Glossary

This page defines the terms used in Squad and in these docs. Each term links to the page that explains it. Old names are listed at the end.

Your squad

Term	Meaning	More
Squad	The product: a hosted team of AI teammates that you run from a web dashboard. Also one team of teammates with everything in it.	What Squad is
Your squad	The AI teammates in your workspace. It is also the heading of their list in the sidebar.	What Squad is
Workspace	One squad and everything in it: teammates, tasks, docs, chats, settings, and connections. One account can own more than one workspace. The dashboard and the apps mostly call it a squad.	What Squad is
Workspace switcher	Your squad’s name at the top of the sidebar. Its menu, Switch squad, lists every squad that you own or joined, and New squad team. A squad that another person shared with you says Shared with you.	Run more than one squad
Teammate	An AI member of your squad, with its own name, role, memory, and chat. Older pages and some screens say “agent”.	Add, change, and pause teammates
Chief of staff	The teammate that leads your squad. It coordinates work, answers your questions, and creates other teammates. A squad has exactly one. Its default name is Chief of Staff, with the handle @chief, and you can rename it. Older pages say “lead agent” or “squad lead”.	Add, change, and pause teammates
Person, people in your squad	A human in your squad: you, the owner, and the people you invite. Each person signs in with their own email address and has a role.	Invite people to your squad
Owner	You, the person who pays for the workspace and controls its billing. The dashboard shows you as Owner. On a task, “owner” means the teammate that is assigned to it.	What teammates can do
Administrator	A role for a person. Runs the squad with you: people, teammates, channels, and settings. Billing stays with you.	Invite people to your squad
Collaborator	A role for a person. Works on tasks, docs, and questions, and chats with the teammates you allow.	Invite people to your squad
Viewer	A role for a person. Reads the board, tasks, docs, and activity. Cannot send messages or change the squad’s work.	Invite people to your squad
Seat	A paid seat that one person or one open invite uses. You buy seats on Settings > Billing and usage > Billing. When every seat is taken, the owner’s invite on People can also add one (Invite and add a seat).	Seats for people
Cloud computer, your cloud computer	The computer in the cloud where your teammates work, keep their files, and run their tools. Earlier docs said “your squad’s computer”, and before that “workspace computer”. Squad’s screens, emails, and messages call it “your cloud computer”, and a few dashboard screens say “the computer”. Squad for Mac says “your cloud computer” or “the cloud computer”, for example “Your cloud computer is asleep”, and Cloud computer as a short label and as the name of its screen. A teammate that speaks of it says “our cloud computer”.	Watch or take over a teammate’s computer
About	A teammate’s page, beside its Chat. It says what the teammate is working on, what it did lately, who waits on it, and its tasks and routines.	Add, change, and pause teammates
Pause	Stops the dashboard from starting work for a teammate until it is resumed. Its routines and its Native heartbeat are off, chat messages to it are refused, and @mentions, task assignments, and emails wait. Messages from Telegram, Discord, or Slack still reach it. Its triggers stay on, and their events wait until the teammate is resumed. Resume turns on again the routines that the pause turned off, except those that someone switched off during the pause, and brings back the heartbeat, unless someone turned it off during the pause, with Turn off or by asking a teammate. You can also pause only a teammate’s inbox.	Add, change, and pause teammates
Ask for an update	Asks a teammate for a status update now. Older pages say “nudge”.	Add, change, and pause teammates

