Glossary · 100 terms

The AI automation glossary

Plain-English definitions of the terms you'll encounter building or buying AI automation. Each one is a definition, more detail, and links to related terms. Click any entry for the full breakdown.

Core concepts

AI agentAn AI agent is software that perceives its environment, decides an action, and executes it — autonomously or w…AI automationAI automation combines workflow orchestration (Zapier / Make / n8n) with AI judgement (LLMs for classification…Workflow automationWorkflow automation chains tools together so events in one system trigger actions in another — without human g…Agent orchestrationAgent orchestration is the design of how multiple AI agents coordinate to handle complex workflows — passing t…Human-in-the-loopHuman-in-the-loop (HITL) is the design pattern where AI produces a draft + a human reviews + approves before a…AI safetyAI safety is the discipline of preventing AI systems from causing harm — through deception, misuse, hallucinat…

Technology

Large Language Model (LLM)A large language model is a neural network trained on vast text data that can generate human-like text, answer…Claude (Anthropic)Claude is Anthropic's family of frontier LLMs. As of 2026, the production model is Claude 4.5 Sonnet — known f…Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)RAG is the pattern of giving an LLM access to your own data at runtime — fetching relevant context from a vect…Vector databaseA vector database stores text-as-embeddings (high-dimensional numeric arrays representing meaning) and support…Prompt engineeringPrompt engineering is the discipline of designing inputs to LLMs that produce reliable, high-quality outputs. …Tool use (function calling)Tool use (a.k.a. function calling) is the LLM's ability to invoke external functions during generation — e.g. …EmbeddingsEmbeddings are numeric vectors (typically 768-1536 dimensions) that represent the semantic meaning of text. Tw…System promptA system prompt is the initial set of instructions given to an LLM that defines its role, constraints, and beh…Few-shot promptingFew-shot prompting includes 2-5 input/output examples in the prompt so the LLM learns the pattern by demonstra…TokenA token is the unit of text an LLM processes — roughly 0.75 words in English. 'Aiprosol' is 1 token; 'aiprosol…Context windowThe context window is the maximum number of tokens an LLM can process in a single request — the combined syste…Fine-tuningFine-tuning is training a base LLM on your domain-specific data so it performs better on your tasks without lo…HallucinationHallucination is when an LLM confidently outputs false information — fabricated citations, made-up statistics,…JSON modeJSON mode is a parameter that forces an LLM to return valid JSON matching a specified schema. Eliminates the '…StreamingStreaming is the LLM API pattern of sending tokens to the client as they're generated, instead of waiting for …Multi-tenancyMulti-tenancy is a SaaS architecture where one codebase + database serves many isolated customer accounts. Ten…Zero-Data-Retention (ZDR)Zero-Data-Retention is an enterprise LLM tier where the vendor commits to not retaining your prompts or respon…Prompt injectionPrompt injection is the attack where malicious input data tricks an LLM into ignoring its system prompt and fo…Tool calling reliabilityTool calling reliability is the consistency with which an LLM correctly invokes external functions with valid …Canonical URLA canonical URL is the preferred version of a page when duplicate or near-duplicate versions exist (e.g. with/…Semantic HTMLSemantic HTML uses element names that describe content meaning rather than visual styling — <article>, <nav>, …

Tools

n8nn8n is an open-source workflow automation tool (fair-code licensed) similar to Zapier and Make, but self-hosta…ZapierZapier is the largest workflow automation platform (5,000+ app integrations). Workflows are called 'Zaps' — a …Make (formerly Integromat)Make.com is a visual workflow automation platform — Zapier's main competitor. Strongest at branching, iteratin…GroqGroq is an LLM inference provider offering ultra-low-latency (~200ms first-token) on open-source models (Llama…

Business

ROI of AI automationReturn on investment for AI automation = (weekly hours reclaimed × fully-loaded hourly cost × annual weeks) ÷ …Hours reclaimedHours reclaimed = weekly time a person used to spend on manual work that's now automated. Measured BEFORE and …Managed planA managed plan is an ongoing service where Aiprosol designs, builds, AND operates your AI automation systems —…Automation auditAn automation audit is the 60-90 minute discovery process of mapping a business's recurring manual work, scori…MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue)MRR = predictable monthly revenue from subscriptions. The key SaaS metric. New MRR = new subs this month × ARP…Churn rateChurn = % of customers (or MRR) you lose in a given period. Logo churn = customer-count basis. Revenue churn =…Net Dollar Retention (NDR)Net Dollar Retention (NDR) = (starting MRR + expansion − contraction − churn) / starting MRR × 100. Measures r…CSAT (Customer Satisfaction)CSAT is the % of customers who rate their experience as 'satisfied' or 'very satisfied' after an interaction —…NPS (Net Promoter Score)NPS is a 0-100 scoring system measuring customer loyalty. Calculation: % of customers rating 9-10 (Promoters) …Compliance postureCompliance posture is your organisation's overall regulatory readiness — controls in place, audits passed, cer…GDPRGDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) is the EU's privacy framework — consent for processing, right to del…CCPACCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act) is California's privacy framework. Similar in spirit to GDPR — right to…SOC 2SOC 2 is the security audit framework most B2B SaaS customers require. Five trust criteria: Security, Availabi…ISO 27001ISO 27001 is the international information security management standard. More documentation-heavy than SOC 2. …Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA)A PIA (sometimes DPIA — Data Protection Impact Assessment) is a structured analysis of how a project handles p…Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)CAC is the total cost of acquiring one new paying customer — paid ads + content + sales rep time + tooling, di…Lifetime Value (LTV)LTV is the total revenue from a customer over their entire relationship. Calculation for subscriptions: ARPU ×…Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR)ARR is the annualised value of all active recurring contracts. ARR = MRR × 12 for monthly subscriptions. The h…Churn cohortA churn cohort is the group of customers that signed up in the same month (or quarter), tracked over time to m…RetentionRetention is the % of customers (or revenue) you keep over a defined period. Inverse of churn. Two flavours: l…

