Reference
Arcane OS glossary
Plain-language definitions for Arcane applications, Core, Shell, Provisioner, capabilities, lifecycle labels, hosts, policy, and platform boundaries.
Arcane application
An interface and workflow composed from shared Arcane runtime capabilities. In Arcane OS it may use explicitly granted native capabilities; in a standard browser package it has no implicit native authority.
Arcane Core
The packaged runtime and capability broker between an Arcane application and a native host. Applications call typed Arcane APIs rather than invoking privileged system tools directly.
Arcane Provisioner
The system surface for installation, repair, and account-management work. Machine-changing operations use the operating system's required administrator authorization.
Arcane Shell
The user-facing Arcane OS shell that reports the current host identity and presents the application catalog supplied by the current host. It is not a separate username-and-password service.
Capability
A declared, typed operation with defined inputs, outputs, host support, and failure behavior. The host owns any operating-system permission required to perform it.
Development-only
The current lifecycle. There is no staging or production environment, public release, or production deployment claim. Development artifacts use synthetic or disposable data.
Development-signed
Signed by a local contributor identity when the Microsoft NT development platform requires it. It is not a production publisher claim.
GitHub Pages site
The public, static Arcane OS documentation artifact. It contains the published documentation catalog and has no native Arcane bridge, repository authority, account management, shell, or hidden AI credential.
Intent
A person's goal expressed separately from a particular application or sequence of clicks. Arcane's product direction is to interpret intent and select available capabilities and context while preserving the person's goal and visible human accountability.
Microsoft NT
The repository's platform-neutral name for the Microsoft Windows NT family used by the primary native development host.
Native host
The platform-specific process that renders Arcane interfaces and connects application API requests to Arcane Core and operating-system adapters.
Published contents
The explicit files, applications, and documents selected for a package or public site. Private material and credentials remain outside public artifacts.
Pre-RC
An informal way to say the project has not entered release-candidate acceptance. It must not be read as “nearly production” or as a release schedule.
Renderer
The web-content engine used for Arcane interfaces, such as Microsoft Edge WebView2 or WebKitGTK. Renderer content is not treated as native authorization.
Scoped storage
Data storage addressed through the user, application, machine, or organization namespace owned by the current host or storage provider.
System Platform
The replaceable underlying operating-system boundary that owns low-level services such as drivers, accounts, access controls, processes, sessions, and hardware access. Current development hosts target Microsoft NT and Linux; Android work is experimental.
TWiN Compass
Arcane's product-direction term for moral, ethical, safety, and governance guidance. It does not itself implement enforcement, grant authority, or substitute model advice for a user's instruction or a platform requirement.
Unsigned-local
A development artifact intentionally limited to explicit local use without a production publisher signature. Current Linux builds use this label.