Work

Term	Meaning	More
Task	A piece of work that a teammate owns, from start to done. Tasks are on Tasks. A task can have steps. Older pages say “mission”.	Track work on Tasks
Step of a task	One part of a bigger task, done by its own teammate. A step is a task with its own notes and questions, and it belongs to one task. The board shows the task as one card, for example “2 of 4 steps done”. A step has no steps of its own. Not the same as a step on a deal.	Break a task into steps
Tasks	The page that shows tasks in four columns: Not started, Needs you, Working on it, and Done.	Statuses
Not started	Tasks that nobody has picked up yet, also tasks with no teammate assigned.	Statuses
Working on it	Tasks that a teammate has picked up.	Statuses
Needs you	Everything that waits for you: questions, emails to review, purchases to approve, work to fix, and tasks that wait with nothing asked. It is a page, a section on Today, and a column on Tasks. The column also holds a task while one of its steps waits on you. The same words show on a teammate that needs something from you. A question that you set for later leaves it until it comes back.	Answer what needs you
Today	The first page of the dashboard: what needs you, what your squad did today, and today’s routines. Its count is everything in Needs you.	Use Today
Ongoing	A mark for a task that runs continuously. Squad never flags it as stuck.	Track work on Tasks
Stuck	A mark on a teammate’s task in Working on it, or assigned in Not started, with no update for more than 2 days.	Limits and defaults
Stall detection	An hourly check that asks teammates about quiet tasks and asks you a question if they stay quiet.	Answer what needs you
Archived	Tasks, docs, conversations, projects, or group chats that you set aside. They are off the main list and you can restore them. A task’s steps go with it and come back with it.	Track work on Tasks
Trash	Tasks that you deleted. You can restore them or delete them forever.	Track work on Tasks
Question	Something a teammate asks you that blocks a task until you answer. A question can hold more than one ask: an approval, a decision, access, an action, or information. A teammate can ask one person, and anyone who can answer can pass it on with Ask someone else. Older pages say “ticket”.	Answer what needs you
Doc	A written output from a teammate, such as a brief or a report, kept on Docs.	Find and manage your squad’s docs
Folder	A group of docs. Folders cannot contain other folders.	Find and manage your squad’s docs
Project	All the conversations about one client or job in one place, with any of your teammates, and notes that every teammate in it reads first. Projects are in the sidebar. In Squad for Mac, the owner can also give a project a folder on the Mac.	Group conversations into projects
Pin	Keeps a task, doc, email, reminder, or conversation in the Pinned section of the sidebar. Pins are saved to your account and show on every device where you sign in.	Search and keyboard shortcuts
Pinned place	A place, such as Email or Tasks, that you keep in the sidebar under Today. The places that you did not pin are under More. Each person has their own pinned places in each squad.	Pin a place to the sidebar
More	The part of the sidebar that lists the places that you did not pin. It starts folded. On a phone, it is the last tab in the bar at the bottom.	Places in the sidebar
Daily digest	One question in which teammates group decisions that are not urgent. You choose its time during onboarding.	Give your squad work that it can finish
Decision budget	How many decisions a day you want to receive. Your chief of staff asks during onboarding. It is an instruction to teammates. Squad does not count decisions.	What teammates can do, and how you stay in control
Routine	Instructions that a teammate runs on a schedule that you set. Older pages say “scheduled task”.	Schedule recurring work with routines
Routines	The page for work that repeats: routines on a schedule, and triggers under When something happens. Older pages say “Automations”.	Schedule recurring work with routines
Heartbeat	A routine that wakes a teammate to check its work. Each teammate gets one, and it starts switched off. Its name ends in `-heartbeat`, and Routines shows its name in words, for example Lead heartbeat.	Schedule recurring work with routines
Trigger	Instructions that a teammate runs each time an event arrives, instead of on a schedule. The event comes from a webhook that another app sends, or from an app event on an account that you connected. Teammates can suggest triggers, which do nothing until the owner or an Administrator turns them on. For the owner or an Administrator, a teammate can also set up a webhook trigger itself.	Start work when something happens (triggers)
Webhook	A request that another app sends to a URL when something happens in it. A webhook trigger gives you that URL.	Add a webhook trigger
Native heartbeat	A built-in wake-up loop for one teammate, set on Setup on the teammate’s page. Squad recommends routines instead.	Add, change, and pause teammates
What’s possible	A gallery of jobs that your squad can do, such as Invoice chaser or Inbox triage. Set it up with my squad opens your chief of staff’s chat with a setup brief for the job already typed. Nothing is sent until you send it.	Start from a ready-made job
Contacts	The squad’s people and companies, the deals with them, and the pipelines that carry many people through stages, with a history of every touch. Teammates keep it as they work. It opens on Home, what’s next by whose move.	Keep your contacts, deals, and pipelines
Deal	One goal with someone, such as a new client to onboard, a quote, a renewal, or something you buy. It keeps the money, the steps owed both ways, the decisions and why, documents with their dates, and standing rules. Only the owner and Administrators see its money.	Deals
Step (deal)	One thing owed on a deal, by a person in your squad, a teammate, or the other side, with a day or none. It ends done or missed, so a kept promise and a broken one both show. A teammate’s step becomes its task on its day.	Work a step
Whose move	Who owes a deal’s next step: you, your squad, or the other side. Squad works it out from the steps. Deals and Home sort by it.	Find a deal
Playbook	The steps that every deal of a kind repeats, such as every new client’s. A new deal can start its steps from one, and a pipeline stage such as Won can start a deal from one. Teammates keep playbooks.	Open a deal
Pipeline	The stages that people move through in Contacts, for example from New to Won, with rules for what moves them. A pipeline with a goal and dates works as a campaign.	Work a pipeline
Follow-up	The day to get in touch again with a person in a pipeline, with a next step. Your own due follow-ups show on Home under Your move and in Needs you.	Set a follow-up
Do not contact	A mark on a contact. Squad refuses email to that contact from a Squad inbox and from a connected mailbox. A mark on a company covers its people and its domain. An unsubscribe or a spam complaint sets it. An email or a message logged to a marked contact shows under People > Review > Written after do not contact.	Mark a contact do not contact
Card vault	Where a person keeps the payment cards that teammates may pay with. You add and remove cards there, from the Wallet. Squad and your teammates never see the card number.	Let your teammates pay with your card
Wallet	The place in the sidebar with your own payment cards, who else may use them, and the purchases that teammates made. Each person has their own. It was Payment cards in Settings.	Let your teammates pay with your card
Purchases to approve	The part of Needs you that lists the payments waiting for your approval.	Approve a purchase
Purchase	One payment that a teammate starts with a saved card. It opens the store’s checkout and waits for the card’s owner to approve it. A purchase with a total of 0, such as a free trial, only saves the card with the store.	Let your teammates pay with your card
Payment card	A card that a person saved in their card vault, so that a teammate can pay online with it. The card’s owner approves each payment on their own device.	Let your teammates pay with your card
Form card	A card in chat in which a teammate asks you to fill in a form on a web page, such as a sign-in. Your values go to the page on your cloud computer, not into the chat. Only the owner can fill it.	Fill a form that a teammate sends you

