AI Agents, Bots & Coding Glossary

Plain-English definitions for AI assistants, agents, automation, and building with code.

Understand the words behind AI that chats, remembers, uses tools, and gets work done. Explore practical definitions for Grok Bot, dots in ChatGPT, Meta’s Muse, and related assistants, plus the coding words you meet when a bot builds something with you.

146 published terms. Pick a word, read the short meaning, then open the page for the example and the sources.

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Commonly confused

AI agent ↔ Chatbot
An AI agent is a system that uses an AI model to choose actions toward a goal, use the tools it has been given, and respond to the results. A chatbot is software that communicates through conversation, from scripted replies to AI assistance and actions.
Skill ↔ Routine
A skill explains how. A routine says when.
Application programming interface ↔ Model Context Protocol
An application programming interface, or API, is a defined way for software to request data or actions from other software. Model Context Protocol is an open standard that lets AI applications connect to external tools and information through compatible servers.

More distinctions

Frontend ↔ Backend
The frontend is the part of an application that people see and use, usually in a browser or on a device. The backend is the part of an application that handles work such as data, account checks, and storage behind the interface.
Authentication ↔ Authorization
Authentication checks that a person, application, or service is the identity it claims to be. Authorization decides what an identified user or system is allowed to access or do.
Conversation history ↔ Memory
Conversation history is the record of earlier messages, and in some products tool activity, that an app saves so you can reopen or search it. Memory is information an AI application saves so it can use it in later interactions, such as selected preferences, project facts, or summaries.
Retrieval ↔ Retrieval-augmented generation
Retrieval is finding and returning information relevant to a request from stored or connected material, so an AI app can use it as context. Retrieval-augmented generation, or RAG, finds relevant source material and gives it to an AI model before the model writes its answer.
AI assistant ↔ AI agent
An AI assistant helps people with information or work, such as explaining, writing, planning, or completing tasks. Some only talk; others can use tools and act. An AI agent is a system that uses an AI model to choose actions toward a goal, use the tools it has been given, and respond to the results.
Git ↔ GitHub
Git is the version-control tool. GitHub is a different hosting site.