--- title: Glossary description: Lookout's own terms, each with a short definition and a link to its page. canonical_url: https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/glossary type: reference section: Reference last_updated: 2026-10-20 related: - https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs - https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/errors --- > Every page of these docs: https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/llms.txt # Glossary Lookout's own terms, each with a short definition and a link to its page. Lookout's own words, in alphabetical order, each with the page that covers it. ## Account Your Lookout account: your profile, your devices, and the provider sign-ins they share. [Account and devices](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/account) ## Agent The model at work in a chat, with Lookout's tools: it reads and edits files, runs commands and reports back. An agent is also a named one you create in the sidebar's **Agents** group, with its own folder, memory and instructions. [Agents](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/agents) ## Background task A subagent the agent doesn't wait for: it runs while the agent keeps working, and its report reaches the agent when it finishes. [Subagents](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/subagents#kinds) ## Chat A conversation with the agent in one project. It keeps every message, tool call and checkpoint. [Chats and projects](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/chats) ## Checkpoint The record of a chat's folder Lookout takes before every turn, so you can see what changed and put files back. [Checkpoints and changes](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/checkpoints) ## Compaction How Lookout keeps a long chat within the model's context: it clears tool output the agent has read, then summarizes older turns. [Context and compaction](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/context#compaction) ## Connector An MCP server whose tools the agent can call, run as a local command or reached at a remote URL. [Connectors and skills](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/connectors-and-skills#add-connector) ## Context What the model reads for a turn: the chat so far, rules, memory, what you mention or attach, and tool results. Each model has its own limit. [Context and compaction](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/context) ## Device A Mac or a server added to your Lookout account. **Settings › Devices** lists them. [Account and devices](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/account#add-mac) ## Effort How long the model reasons before it answers, from None to Max. Each model offers its own range. [Models and providers](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/models#effort) ## Machine A Lookout on your account that runs chats: the Mac app on a Mac, or the `lookout` command on a server or another computer. From any machine you can start chats on the others. [Machines](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/machines) ## Memory What Lookout keeps between chats: your preferences everywhere, facts about each project, and each agent's own notes. [Memory](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/memory) ## Mode What a chat is for, as an instruction the agent follows: **Agent** or **Ask**. **Multitask** is an option of Agent mode. [Modes](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/modes) ## Plan A provider's plan is what a model runs on: a subscription whose limits reset on a schedule, or a prepaid balance ([Accounts and usage](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/usage#meters)). ## Plugin A folder that bundles skills and connectors. [Connectors and skills](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/connectors-and-skills#plugin) ## Project A folder the agent works in, with any extra folders you add. Every chat belongs to one project. [Chats and projects](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/chats#start) ## Provider A service whose models Lookout runs, connected once in **Settings › Providers**: most with a sign-in to your plan, a free tier with none. Its models then appear in every chat's model menu. [Models and providers](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/models#connect) ## Queue Messages you send while the agent works wait in the queue, and run one per turn, in order. [Send while the agent works](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/chats#queue) ## Recovery Key The key that, with your password, adds a device to your account when none of your devices is at hand. [Account and devices](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/account#recovery-key) ## Round One request to the model and the tool calls it makes in answer. A turn is one or more rounds, up to 512. [Error reference](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/errors#round-limit) ## Routing How requests spread across two or more accounts of one provider: **One account**, **Failover** or **Balance**. An account **Excluded** from the pool takes no request Failover or Balance would move to it. [Accounts and usage](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/usage#routing) ## Rules Markdown files in a project, such as `AGENTS.md`, that tell the agent how to work there. A chat reads them from each of the project's folders, and an edit reaches it at its next step. [Rules](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/rules) ## Skill A playbook in a `SKILL.md` file. The agent sees each skill's one-line description and reads the file when a task fits it. [Connectors and skills](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/connectors-and-skills#use-skill) ## Steer A message the agent reads at its next step, without stopping its turn. [Send while the agent works](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/chats#queue) ## Subagent A second agent the agent starts for part of a task, waiting for it or not. It works from a brief with a fresh context, and reports back. [Subagents](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/subagents) ## Turn One run of the agent, from your message to its reply, with every tool call between. The line under it says how long it took, and how it ended when it didn't finish on its own. [How a turn ends](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/errors#turn-endings) ## Variant An option on the same model, such as Fast, that you turn on beside the model's name. [Models and providers](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/models#variant) ## Worktree A chat's own git branch in its own folder, so its edits never touch your checkout. You merge the work back when it's ready. [Worktrees](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/worktrees) ## Related - [Overview](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs.md): Lookout runs coding agents in your projects, on the model plans you sign in to, from a Mac app or a terminal. - [Error reference](https://lookout.itoowasinarcadia.com/docs/errors.md): The messages Lookout shows when something fails, what each one means and what to do.