Chat

Term	Meaning	More
Chat	Your conversations with teammates in the dashboard. A teammate’s page has Chat and About.	Chat with your teammates
Conversation	One conversation with a teammate. A teammate remembers a conversation for as long as it goes on. Older pages say “thread”.	Chat with your teammates
Fork	A new conversation that copies a direct conversation up to one teammate reply. The original does not change.	Fork a conversation
Version	One branch of a direct conversation after you edit a message that you sent. Arrows around a number such as 1/2 switch between versions.	Edit a message that you sent
Group chat	A conversation with two or more teammates.	Chat with your teammates
Squad chat	The standing room that every teammate in your squad is in. It shows in the sidebar when you have two or more teammates.	Chat with your teammates
Between teammates	Conversations between two teammates that you have not joined. They fold under Between teammates in the sidebar.	Chat with your teammates
Chat card	An interactive card that a teammate posts in chat, for example to ask you to connect an app, save an API key, fill in a form, or approve a purchase.	Chat with your teammates
Mention	Typing @ and a teammate’s name, so that the teammate is notified. @all reaches every teammate in the Squad chat. You can also mention a person in your squad wherever you can mention a teammate. They get a bell notification, and an email when they have not seen it in time. An @ inside an email address, such as name@example.com, or before a domain, such as @example.com, is not a mention.	Chat with your teammates
Handle	The short name after @ that you use to mention a teammate, such as @chief for the chief of staff.	Chat with your teammates
Queued message	A message that you sent while the teammate was still replying in the same conversation. It waits its turn. Steer now hands it to the reply in progress.	Chat with your teammates
Helper	A helper that a teammate starts to work on part of a job on its own. It shows in chat, on the status timeline, and in History when it has a run of its own. Older pages say “subagent”.	See the helpers your teammates start
Vault	Where Squad stores the keys and secret values that you save for custom integrations, on your cloud computer. Chat cards save to it with Save to vault.	Add an MCP server or an API key
Channel	A chat app that you can use to talk to your squad: Telegram, Discord, or Slack. A Slack channel is not the same as the Slack app. The channel lets you message your squad. The app lets teammates read and act in your Slack workspace.	Talk to your squad from Telegram, Discord, or Slack
Main bot	Your first Telegram bot. Only you can message it.	Connect Telegram

