocket, manages vPLC containers locally. Installed via curl https://getedge.me | bash.

Audit log

A historical record of changes to an organization (membership, settings, billing). Visible on the org's History tab once the feature ships. See Org history.

Board

A forum category that groups related topics. See Forum overview.

Branch

A git branch within a project. Defaults to main. Used to develop changes in isolation before merging via a pull request.

Commit

A versioned snapshot of project files with a message, author, and timestamp. See Commits and history.

Community plan

The free tier. Limits: 1 orchestrator, 2 devices, 0 private projects. AI Chat included, AI Engineer not included. See Pricing.

Cycle time

How often the vPLC runtime executes the main program. Set at project creation. Default T#20ms. See Creating a project.

Device (vPLC device)

A virtual PLC container running on an orchestrator. Has a name, runtime version, NICs. See vPLC overview.

DHCP mode

NIC mode where the vPLC gets its IP from your network's DHCP server. Easy, no configuration. Counter-balance: IP can change. See Network modes.

Education plan

Paid plan for academic institutions. Per-seat pricing, allows same-domain (.edu) invites. See Pricing.

Enterprise plan

Custom-contract plan with unlimited orchestrators/devices and special terms. Contact sales.

Fork

A copy of a public project, made into a workspace you control. Edit freely, send PRs back. See Importing and forking.

IEC 61131-3

The international standard that defines five PLC programming languages: ST, LD, FBD, IL, SFC. Autonomy Edge currently supports ST, LD, FBD, and IL for new projects; SFC is available in the desktop OpenPLC Editor.

Invite link

A reusable URL that adds anyone who clicks it as an organization member. See Invite links.

MACVLAN

Docker networking driver that gives a container its own MAC and IP on the physical LAN. The mechanism behind vPLC networking, vPLCs appear as native devices to the rest of the network.

Notification

A platform-generated alert about an event (PR review request, @mention, plan limit). Both in-app (bell icon, /notifications) and optionally via email. See Notifications.

OpenPLC

The open-source PLC runtime project that Autonomy Edge is built around. Runs inside each vPLC.

Orchestrator

The cloud-side entity representing an edge device. Hosts vPLCs. See Orchestrator overview.

Organization

A shared workspace for teams. Has its own dashboard, projects, orchestrators, and billing, separate from your personal workspace. See Organizations overview.

Pinned project

A project you've marked as a personal favorite. Visible only to you, in the Pinned view of your projects list. See Pinning and stars.

POU (Program Organization Unit)

An IEC 61131-3 unit of code: a Program, a Function, or a Function Block. Lives in the editor.

Private project

A project visible only to invited people. Requires a paid plan to create. See Visibility and sharing.

Project

A git-versioned IEC 61131-3 codebase. The fundamental unit of work. See Projects overview.

Pro plan

Paid personal plan. 20 orchestrators, 100 devices, private projects, full AI Engineer. Recommended for solo professionals. See Pricing.

Public project

A project visible to anyone, including non-account-holders. Stars, forks, and PRs from any account.

Pull request (PR)

A proposed merge of one branch into another. Reviewable, commentable, mergeable. See Pull requests.

Role (org)

A member's level of access in an organization: Owner, Admin, or Member. See Members and roles.

Runtime user

A user account local to a single vPLC. Separate from your Autonomy Edge account. Created on first connect from the editor. See Connecting from the editor.

Star

A public "like" on a public project. Counted publicly. See Pinning and stars.

Static mode

NIC mode where you assign a fixed IP, mask, gateway, DNS. Predictable. Use for production. See Network modes.

Team

A sub-group within an organization. Teams scope project access and notifications. Teams plan and above. See Teams.

Teams plan

Paid collaborative plan. Adds Organizations with members, invitations, invite links, teams. Seat-priced.

Topic (forum)

A single conversation thread. Contains an original post and replies. Lives under a board.

Trash

A holding area for deleted projects. Items can be restored or permanently deleted. See Projects list → Trash.

vPLC

Virtual PLC. A Docker container running the OpenPLC runtime on an orchestrator. Behaves on the network like a standalone PLC. See vPLC overview.

Workspace

The unit of scoping for projects and orchestrators. Each user has a personal workspace; each organization is a workspace. Switch between them from the dashboard's Organizations card.

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