# Mastermind

Mastermind is a personal, local-first macOS assistant that turns activity on the user's Mac into inspectable context for grounded assistance.

## Product

**Mastermind**:
The personal assistant product and the only target product name.
_Avoid_: Cheating Daddy, Mastermind Native, AI helper

**Local Profile**:
The local identity whose sources, knowledge, history, and policies belong to the current macOS user. A future cloud account may authenticate services but does not own the Local Profile.
_Avoid_: User account, cloud profile

**Companion Island**:
Mastermind's normally hidden interaction surface at the top center of the primary display. Hover reveals a capsule and clicking expands it into the assistant interface.
_Avoid_: Overlay, HUD, Dynamic Island, floating window

## Context acquisition

**Source**:
A configured origin from which Mastermind may observe context, such as a workspace, calendar, screen, audio stream, or terminal integration.
_Avoid_: Connector, data source

**Collector**:
The independently operating part of Mastermind that observes one kind of Source and emits Observations.
_Avoid_: Capture mode, watcher, sensor

**Observation**:
Immutable, time-stamped evidence emitted by a Collector about a Source. An Observation is evidence, not a claim that Mastermind treats as true.
_Avoid_: Event, Fact, memory

**Gap**:
An explicit interval in which an enabled Collector could not produce usable Observations.
_Avoid_: Missing memory, silent failure

## Knowledge

**Context Graph**:
The Local Profile's structured, time-aware representation of entities, relationships, Observations, Assertions, and Facts.
_Avoid_: Memory, activity database, transcript archive

**Assertion**:
A time-scoped claim inferred from one or more Observations, with confidence and Provenance. Assertions may conflict and expire.
_Avoid_: Fact, summary

**Fact**:
An Assertion explicitly confirmed or corrected by the user. Facts remain until the user removes or supersedes them.
_Avoid_: High-confidence inference, model output

**Provenance**:
The trace from an Assertion, Fact, summary, or answer back to the Source and Observations that support it.
_Avoid_: Citation text, model reasoning

**Person**:
A human relevant to the Local Profile's work.
_Avoid_: Speaker, participant record

**Project**:
An ongoing effort directed toward an outcome. A Project may span multiple Workspaces, Tasks, Events, Meetings, and Artifacts.
_Avoid_: Repository, folder, session

**Task**:
An actionable unit of work represented by an external source. Mastermind understands Tasks but is not their system of record.
_Avoid_: Action Proposal, reminder

**Event**:
A time-bounded occurrence meaningful to the user's work, such as a deadline or milestone.
_Avoid_: Observation, log entry

**Meeting**:
A human interaction inferred from calendar, application, and audio Observations. Audio channel roles do not establish a participant's identity.
_Avoid_: Assistant Session, Conversation

**Artifact**:
A persistent work product or reference relevant to a Project, such as a document or source file.
_Avoid_: Observation, screen frame

**Workspace**:
An explicitly connected directory or repository that provides Artifacts and project context.
_Avoid_: Project, home directory

## Assistance and trust

**Assistant Session**:
A bounded text interaction in the Companion Island using one selected Provider. Assistant Sessions are distinct from Meetings.
_Avoid_: Conversation, capture session, chat memory

**Provider**:
An inference service used to generate assistance. A Local Provider runs on the same Mac; a Cloud Provider receives data outside the Mac.
_Avoid_: Model, agent, sidecar

**Provider Context Permission**:
The user's explicit permission for a Cloud Provider to receive locally selected context. Permission is denied by default and can be revoked for future requests.
_Avoid_: Source Policy, blanket consent

**Context Receipt**:
The inspectable record attached to an answer that identifies its supporting context, Provider, and any external data transfer.
_Avoid_: Citation, Activity Log

**Activity Log**:
The local audit trail of Collector lifecycle, permission failures, gaps, and Provider requests without captured content.
_Avoid_: Assistant History, transcript

**Assistant History**:
The persistent local record of Assistant Sessions. It is separate from the Context Graph and Activity Log.
_Avoid_: Memory, Context Graph

**Action Proposal**:
A plan or draft suggested by Mastermind for the user to carry out. It does not authorize Mastermind to act on the Mac.
_Avoid_: Tool call, agent action, Task