Email

Term	Meaning	More
Inbox	An email address of a teammate’s own. It is a paid add-on.	Give a teammate an email inbox
Draft	An email that a teammate wrote and left for your review.	Give a teammate an email inbox
Escalation	An email that a teammate passed to you for a decision. It shows Needs you.	Give a teammate an email inbox
Handling instructions	Text that tells a teammate how to sort, prioritize, and answer its email.	Give a teammate an email inbox
Daily send cap	The most emails a teammate can send in a rolling 24 hours.	Limits and defaults
Custom domain	Your own email domain for teammates’ inboxes. One per squad.	Give a teammate an email inbox
Allow and block rules	Rules that control who an inbox can email or receive email from, on Settings > Email > Inboxes and rules.	Give a teammate an email inbox

Runs and monitoring

Term	Meaning	More
Run	One execution by one teammate, for example to answer a message or to do a routine.	See what your squad did
History	The page that lists every run, by day, with what started it and how it ended. Older pages say “Runs”.	See what your squad did
Activity	The page that shows what your squad did, newest first. Older pages say “Live Feed”.	See what your squad did
Health	The page that lists today’s failed runs and AI provider limits.	See what your squad did
Stop	Ends a run that is going. The owner and Administrators can stop a run in chat or in History. The run then shows Stopped, which is not counted as a failure.	Stop a run
Didn’t finish	A mark on a run in History that ended with an error or ran out of time. A failed attempt that the teammate’s next attempt finished is not marked this way.	Statuses
Notification bell	The bell beside your squad’s name at the top of the sidebar, which lists your notifications.	Choose your notifications

Memory and skills

Term	Meaning	More
Memory	What your squad knows and keeps between runs: files and recalled facts. The command palette calls the page What your squad knows.	Manage what your squad remembers
About you	The file that tells your squad about you and your business.	Manage what your squad remembers
Memories	Facts that your squad learned from its work, or that teammates saved. While Recall before each turn is on, the teammate gets the ones that bear on it before each request.	Manage what your squad remembers
Squad files	Shared files: Company, Contacts, Glossary, Squad, and Voice.	Manage what your squad remembers
Notes, Personality, Identity	Each teammate’s own files.	Manage what your squad remembers
Load budget	How many characters of a file a teammate reads at the start of each run.	Limits and defaults
Skill	Written instructions for a task that teammates follow. Teammates build skills while they work.	Add and manage skills
Skill pack	A collection of skills from a GitHub repository. Curated packs come from the Squad library. Custom packs are ones that you add. A custom pack can be a Claude Code or Cursor plugin. Its page offers to connect the plugin’s MCP servers.	Add a Claude Code or Cursor plugin
Plugin	A Claude Code or Cursor plugin: a repository folder with `.claude-plugin/plugin.json` or `.cursor-plugin/plugin.json`. You add it as a skill pack.	Add a Claude Code or Cursor plugin
Connector	What ChatGPT and Claude call a hosted MCP server. Add it as an MCP server.	Add an MCP server or an API key
Taught skill	A skill that a teammate learned when you showed it a task with Teach a task.	Watch or take over a teammate’s computer
Tools	What teammates can use in every request: computer use, MCP server tools, and research tools. You turn MCP servers and their tools on and off on their cards in Custom integrations, and research tools on Billing.	Add an MCP server or an API key
Research tools	Built-in tools that collect outside data, such as web search and profile lookups. There are 57. They are the only tools that use credits.	Research tools reference
Credits	The unit that research tools use.	What Squad costs

