Appearance
About this article
- Audience: Readers new to Ghost Protocol who need consistent definitions across docs
- Goal: After reading, you can look up edge, proxy, and verification terms used elsewhere in the hub
- Type: Reference
Summary
This glossary defines public-safe vocabulary for shadows, on-device inference, recording, federation, and release gates. Use it when another page links a term on first use.
Prerequisites
- None — this page is standalone lookup material
Edge devices and roles
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Shadow | A Ghost Protocol edge camera running sovereign firmware (core pipeline, agent, entrypoint). Fleet roles use labels such as site-role-a (canary) and site-role-b (secondary). |
| Edge app bundle | Containerized Ghost Protocol application installed on each Shadow. Prefer a durable bake over hotpatch when promoting releases. |
| Container ID (CID) | Identifier for the running edge app instance on a Shadow. Registry and health surfaces expose it for verification. |
| Sovereign deploy | Edge-first operations: deploy and verify on-device without post-deploy cloud control planes holding secrets in the image. |
Core pipeline components
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| ghost_core | C++ primary stream: H.265 4K encoding plus RF-DETR DSP substream. Owns on-device precomputed detections. |
| ghost_agent_v2 | Python sidecar: justified recording, fusion, Hermes mesh participation, and host tracker fallback when device ObjectTracker is unavailable. |
| Precomp / RF-DETR | Authoritative on-device detections (c=0 person class in contract tests). Cloud models do not override precomp for live MCP responses. |
| Justified recording | ~60 s wall-time chunks with sidecar metadata (keyframe count, stride fps). Used for playback and optional cloud video escalation. |
| Layer 3 / depth fusion | Monocular depth at reduced fps plus spatial coordinates (x, y, z) fused into detection payloads when the layer is applied. |
Host stack and federation
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Phantom Vision | Host stack: proxy BFF, MQTT broker, readiness agents, Hermes controller, and operator UI integrations. |
| Phantom proxy | Central HTTP facade (PHANTOM_PROXY, default port 8788): fleet registry, MQTT cache, MCP tool forward, playback-ready URLs, and signed A2A queries. |
| Hermes | Internal fleet mesh for peer coordination (UDP discovery plus authenticated sidecar channels). |
| Cost Sentinel | Host automation for storage health, prune workflows, and production soak grading scripts. |
| TAP | Trace-and-probe workflow: proxy curls, MQTT subscription, orchestrator tap mode, and visual checkpoints for evidence bundles. |
Verification and gates
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Soak gate | Time-boxed stability run (for example 60×1 min) checking H.265 growth, thermals, and recent chunk health. Outcomes: PASS, INCOMPLETE, or FAIL. |
| T1–T4 gates | Stacked release tiers: T1 encoding and soak; T2 precomp harness pass rate; T3 zero-trust federation (A2A/Hermes); T4 firmware manager drift-free surfaces. |
| Harness | Scenario batch (for example mass-transit safety cases) executed against live MCP with expected detection authority. |
| v3-runs | Orchestrator artifact directory: checkpoints, tap logs, smoke reports, and summary JSON per batch. |
| Handoff fidelity | Private operator practice: anchor reads before edits, preserve backups, and avoid gate drift when updating operational state. |
Storage and operations
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Storage health | Device-reported free space and utilization. CRITICAL states trigger prune-first workflows before long soaks. |
| Prune-first | Run recording retention cleanup (KEEP policy) before deploy or soak when storage is constrained. |
| FULL_KEYS | Expanded health and identity probe set (fingerprint, Hermes mesh, overlay mount, and related fields) used in post-deploy verification. |
Standing product direction
Precomp + H.265 #1 + sovereign — On-device RF-DETR and primary encoding remain authoritative; cloud escalation is proxy-mediated on justified clips only; edge images do not embed cloud API keys.
Next steps
- Quickstart — first deploy and short soak
- Architecture overview — how components connect
- Release gates — tier summary for contributors
- Checklists — pre/post deploy and soak lookup
Operator depth
Live fleet state, exact gate percentages, and harness evidence live in private operator handoff (not published) (private).