Plain language
Glossary
Every technical word we use on this site, explained the way we'd explain it in a conversation. No jargon, no assumed knowledge, nothing you need a computer science degree to read.
AEO (answer engine optimization)
AEO is the work that helps AI assistants like ChatGPT find and recommend your business, the same way SEO does for Google.
When someone asks an AI assistant who does what you do near them, AEO is the work that makes your business one of the answers it gives. It means writing your website in plain, clear language an AI can read and quote accurately, the same care you would put into signage a new customer could understand at a glance.
Agent
An agent is AI that can actually do a task for you, not just talk about it, like drafting and sending a reply instead of only suggesting what to write.
A regular chat tool gives you words back, and you do the work of copying, sending, or typing it somewhere else. An agent takes the next step: it can look something up, fill out a form, or send a message on your behalf, usually with a rule that a person checks anything involving money or a client before it goes out. For a small business, an agent might read a new inquiry, draft a reply in your voice, and hand it to you to approve with one click.
AI model
An AI model is the program that reads what you type and writes back an answer, the way Claude or ChatGPT does when you ask it something.
Every AI tool you have used is built on a model. Think of the model as the brain doing the reading and writing, and the app around it (ChatGPT, Claude, a chat box on a website) as the storefront you actually type into. Different models are better or worse at different jobs, the way one contractor is better at plumbing and another at electrical.
AI operating system
Your AI operating system is a written record of your business, your voice, your prices, your policies, that you load into AI so it stops guessing and starts sounding like you.
Without it, AI has to guess at your prices, your tone, and how you handle situations, and it usually guesses wrong or generic. With it loaded, when you ask AI to write a client email, it already knows your cancellation policy, what you charge, and how you actually talk. A venue owner who loads their pricing, their common questions, and their real voice into one stops getting replies that read like a form letter.
API
An API is the standard way two pieces of software send information back and forth, the plumbing that lets your booking form talk to your calendar.
You never see an API directly, but you feel it working: when a form on your website automatically creates a new lead in your CRM, or your calendar blocks off a date the moment someone books, an API carried that information between the two tools. Without one, someone would have to copy it by hand from one screen into another.
Automation
Automation is work your systems do on their own once you set the rule, like automatically sending a thank-you email the moment someone books.
You set up the rule once, and it runs every time the trigger happens without you touching it again. A photographer might set up automation so that the moment a client signs a contract, they get a welcome email, a questionnaire, and a date on the shared calendar, all without anyone on the team doing it by hand.
AXO (agent experience optimization)
AXO is the work that lets an AI agent not just recommend your business, but actually check a date, get a real price, or fill out a form for someone, right on your own site.
SEO gets your site found by search engines, and AEO gets your business recommended by AI assistants. AXO goes one step further: it turns the real actions on your site, checking availability, pricing out a package, submitting an inquiry, into something an AI agent can do safely and directly, not just read about. A venue with AXO built in lets a couple's AI assistant pull a real open date and a real price on the spot, instead of landing on a page that only says to call for details.
Clone a site into code
Cloning a site into code means rebuilding your existing website, look and all, as clean, editable code, without touching what is already live.
This is often the first step before we improve anything: we recreate your current site exactly as it is, in code you and your team can read and change, running side by side with your live site until it is ready. Nothing changes for your visitors until you decide to switch over, and you never lose the version that already works.
Context (AI context)
Context is everything you have told AI about your specific business, so its answers fit your business instead of sounding like advice for anyone.
The same question gets a different answer depending on what the AI already knows. Ask a generic chatbot how to price a package and it guesses at a national average. Give it your actual price list, your service area, and your past client conversations first, and it answers the way you would. Building context is the work of collecting those business facts and loading them in one place.
CRM
A CRM is the software that keeps track of every client and lead: their contact information, where they are in your process, and what you have told them.
CRM stands for customer relationship management, but the plain version is simpler: it is your client list with a memory. HoneyBook, Dubsado, and Tave are all CRMs built for service businesses. Instead of a spreadsheet or your inbox, a CRM shows you every lead, every message, and every invoice for one client in one place.
Local model (running a model locally)
A local model is AI that runs on your own computer instead of over the internet on someone else's servers, so your information never leaves your machine.
Most AI you use, ChatGPT or Claude, sends what you type to a company's servers and gets an answer back. A local model skips that: it runs entirely on your laptop or a machine in your office. It is usually slower and less capable than the AI you are used to, but for a business handling sensitive client information, keeping everything on one machine can matter more than speed.
Markdown file
A markdown file is a plain text document with simple symbols for bold, headings, and lists instead of a formatting toolbar.
You have made text bold or added bullet points in Word or Google Docs by clicking a button. Markdown does the same thing by typing a symbol instead: a pair of asterisks around a word makes it bold, a pound sign before a line makes it a heading. It looks plain until a computer displays it, which is exactly why AI tools and code prefer it: it reads correctly every time, on any machine.
MCP server
An MCP server is the connector that lets an AI tool like Claude actually use one of your other tools, instead of just describing how to.
Without a connector, Claude can describe how to check your calendar, but it cannot actually look at it. An MCP server gives Claude real, working access, to your calendar, your CRM, your files, so it can check, read, or update them directly instead of you copying information back and forth by hand.
Prompt
A prompt is what you type or say to AI to tell it what you want.
It can be a single line, write a caption for this photo, or several paragraphs of instructions and background. The clearer the prompt, the closer the answer, the same way a clearer request to an employee gets you what you actually wanted the first time.
Repo (code repository)
A repo is the folder holding all the code for a website or tool, plus a complete history of every change ever made to it.
Think of it as a project folder with a save history that never gets erased: you can always see who changed what and when, and undo a change if it breaks something. When we build your website in code, you get your own repo. It is yours, it lives in your own account, and it keeps working whether or not you keep working with us.
Self-hosted
Self-hosted means a tool runs on your own account or your own server instead of living inside someone else's shared app.
A self-hosted email tool, for example, sends from your own domain and your own account rather than a shared platform. The trade-off is that you own it completely and are not tied to anyone else's pricing or rules, but you, or someone on your behalf, are responsible for keeping it running.
SEO (search engine optimization)
SEO is the work that helps your website show up higher in Google search results when someone looks for what you do.
It covers things like writing pages Google can understand, making your site load fast, and getting other reputable sites to link to yours. A venue with good SEO shows up on the first page when someone searches for venues near their town, instead of buried on a page nobody reaches.
Token (AI token)
A token is roughly three quarters of a word, the small unit AI reads and writes in, and the thing you are actually billed for when you use AI.
When a company charges for AI use, it is counting tokens, not words or questions. A short email might be a few hundred tokens; a long document could be thousands. This is a different thing from a security token, which is a secret code that proves who you are to log into an account. Same word, two unrelated meanings.