Glossary

Terse, alphabetical definitions of the terms you'll meet in Zeon. Each entry links to its detail page where relevant.

Active workflow / active world

The workflow and world the Workflow Editor preselects. Saved on the project's manifest as active_workflow and active_world. Read as defaults only. Opening a different workflow or world does not update them.

Anchor

A named frame on an object. Skills target anchors to know where to grab, dispense, or place. Every object has at least an anchor named object (its reference frame); plates have one per well, named for the well itself (A1 through H12); cold blocks have one per hole.

API token

A long-lived credential the CLI uses to sign in to Zeon. Prefixed zat_, which makes a leaked token spottable in logs and git history. Managed at https://zeonsystems.app/account/api-tokens. See API tokens.

Articulation

A named joint configuration on an object. Static objects have only default; movable ones (a centrifuge lid, a thermocycler lid) define additional articulations the robot can transition between. The default articulation must list every actuated joint in the object's URDF.

Branch

A line of commits on a project. For v1 every project has one branch, main. Storage and the server APIs already accept any ref name; the UI to create or switch branches isn't shipped.

Canvas

A custom React UI that collects a workflow's inputs before it runs. Stored as a .tsx file directly under the project's canvas/ folder; zeon new canvas names it <workflow_name>_screen.tsx by default. The workflow points at it through canvas_ui.source_ref, so the name need not match the workflow, but the file stem must be lowercase letters, digits, and underscores. See Creating a Canvas.

Cloud sim

Running a workflow against a simulated robot on your cloud instance, rather than against physical hardware. See Running a workflow in the cloud sim.

Commit

A snapshot of the project at a moment in time. How you make one depends on where you are: the main app commits automatically when a save succeeds, the Web IDE holds your edits in an unsaved buffer until you click Commit & Push, and the CLI needs an explicit zeon commit. See How sync works.

Diverged from cloud

The state where both your local copy and the cloud have new commits since they last agreed. The IDE shows a banner reading "Diverged from cloud"; the CLI's zeon pull writes git-style conflict markers. See Resolving "Diverged from cloud".

IDE

The Web IDE at https://ide.zeonsystems.app. A focused code editor for skills, workflows, worlds, canvases: anything file-based. See The Web IDE.

Identity service

The account UI at https://zeonsystems.app/account, backed by an API at https://zeonsystems.app/api/account. Handles sign-in, organizations, members, and API tokens.

Local install

An install of the Zeon platform on a machine attached to your physical robot. Lab machines arrive already set up.

Main app

The browser SPA at https://zeonsystems.app. Where you visually edit workflows and worlds and run them. See The main app.

Mesh database

The shared catalog of physical objects: plates, cold blocks, fixtures, instruments. Browsed in the IDE's mesh-database browser or the main app's Object Database screen. See The mesh database.

Object

A physical thing the robot interacts with. Pulled from the mesh database into your project at objects/<name>/, as a <name>.urdf plus a <name>.object_model.yaml. See Adding an Object and the YAML reference.

Organization (org)

A group of users. Every Zeon user belongs to exactly one org, with a role of either admin or member. Org admins can invite and manage users in their own org. See Organization members.

Part

A named group of URDF links on an object, the lid and rotor of a centrifuge, say. Optional; many objects define none.

Per-user instance

The cloud GPU instance allocated to you. One instance per user, with storage that persists across restarts. Always on by default. It is not started on sign-in and does not idle down on its own. Not user-managed.

Project

The unit of versioning. A folder containing your skills, workflows, worlds, objects, and a project.json manifest. See Key concepts.

Pull

The CLI operation that fetches new commits from the cloud and merges them into your local working tree. See zeon pull.

Push

The CLI operation that sends your local commits to the cloud. The IDE fuses commit and push into one Commit & Push action. See zeon push.

Real-hardware mode

Running against your physical robot, on a lab machine wired to one. Opposite of sim mode.

Sim mode

Running against a simulated robot in a virtual scene. Nothing physical moves.

Skill

A single robot action, written as a Python function. Lives at skills/<name>/. Its parameters come from the function signature, not from its metadata file. See Authoring a Skill.

Sync

The cloud-canonical version control that backs every Zeon project. Like git, but built into the platform. See How sync works.

Sync service

The cloud service at https://zeonsystems.app/sync that stores every project's commits, files, and refs. Consumed by the IDE and the CLI; not called by users directly.

Tag (skill)

A free-form label on a skill's metadata.yaml. Used to filter the skills list in Developer Tools, and available to code that queries the skill catalog. The workflow editor's skill picker searches by name, not by tag.

Viser viewport

The embedded 3D viewport that shows the world and the robot arms. It is created once and kept alive as you move between screens rather than reopened per run; reconnecting would replay the entire scene. Sim and real hardware are served by two separate viser servers, selected with a sim/real control. See The Viser 3D viewport.

Working tree

The materialized files on disk for a project. These are what you actually edit. Created by zeon clone or zeon new project. The CLI walks up from the current directory to find the enclosing working tree via the hidden .zeon/ directory.

Workflow

A visual graph that chains skills together into a multi-step protocol. Stored as JSON at workflows/<name>.json. See Authoring a Workflow.

World

A saved 3D scene: the table layout, the objects, and their placements. Workflows reference worlds at run time. Stored at worlds/<name>/world_state.json. See Building a World.

Zeon Systems

The platform, and the company that makes it.

zat_…

The prefix on every API token.