Glossary

The words you'll see in Pencel, in alphabetical order.

Add to Team: Makes an agent that isn't on your Team a teammate with its own room. Click Add to Team on the agent's page in Studio ▸ Agents, or on the line above Home's message box while you chat with it. See Team and rooms.

Agent: An AI worker with a name, a role, instructions and the tools it may use. The teammates in a room are agents, and you can create your own in Studio ▸ Agents. See Studio.

Approval: Pencel asking for your OK before it does something with consequences, such as sending an email or recording an expense. You can approve it, Reject it, or Edit fields first. See Approvals and permissions.

Background check: A room's regular look for new work, such as checking your inbox every 30 minutes. Switch it on or off with Work in the background in the room's Schedule settings. A check that finds nothing new stays quiet. The room's Activity tab shows the last check, the next one and past checks.

Budget: A monthly spending limit. Each room can have its own, in credits, under Advanced ▸ Monthly budget in the room's settings. Settings ▸ Cost & Usage has one for the whole app. See Control what you spend.

Card: One item of work Pencel shows you, such as a bid to review, a reply to approve or a finished brief. Cards appear on Home and on a room's wall.

Connection: A link to an outside account or service, such as Gmail, Slack or QuickBooks Online, that Pencel can read from or act in. Manage them in Settings ▸ Connections. See Connect your accounts.

Credits: What AI work is paid in. One credit is $0.10 of AI usage. Plans include a monthly allowance, and with your own API key no credits are used. See Accounts, plans and credits.

Crew: The AI teammates in a room. A room you set up yourself can have several, and one of them is the lead. See Team and rooms.

Decision: A card that needs a choice from you, such as pursue or pass, or approve or reject. Decisions come first on Home, which shows how many are waiting.

Documents: Where your documents, spreadsheets and slide decks live, including everything your rooms write. See Documents.

Fact: A confirmed statement about your business, such as what you sell or your payment terms, kept in Settings ▸ Memory ▸ Facts. Every agent uses your confirmed facts. See Knowledge.

Home: The first screen in Pencel, where everything that needs you from every room comes together. See Home.

Job: Anything that runs for you, whether a workflow or a scheduled task, together with its run history. Studio ▸ Jobs shows what each run did and what it cost. See Check on scheduled work.

Knowledge: What Pencel knows about your business: your documents (Docs) and Skills. Every room draws on it. See Knowledge.

Knowledge gap: A question only you can answer, shown on Home as a "Pencel needs" card. Your answer is saved as a fact. Click Not relevant and Pencel won't ask again. See Teach Pencel about your business.

Own API key: A key from Anthropic, OpenAI or Google that you add in Settings ▸ Credentials. Requests go straight to that provider, you pay the provider directly, and no credits are used. See Supported models.

Pencel Auto: A model option where Pencel chooses the AI model for you, tuned for good results at a low cost. It runs on Pencel credits. See Supported models.

Pencel Private: Like Pencel Auto, but requests go only to a model provider that keeps nothing (zero data retention). It runs on Pencel credits.

Ready-made Room: A room that comes set up for a specific job: RFP Operations, Email Chief of Staff or QuickBooks Accountant (Beta). Add one from Team ▸ Add a teammate. See Ready-made Rooms.

Responsibility: A standing job a teammate does without being asked, such as scanning for new bids each morning. You set them up when you create a room, and can switch each one on or off in the room's Schedule settings.

Room: The workspace for one area of work, like a Slack channel shared with its AI teammate. You message the teammate there, it does the work, and results show up as cards on its wall. See Team and rooms.

Routine: A room's repeating work: its responsibilities plus any workflows attached to it. They're listed under Routines in the room's Schedule settings, where you can Run now or switch one off.

Standing approval: Permission you give once with Always Allow, so a room stops asking about that action with that account. Anything that moves money or deletes something still asks every time. Revoke it in the room's Advanced settings. See Approvals and permissions.

Studio: The advanced area for building your own agents and workflows and checking on everything that runs. It has three parts: Agents, Workflows and Jobs. Most people rarely need it. See Studio: agents, workflows and jobs.

Suggested fact: Something Pencel found in your documents or rooms that might be true about your business. It waits in the room until you Confirm it, and no agent uses it before then.

Team: Your AI teammates, listed in the sidebar by name, one per room. Click one to open its room, or click Add a teammate to add another. See Team and rooms.

Teammate: An AI agent on your Team, with its own room, role and responsibilities. For example, Rory runs RFP Operations and Max runs Email Chief of Staff.

To-dos: Your personal reminders, which your agents can also see. Open them from the To-dos box on Home, or press ⌘K and type "To-dos". See To-dos.

Workflow: A saved, repeatable process that runs on demand or on a schedule. Build one in Studio ▸ Workflows. See Build a workflow.