Connections and models

Term	Meaning	More
App	An app that you connect so teammates can read it and act in it, such as Gmail or Notion. Also called an integration or a connected app. You connect apps on Settings > Apps.	Connect apps
Access level	How much a teammate can do in a connected app, such as Read-only. Each level holds the actions that Squad reviewed for it. The dashboard also calls it “scope”.	Connect apps
Main account	The account of an app that teammates try first when they do not pick one. A person’s own accounts still come before shared accounts. Its row shows Main account.	Connect apps
Private, Shared	Whether other people can use a connected app account. A private account can be used only for the person who connected it, and its row shows no tag. A shared account can be used for everyone in the squad, and its row shows Shared.	Who can use an account
MCP server	A server that gives teammates more tools through the Model Context Protocol. Squad also has its own MCP server, for AI apps that work as you. See Squad’s tools for AI apps.	Add an MCP server or an API key
Sign in with Squad	The page where you let an AI app such as Claude, ChatGPT, or Cursor work in Squad as you, with Connect or Cancel.	Use Squad from Claude, ChatGPT, or Cursor
Apps signed in as you	The AI apps that you connected to Squad at `https://squad.so/mcp`. Each works as you, with your access. You see and disconnect them on Settings > You. Not the same as Connected apps on Settings > Apps, which your teammates use.	Use Squad from Claude, ChatGPT, or Cursor
Custom integration	A service that you connect with an API key or other secret values. You add it in Settings > Apps, in the Custom integrations view that you choose at the top. Only the owner and Administrators see it.	Add an MCP server or an API key
AI	The page in Settings where you connect your AI accounts and choose the models your squad thinks with. Older pages say “AI Tokens”.	Choose models and manage AI accounts
AI account	One login or key for an AI provider, such as Claude Code or ChatGPT.	Connect your AI subscription
Default model	The model that teammates use when they have no override. Settings > AI calls it Thinks with.	Choose models and manage AI accounts
Fallback	A model under When it can’t answer that a run moves to when the model before it fails or reaches a rate limit. Inside one provider, the next account in the card’s order is also a fallback. When a fallback finishes the work, the failed attempt is not counted as work that did not finish.	Choose models and manage AI accounts
Account in use	The AI account that serves the next run on a provider. It shows In use when the provider’s card has other accounts. On Claude Code, only one account is in use at a time, and the next takes over when it reaches its usage limit.	Connect your AI subscription
AI your squad may use	The models that can be picked anywhere in the squad. Under More on Settings > AI. Earlier called “Allowed models”.	Choose models and manage AI accounts
How hard it thinks	How hard models think before they respond. Under More on Settings > AI. Earlier called “Reasoning effort”.	Choose models and manage AI accounts
Usage limit	How much an AI subscription allows in a time window. When every Claude Code account reaches it, a line above every screen says when your teammates pick up again. A usage limit is not a sign-out.	Claude Code reached its usage limit