Sales

Lead scoringLead scoring assigns a 0-100 score to each inbound lead based on fit + intent + engagement + urgency. High-sco…Sub-3-minute response timeResponding to inbound leads within 3 minutes yields 21x more qualifications than responding within 30 minutes.…Lead nurture sequenceA lead nurture sequence is a multi-touch email cadence that warms inbound leads who didn't convert immediately…Cold outreachCold outreach is reaching prospects who haven't requested contact. Done well it drives 6-12% reply rates; done…Lead routingLead routing is the rule-based or AI-augmented decision tree that determines which sales rep, which queue, or …CRMCustomer Relationship Management system — the database of every prospect, customer, deal, and interaction. Aip…MRR expansionMRR expansion is increasing recurring revenue from existing customers — upgrades, add-ons, seat expansion. Hea…ICP (Ideal Customer Profile)ICP is the named segment of customers your product serves best — defined by industry, size, revenue, role, geo…PQL (Product-Qualified Lead)PQL is a lead that's shown product behaviour indicating buying intent — used a key feature, hit a paywall, inv…Drip campaignA drip campaign is an automated multi-touch email sequence — 3-12 emails sent over days or weeks. Most common …Sales SLASales SLA (Service Level Agreement) is the internal commitment to respond to inbound leads within a set time —…Annual Contract Value (ACV)ACV is the annualised revenue from a single contract. For monthly subscriptions: ACV = monthly fee × 12. For m…Activation rateActivation rate is the % of signups who reach a defined 'aha moment' (key action) within a defined window. Use…Time to valueTime-to-value (TTV) is how long from sign-up to the customer experiencing the first concrete benefit. For Aipr…Cost-per-action (CPA)CPA is the marketing cost to drive one defined action — typically a lead form fill, demo booking, or signup. C…

Operations

Tool stackYour tool stack is the set of SaaS apps your business operates on. The AI-era stack typically includes: LLM (C…IdempotencyIdempotency is the property that running an operation multiple times produces the same result as running it on…WebhookA webhook is an HTTP POST sent from one system to another when an event occurs — the modern alternative to pol…Approval gateAn approval gate is a workflow step that pauses for human approval before executing the next step. Critical fo…LatencyLLM latency is the time from API request to response. Frontier models: 2-10 seconds typical, longer for long o…Webhook signature verificationWebhook signature verification is the security pattern of cryptographically verifying that an incoming webhook…Cron jobA cron job is a scheduled task that runs at fixed times or intervals — every hour, every day at 9am UTC, every…Idempotency keyAn idempotency key is a unique identifier (typically UUID) you supply with API requests so the downstream syst…Knowledge baseA knowledge base is the structured collection of documentation, SOPs, playbooks, and FAQs a team operates from…API rate limitAPI rate limit is the maximum number of requests an API accepts per time window. Exceeding it returns HTTP 429…Exponential backoffExponential backoff is the retry pattern where wait time doubles between failed attempts — 1s, 2s, 4s, 8s, 16s…Dead letter queue (DLQ)A dead letter queue is the storage for messages that failed processing after all retries exhausted. Lets you i…Schema evolutionSchema evolution is the discipline of changing a data structure (database table, API contract, JSON shape) wit…OnboardingOnboarding is the structured first 30-90 days of a new customer relationship — getting them set up, integrated…Core Web VitalsCore Web Vitals are Google's three page-performance signals: LCP (Largest Contentful Paint, target <2.5s), INP…LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)LCP measures when the largest visible element on a page finishes rendering. Target: under 2.5 seconds. The ele…INP (Interaction to Next Paint)INP measures the responsiveness of all user interactions on a page (clicks, taps, key presses). Target: under …CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift)CLS measures unexpected layout movement during page load — content jumping as images load, ads appear, fonts s…Alt textAlt text is the text alternative for an image, declared via the `alt` attribute. Used by screen readers (acces…Accessibility (a11y)Accessibility (a11y) is designing + building so that people with disabilities can use your product. Encompasse…WCAGWCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) is the international standard for web accessibility. WCAG 2.1 AA i…

Marketing

Conversion rate optimisation (CRO)CRO is the discipline of increasing the % of visitors who take a desired action — fill a form, book a call, bu…Attribution modelAttribution model is how you assign credit for a conversion across multiple marketing touchpoints. Common mode…Bounce rateBounce rate is the % of visitors who land on a page and leave without interacting. High bounce rate (>70%) sig…Page authorityPage authority is a relative score (typically 1-100, vendor-specific) measuring a single URL's SEO strength. P…GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)GEO is the discipline of making content visible in AI answer engines — Claude, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI …SEO (Search Engine Optimization)SEO is the discipline of making content rank in classic search engines (Google, Bing). Key factors: backlinks …BacklinkA backlink is another website linking TO your page. The strongest classic-SEO ranking signal — Google's PageRa…Internal linkingInternal linking is the practice of linking from one page on your site to another. Strengthens topical authori…Anchor textAnchor text is the visible, clickable text in a hyperlink. Affects SEO (signals what the linked page is about)…Featured snippetA featured snippet is the answer box at the top of Google's SERP — typically pulled from a page that ranks 2-1…AI Overview (Google)AI Overview is Google's AI-generated answer at the top of SERP. Intercepts the click for many informational qu…Domain authorityDomain authority is a third-party score (1-100, vendor-specific) measuring a domain's overall SEO strength. Co…Open GraphOpen Graph (og:*) is the meta-tag protocol that controls how a URL appears when shared on social platforms (Fa…