Terminology Lock

One concept, one term. Never vary for stylistic reasons. This file is the canonical source. Reference it during writing and review.

Core SDK Concepts

Concept	Canonical Term	NOT These
The SDK's reasoning loop	agent loop	reasoning cycle, inference loop, think-act cycle
Calling a tool from the agent	tool calling	function calling, tool invocation, tool execution, function invocation
The model generating text	model response	LLM output, AI response, generation, completion
Developer-defined functions the agent can call	tools	functions, actions, capabilities, skills (in SDK context)
Pre-built tools from strands-agents-tools	community tools	built-in tools, standard tools, default tools
The MCP protocol for tool integration	MCP tools	MCP functions, MCP integrations, protocol tools
Configuring which model to use	model provider	model backend, LLM provider, inference provider
Maintaining conversation across turns (user-facing concept)	session management	context persistence, memory, conversation history
The SDK class that implements session management	conversation manager	session handler, context manager (note: ConversationManager is the API class name; "session management" is the user-facing concept in docs)
Durable knowledge an agent recalls across sessions	memory (or long-term memory)	knowledge store, recall, persistent memory
The SDK class that implements memory management	memory manager	knowledge store, recall, memory store, knowledge base
The SDK class that implements the backend containing memories	memory store	knowledge store, recall
Controlling agent behavior at runtime	hooks	middleware, interceptors, callbacks (hooks is Strands-specific)
Multiple agents working together	multi-agent	multi-agent system, agent orchestration, agent coordination
Agent-to-agent communication pattern	agents as tools	agent chaining, agent delegation, nested agents
Graph-based agent coordination	graph	workflow graph, DAG, directed graph
Dynamic agent handoff pattern	swarm	swarm intelligence, dynamic routing
Pausing agent execution for human input	interrupts	human-in-the-loop, breakpoints, pause points
Agent output with enforced schema	structured output	typed output, schema-validated output, Pydantic output
Watching agent execution	observability	monitoring, telemetry, instrumentation
Durable storage for offloaded context content	stash	L1 stash, L1, stash layer, context cache
Checking agent quality	evaluation	testing, benchmarking, assessment
Running agents in production	deployment	hosting, serving, shipping
The decorator for making Python functions into tools	@tool decorator	tool annotation, tool wrapper

Note on "skills": The banned synonym above applies to the SDK domain — never call SDK tools "skills" in user-facing docs. The term "skills" is correct when referring to agentskills.io-style agent skill files (e.g., the contents of .agents/skills/). Those are authoring procedures for agents working on this repo, not SDK constructs.

Infrastructure and Cloud

Concept	Canonical Term	NOT These
AWS model service	Amazon Bedrock	AWS Bedrock, Bedrock
Anthropic's model family	Claude (with version, e.g., Claude Sonnet 4)	Anthropic model, the model
OpenAI's model API	OpenAI	GPT (when referring to the provider)
Ollama local inference	Ollama	local LLM, self-hosted model
LiteLLM proxy	LiteLLM	lite-llm, LiteLLM proxy
Container deployment	Docker	containerization
AWS serverless deployment	AWS Lambda	Lambda functions, serverless functions
AWS managed agent platform	Amazon Bedrock AgentCore	AgentCore, Bedrock Agents (legacy)

Model Provider Naming

When documenting model providers, use the provider name as the heading and the SDK class name in code. The framework is model-agnostic — never imply a default in conceptual docs.

Provider	SDK Class (Python)	SDK Class (TypeScript)
Amazon Bedrock	BedrockModel	BedrockModel
Anthropic (direct)	AnthropicModel	AnthropicModel
OpenAI	OpenAIModel	OpenAIModel
Ollama	OllamaModel	OllamaModel
LiteLLM	LiteLLMModel	LiteLLMModel
Custom	Model (protocol/interface)	Model (interface)

Content Type Labels (for frontmatter)

Type	Frontmatter Value	Description
Learning-oriented, narrative	tutorial	Walk-through that builds something
Problem-oriented, practical	howto	Steps to accomplish a specific task
Information-oriented, precise	reference	API docs, parameter tables, specs
Understanding-oriented, conceptual	explanation	Why things work the way they do

Python / TypeScript Naming Divergences

These SDK-specific names differ between languages. Use the correct name per language tab:

Concept	Python	TypeScript
Agent initialized event	AgentInitializedEvent	InitializedEvent
Multi-agent plugin base	HookProvider (protocol)	MultiAgentPlugin (abstract class, use extends)
Plugin base	Plugin (class)	Plugin (interface, use implements)
Tool use property	event.tool_use["name"] (dict)	event.toolUse.name (object)
Cancel tool	event.cancel_tool	event.cancel

Adding New Terms

When you encounter a concept that needs a canonical term:

1. Check this file first
2. If not present, propose the term with rationale
3. Add to this file after team review
4. Update any existing docs that use non-canonical variants