Concepts
The words the rest of the docs use for one Nylorun installation.
Clients
CLInylorun and nylo
Agents SDKDefine agents and open sessions
Admin SDKHost and Tenant lifecycle
StudioLocal dashboard
HTTP
Runtime
APITenant and admin HTTP
SessionsConversations and workflow runs
StoreState and checkpoints
Artifacts
SandboxesIsolated computer tools
Durable executionSerialized advancement
Durable streamsHistory and live events
GatewayOutbound from the Runtime
Model providerTenant vault model
MCPDeclared MCP servers
HTTP tools
web
Clients — Studio, the Agents SDK, HTTP, the CLI, and the Admin SDK — call the Runtime API. The Runtime runs sessions, stores state, keeps artifacts, provisions sandboxes, and records durable execution and streams. Outbound calls to a model provider, MCP, HTTP tools, and the web go through the Gateway.
Words
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Tenant | One Nylorun installation: a Runtime with its own database, Studio, and data. Nothing is shared between Tenants. A project gets its own local Tenant; several run side by side on one machine. Requests never name a Tenant — the Runtime's URL is the Tenant's. |
| Runtime | The service that runs sessions, calls the model, runs sandboxes, and stores history and files. Ships as ghcr.io/nylorun/runtime. |
| Agent | A definition: an id, instructions, and the tools the model may call. Built with @nylorun/agents. |
| Flow agent | An agent whose body is a flow: your code decides what runs next. Saved and opened like any agent. |
| Action endpoint | An HTTP route the Runtime calls for each tool call, hook, or flow function. Your tools run in your app. |
| Session | One durable conversation or flow run, owned by ownerUserId. |
| Turn | One input and everything the agent does until it completes, pauses, fails, or is cancelled. |
| Sandbox | A workspace given to a session. Virtual by default; pod sandboxes run on Kubernetes after you enable them. |
| Artifact | A file the Runtime stores: uploads, versions, and short-lived download links. |
| Studio | The operator dashboard for one Tenant, served on loopback. |
| Action | One unit of your code the Runtime asks for: a tool call, a hook, or a flow fn, verify, or tool step. |
| Project link | .nylorun/link.json and credentials.json, written by nylorun start. |
| Scope | What a signed-in person may do when your app calls client.as(), for example sessions:own. |
Open source and Cloud
The Runtime, Studio, SDKs, and CLIs are open source. You can build, run, and self-host everything on the Guides tab without a Nylorun account. The Runtime verifies and enforces; it never signs people in or manages users. Nylorun Cloud is the managed option: an isolated installation plus sign-in, organisations, and billing, available by invitation.