---
title: Glossary
description: Every word Else uses for something specific, defined in one line, with a link to the page that explains it properly.
---

Else uses ordinary words for specific things. This page is the short definition of each,
in the same wording the interface uses, so you can tell whether *task* means what you
think it means before you rely on it.

## The work

**Chat** — an ordinary conversation. You type, it answers, you stay for it. Everything you
type starts as a chat; nothing becomes a task by itself.
→ [Your first task](/docs/your-first-task)

**Task** — work you hand off deliberately. It runs without you watching, has a result page
of its own, and is the only path where a spend limit you set is actually read. You create one
explicitly; Else never promotes a chat into a task behind your back.
→ [Your first task](/docs/your-first-task)

**Run** — one piece of work being carried out, whether that is a task or a turn of a chat.
It is the unit that gets charged, and the unit a receipt describes.
→ [How billing works](/docs/how-billing-works)

**Turn** — one exchange inside a chat: your message and everything Else does before it
comes back to you. A turn can contain many steps and has its own hard ceilings.
→ [Limits](/docs/limits)

**Step** — one thing done inside a run: a search, a file written, a page read. Steps are
what a receipt itemises.
→ [Reading a receipt](/docs/reading-a-receipt)

**Needs you** — the state a handed-off task enters when it stops and waits: for an
approval, for a decision, or because it went over its spend limit. Nothing runs and
nothing is charged while it waits.
→ [When it checks with you](/docs/when-it-checks-with-you)

**Repeating** — a task set to run on a cadence of its own. Each occurrence is a separate
run with a separate bill.
→ [Recurring work](/docs/recurring-work)

## What it does the work with

**Engine** — which model runs your work, chosen as one of four tiers: **Auto**, **Fast**,
**Smart** and **Max**. Auto picks per step; the other three pin it. A tier is not a price
— what a run costs depends on the tier it ran on.
→ [Model prices](/docs/model-prices)

**Tier** — the four-way choice above. Used interchangeably with *engine* in the interface.

**Add-on** — something Else can already do inside a run: read the live web, open a PDF,
write a spreadsheet, build a file. There are thirteen built in and they are all on by
default. Nothing to install, nothing to buy.
→ [Add-ons](/docs/add-ons)

**Things you taught it** — an Add-on you made: one reusable expectation, like a format or a
checklist. It lives on your account and is available in any chat.
→ [Add-ons](/docs/add-ons)

**App** — an account you already use that Else can work inside once you connect it: Gmail,
Google Drive, Notion, Slack, GitHub, Airtable. Connecting one is what lets it act there
rather than tell you to.
→ [Connecting your apps](/docs/connecting-apps)

**Assistant** — a saved set of standing instructions you talk to, carrying its own
briefing, files, app scope, engine and budget. **Everyday assistant** is the built-in one
you already have.
→ [Assistants](/docs/assistants)

**Else's desk** — the panel where the files a run produced are collected, so results are
somewhere findable rather than buried in the conversation.
→ [Reviewing what comes back](/docs/reviewing-what-comes-back)

## Control

**Spend limit** — the amount you set on a handed-off task, at which it stops and checks with
you. It is checked between steps against money already spent, not a ceiling that prevents an
overrun. The same field appears above the chat composer, where the number you type is
recorded and shown back to you but nothing acts on it — that distinction is real and has its
own page.
→ [Spending limits](/docs/spending-limits)

**Approval** — the setting that decides what it must ask you before doing. Three levels,
in the interface's own words: **"Before anything leaves this app"**, **"Before sending or
publishing"**, and **"Don't check with me"**.
→ [When it checks with you](/docs/when-it-checks-with-you)

**Plan before doing** — the toggle that makes it show you its intended steps before it
starts on them.
→ [When it checks with you](/docs/when-it-checks-with-you)

## Money

**Wallet** — your prepaid balance. No subscription, no seats, no credit bundles; you top up
and your money only moves when something actually runs.
→ [Topping up](/docs/topping-up)

**Top up** — adding money to your Wallet. Balance does not expire.
→ [Topping up](/docs/topping-up)

**Receipt** — the itemised record of one run: what it did, step by step, and what each step
cost. It is the record of what happened, as against the limit, which is only what you
asked for.
→ [Reading a receipt](/docs/reading-a-receipt)

## Words we deliberately do not use

If you are looking for these, here is what they map to. **There are no credits** — the
Wallet holds money, in dollars. **There is no plan or tier of service** — *tier* here only
ever means which engine runs your work. **There is no marketplace** and nothing to install:
every Add-on is already on. And **there is no app to download** — Else runs in a browser
and can be installed to a phone home screen from there.
→ [On your phone](/docs/on-your-phone)