Glossary

Short, plain-English definitions for the words the rest of the documentation uses freely. The canonical mode vocabulary lives in Architecture — session modes; where a term is defined there, the definition below matches it.

Bridges and session modes

Term	What it means	Where it's used
Bridge	A claude process that Clauster launches in a project directory and exposes to Claude's remote-control service, so you can pick the conversation up from claude.ai or the Claude mobile app.	Everywhere; defined in The two bridge modes.
Remote control	The Claude Code feature that lets a claude process running on your host be driven from claude.ai/code, Claude Desktop, or the mobile app. Clauster's whole job is starting and managing processes that offer it.	Product description; Claude Code docs.
Attach	Open a bridge's session from another Claude surface — claude.ai/code, Claude Desktop, or your phone — via the card's Open in Claude link or QR code.	Project cards; Quickstart.
Server Mode (wire token standard)	The default bridge mode: a headless claude remote-control server (subcommand form) that hosts several sessions at once. The process survives a Clauster restart, but a restarted bridge starts with a fresh, empty context.	Launch dialog; session modes.
Interactive Session (wire token pty)	The opt-in bridge mode: a single claude --remote-control session (flag form) run inside a pseudo-terminal. Because a real terminal stays attached, it genuinely restores the prior conversation after a restart (true resume, --continue).	claude.launch_mode: pty; session modes.
PTY keeper	The small sidecar process that owns an Interactive Session's pseudo-terminal ("pty") and keeps it alive independently of Clauster. clauster keepers lists and stops orphaned ones.	clauster keepers.
Direct Session (channel hosted — a separate axis, not a third launch mode)	An experimental third way to run Claude: Clauster drives claude itself through the claustrum daemon and renders the conversation in its own dashboard panel. Local live-view only — never attachable from claude.ai.	The Here in the browser launch choice; session modes.
claustrum	A separate helper daemon (not a typo of "clauster") that carries Direct Sessions. One per deployment, started automatically when claustrum.enabled is set; it keeps running across Clauster restarts.	Configuration.
Background Agent	A fire-and-forget claude --bg run that executes a task on its own and reports back. No interactive session is attached; you dispatch it and read the result.	Background-agents panel.

Launch options

Term	What it means	Where it's used
Spawn mode	Where a new bridge session's working directory lives. same-dir works in the project directory itself; worktree works in a separate git worktree (a linked copy of the repository — requires git); session works in a fresh sandbox directory. Bridge launches only — Direct Sessions ignore it.	Launch dialog; Configuration.
Permission mode	How much a session may do without asking you first: default, plan, acceptEdits, auto, dontAsk, or bypassPermissions. These are Claude Code's own modes; bypassPermissions (no confirmation at all) is footgun-gated.	Launch dialog; Configuration.
Workspace trust	Claude Code's own safety gate: a directory must be marked trusted (in the runtime user's ~/.claude.json) before a session will work in it. Clauster can write that flag before spawning so a headless bridge isn't stuck on the interactive prompt.	Green shield on project cards; Security.

Host and configuration

Term	What it means	Where it's used
projects_root	The directory whose child directories become the project cards on the dashboard.	Configuration.
state_dir	Where Clauster keeps its own runtime state — the clauster.db database, bridge logs, and the claustrum socket. Default ~/.clauster.	Configuration; Privacy.
Operator	The one person who runs this Clauster instance and authenticates to it. Clauster is single-operator by design: every login and API token acts as that same person.	Public API; Operations.
Environment	What a bridge registers with Claude's cloud so it becomes visible on claude.ai/code. A bridge that "never registers an environment" started as a process but never became reachable — the most common startup failure.	Error states; Troubleshooting.

Identifiers

Term	What it means	Where it's used
Bridge label	The display name a bridge runs under — normally the project name. It appears on the card and names the bridge's log files (<label>-<timestamp>-<seq>.log).	Reading the bridge debug log.
Session ref (session_ref)	A stable, non-reversible identifier for one session, used in webhook payloads so events can be correlated without exposing the secret session URL.	Public API — lifecycle webhooks.