Screens and tools

Term	Meaning	More
Dashboard	The web app where you run your squad.	What Squad is
Command palette	The search box that opens with ⌘K or Ctrl+K. It finds every place, teammate, task, doc, and more.	Search and keyboard shortcuts
Visible computer	The live view of a teammate’s computer. Take over gives you the mouse and keyboard. Hand back returns control. A teammate’s request to take over reaches only the owner.	Watch or take over a teammate’s computer
Public dashboard	A read-only link to your tasks, docs, and teammates’ pages that anyone can open.	Share a read-only view of your workspace
Help	The question mark at the bottom of the sidebar. Its menu has Help and support, which opens Help & support with links to these docs and to support, What’s new, and Ideas for your squad. A blue dot on it means that What’s new has updates that you have not read.	Get help
What’s new	The product changelog.	Get help
You	The first row in Settings: your name, your email address, Sign out, your squad, and your role.	Settings reference
Backup	The page in Settings > Squad where you prepare a backup of your squad. Squad emails you when it is ready to download as one JSON file.	Settings reference

Old names

Some screens and features had other names in the past. Older messages, old links, and teammates may still use them. Old links still open the right place.

Old name	Current name
MissionControlHQ, MCHQ, Mission Control HQ	Squad
missioncontrolhq.ai	squad.so
Agent	Teammate
Lead agent, Lead, AI Chief of Staff	Chief of staff, named Chief of Staff by default
Teammate (for a person you invited)	Person, people in your squad
Mission	Task
Missions, the Missions board, Mission Control, the board	Tasks
Backlog, In flight (columns)	Not started, Working on it
Ticket	Question
My Tickets, My Tasks	Needs you
Home	Today
Workspace computer, your squad’s computer	Cloud computer, your cloud computer
Scheduled task	Routine
Automations (with Scheduled and Triggers tabs), Scheduled (sidebar screen)	Routines
Live Feed, Timeline, GOD View	Activity
Runs	History
Subagent	Helper
Thread	Conversation
Agent Configuration, Agents config, Teammates tab, Workspace defaults	More on Settings > AI (your squad’s defaults), and Setup on a teammate’s page
AI Tokens	Settings > AI
Model routing	Your squad’s AI on Settings > AI
Team, Team access	Settings > People
Team seat, TEAM SEATS	Seat, Seats for people on Billing
Per-agent access, Per-teammate access	One teammate at a time
CREDIT COST PER USAGE	Credit cost per use
Integrations	Settings > Apps
Agent Tools, Tools page	Custom integrations in Settings > Apps (MCP servers and their tools), and the Research tools card on Billing (research tools)
Secrets	Custom integrations in Settings > Apps
Compose (Email)	New email
Escalations (Email)	Needs you
General, Reset workspace	Settings > Squad > General, Reset squad…
Workspace skill	Squad skill
Workspace default, Workspace image default (a teammate’s model)	Squad default, Squad image default
Reset workspace, Export workspace data (lock screen)	Reset squad. The lock screen has no backup since November 14, 2026, and on Squad for Mac from version 1.0.111.
Resubscribe, Renew subscription (lock screen)	Subscribe again, and Update card after a failed payment
Payment past due, Your subscription is canceled (lock screen)	“Your last payment didn’t go through”, “Your subscription has ended”
Email Domains	Settings > Email > Domains
Backup & Export	Settings > Squad > Backup
Public Dashboard, Public share	Public dashboard
Help Center	Help
Payment cards (in Settings > Billing and usage)	Wallet
Changelog (link on Help & support)	What’s new
Chat with support, Ask your AI Chief of Staff	Ask your chief of staff (on Help & support). It opens a chat with your chief of staff, not with Squad staff.
Playbooks	What’s possible
Announce (for a routine)	Notify me
Archive all (in Needs you)	Clear all
UPDATED, New, Modified (doc badges)	A blue dot before the doc’s title
@agents.mchq.ai email addresses	@agents.squad.so. Older inboxes keep their old address until you change it.

A backup file is named squad-backup- and the day the backup was ready, in your own time zone. The export of Squad for Mac before version 1.0.98 saved squad-export- and the date.

Get started

Work with your squad

Manage your squad

Connect apps and channels

Use Squad from other apps

Billing and account

Troubleshooting

Reference