Glossary
The words the other pages use, in alphabetical order. Each one links to the page that explains it.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Access token | A key that lets a tool or a script act as you through the API, the CLI or MCP, limited to what you allow. You create one on the Developers page of the workspace settings. See Developers |
| Agent | Playcode's AI that builds and changes your project from your messages in the chat. Its product name is Playcode AI. See How building with the agent works |
| AI Gateway | Playcode AI Gateway gives the features of your own app access to AI models, and bills the workspace's credits. It is separate from the agent that builds the app. See Add AI to your app |
| Always on | A setting of a Cloud app: its production computer never goes to sleep |
| Archive | Where a project goes when you archive it. Open Archive at the bottom of the left panel to restore it |
| Auto-recharge | An option that buys credits with the workspace's saved card when the balance falls below a level you set. See Top-ups and auto-recharge |
| Background task | Work the agent hands to a helper that runs in its own chat. A task pauses when it has spent its task budget |
| Balance | The credits a workspace has left to spend |
| Browser project | A project whose preview runs in your browser and that publishes as a static site. These docs and the agent call it a static site. See Browser and Cloud projects |
| Build plan | In a Cloud app, the agent's written plan for a request with two or more parts. The chat shows it as Your plan, and building starts when you choose Build |
| Build quality | Economy, Standard or Ultra: how much the agent spends on a task. The Free plan has Economy only. See Models and modes |
| Checkpoint | A saved point of a project that you can restore from Checkpoint history… in the project menu. In a Cloud app, a checkpoint holds one computer's code, installed packages, database and files. See Undo and checkpoints |
| CLI | The Playcode command-line tool, playcode. Install it with npm i -g @playcode/cli. See The Playcode CLI |
| Cloud app | A project with its own computers on Playcode Cloud: a backend, a database, stored files and background work. It publishes on playcode.run and needs a Pro or Max plan. The agent calls it a full-stack app. See Run a Cloud app |
| Credit | The unit Playcode charges in: for the agent's work, generated media, Cloud computers, your app's AI requests, and your app's email past the included amount. Plans price credits at 4 credits per dollar. See Credits and balance |
| Custom domain | A domain you own or buy, like example.com, that opens your project instead of the free Playcode address. It needs a Pro or Max plan. See Connect a domain you own |
| Development computer | In a Cloud app, the computer where you and the agent build. It runs the preview and the terminal |
| DNS record | A setting at a domain's DNS provider that says where a name points, or what it proves. See DNS records |
| Free address | The address every published project gets for free: on playcode.site for a static site, on playcode.run for a Cloud app. See Your Playcode address |
| MCP | Model Context Protocol. It lets coding agents like Claude Code and Cursor work with Playcode, through playcode mcp on your computer or Playcode's hosted server. See Developers |
| Model | The AI model behind a build quality level. Each level has a default model, and you can pick another one. See Models and modes |
| Nameservers | The servers that answer for all of a domain's DNS records. Moving them to Playcode lets Playcode run the domain's records for you |
| Plan | Free, Pro or Max. A plan belongs to a workspace, decides what it can do and adds credits each month. See Plans and credits on one page |
| Playcode Classic | The free code playgrounds and compilers, where you write and run code yourself. See Playcode Classic |
| Preview | The live view of your project beside the chat while you build. Visitors see the published version, not the preview |
| Production computer | In a Cloud app, the computer that serves the published app. The first publish creates it |
| Project | One website or app, with its files, chats and settings. A project belongs to a workspace |
| Publish | Put the current version of a project on the internet. Visitors see the version you published last. See Publish a website |
| SDK | @playcode/sdk, the package your code uses to send email and run any Playcode operation. AI in your app goes through Playcode AI Gateway instead. See The Playcode SDK |
| Secret | A key or a setting that a Cloud app needs, kept out of the code in Settings, Secrets. Development and production have separate sets. See Secrets and environment |
| Sleep | A Cloud computer that nobody uses goes to sleep and runs nothing. A visitor wakes the production computer |
| Snapshot | Another word for a checkpoint of a Cloud app's computer. See Snapshots and rollback |
| Static site | See browser project |
| Top-up | Credits you buy once, apart from the plan. They last 12 months from your latest purchase |
| Workspace | Holds projects, members, the plan and the credits. Every account has a personal workspace; a team workspace has its own projects, people and billing. See Workspaces, members and roles |