Glossary
Plain definitions of the terms used across Buni.ai and these docs, from Agent to Version.
A
Agent (human) — A member of your team who answers conversations in the Inbox after a bot hands them off. Not to be confused with the AI Agent node.
AI Agent — The node that answers with an AI model, optionally grounded in your knowledge base and able to call tools. See AI Agent.
Alias — The internal name of an environment: app for Draft and prod for Live. See Environments.
B
Buni — The AI assistant inside the app. It builds and changes flows from plain-language requests, answers questions about your project and writes project documentation. See AI assistant.
C
Canvas — The workspace where you build a flow by placing and connecting nodes. It is the first tab of every project. See The canvas.
Case — An issue raised on a conversation, tracked until it is resolved. Cases are listed on the Cases page. See Cases.
Channel — A way people reach a published project: a chat platform, the web chat widget, a USSD short code, a phone number, a webhook or a hosted form. See Channels.
Connection (canvas) — A line joining one node's output handle to another node's input. A run follows connections from node to node. Also called an edge. See Connections.
Connection (platform) — A saved link between your organization and an external account, such as a messaging platform or an app you signed in to. Not the same as a canvas connection.
Credential — A secret, such as an API key or a provider's account details, stored once on the Credentials page and used by nodes and channels without exposing its value in the flow. See Credentials.
CSAT — Customer satisfaction. A short rating a chatbot can ask for at the end of a conversation, configured in the project's Settings › CSAT tab. See CSAT.
D
Data store — A table your organization owns, with a schema you define, that flows read from and write to with the Data Store node. See Data stores.
Draft — The environment you edit and test. Saving updates Draft, and the simulators run it. Shown as Dev in the version badge and Draft on the Routes page. Its alias is app.
E
Edge — See Connection (canvas).
Environment — One of the two copies of a project that can run: Draft or Live. See Environments.
F
Flow — The set of nodes and connections that make up a project's logic.
Frame — A labelled box that groups selected nodes on the canvas so they move together. Press Cmd+G (macOS) or Ctrl+G (Windows and Linux) with nodes selected.
H
Handle — A connection point on a node. Nodes with more than one outcome, such as a menu option or a success and a failure path, have one output handle per outcome.
I
Intent — What a chatbot user is trying to do, recognised from their message by the Intent node. See Intent.
Invocation — One run of a project started through the public API. Each invocation has a status, its request and response payloads and a step-by-step trace. See Developers.
K
Knowledge base — Documents your organization uploads so AI Agent nodes can answer from them. See Knowledge base.
L
Live — The environment real users reach: the version you last published. Shown as Prod in the version badge and Live on the Routes page. Its alias is prod.
Loop closure — Whether a report someone raised was acted on and they were told the outcome. The Resolve node marks a report as resolved, which feeds loop-closure reporting. See Resolve.
N
Node — One step in a flow, such as sending a reply, asking a question, calling an API or branching. See the Node reference.
Nodes Library — The panel on the left of the canvas that lists every node available to the project's type. Drag a node onto the canvas, or double-click it, to add it.
O
Organization — Your workspace. It holds members, billing, credentials, data stores, the knowledge base, contacts and projects. See Organization.
P
Project — One app or workflow, of one type: Chatbot, USSD, Voice (IVR) or Automation. See Choose a project type.
Publish — Make the current flow Live. See Publishing.
R
Rollback — Restore a project to an earlier version from Version History. See Version history.
Route — A USSD short code or a phone number, linked to a project and pointed at its Draft or Live environment. All routes are listed on the Routes page. See Routes.
S
Session — One conversation, USSD session or call, from its first message to its end. State lives for the length of a session.
Simulator — The built-in test tool for a project's Draft version: a chat window, a phone emulator, a call simulator or a run panel, depending on the project type. Open it with Simulate (Run in automation projects). See Simulators.
State — The values a run has collected or computed so far, such as form answers and API responses. Later nodes read them with template variables. See Variables.
Sticky note — A free-text note placed on the canvas for collaborators. It does not affect how the flow runs. Press Shift+N, then click the canvas to place it.
T
Template (flow) — A ready-made flow you can start a project from. See Templates.
Template (WhatsApp) — A message format approved by WhatsApp for messages sent outside the 24-hour customer service window. A different thing from a flow template. See WhatsApp templates.
Trigger — The node where a run starts: the Trigger node in chatbot and automation projects, Form Trigger for hosted forms, and Incoming Call or Outbound Call in voice projects.
V
Variable — A reference to a value in state, written as {{state.name}}. The older form ${state.name} also works. See Variables.
Version — A saved snapshot of a project's flow for one environment. The badge at the top of the canvas shows the current version number for Draft and Live, such as Dev: 12 | Prod: 9. It is a version number, not a count of nodes. See Version history.