> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.getswan.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Core concepts

> The canonical glossary of terms used across Swan.

This page defines the terms used throughout these docs and inside Swan itself. Each concept has one canonical name — where the product UI or your team uses a different word for the same thing, that's noted as an alias.

**Trigger**
An automation: a set of instructions, the toolkits Swan is allowed to use, and a source that starts it (a schedule, a webhook, a CRM event, an app event, a website visitor signal, and more). See [how triggers work](../triggers/how-triggers-work).

**Sequence**
A multi-step outreach flow sent to a contact — a series of email and/or LinkedIn steps with waits and branching between them, sent through a single [sender](#). You might also hear "sequence" — in Swan today that's the same thing. See [how sequences work](../outreach/how-sequences-work).

**Task**
An item Swan creates on the Desk for a human to look at or act on — for example, a message waiting on your approval, or something Swan flagged as needing a decision. Internally called a "review item," but always referred to as a task. See [Desk and tasks](../workspace/desk-and-tasks).

**Run / execution**
One pass of the agent doing work — a chat reply, a trigger firing, or a sub-agent working on one entity. The UI may label this a "job." See [executions and history](../workspace/executions-and-history).

**Sender**
An email or LinkedIn account you've connected for Swan to send messages from. See [senders and connected accounts](../outreach/senders-and-connected-accounts).

**Credits**
The unit Swan's actions are metered in. Most tool calls and executions consume credits from your org's balance. See [credits](../administration/credits).

**Org knowledge**
Structured information about your business that Swan reasons from: your value proposition, competitive positioning, ICP definitions, and personas. Distinct from memory (see below). See [org knowledge](../knowledge-and-skills/org-knowledge).

**Memory**
Freeform notes Swan keeps about your org, contacts, or ongoing work — less structured than org knowledge, used for context that doesn't fit a fixed field. See [memory](../knowledge-and-skills/memory).

**Skill**
A reusable set of instructions that tells Swan how to approach a specific kind of task, so it behaves consistently each time that work comes up. See [skills](../knowledge-and-skills/skills).

**Template**
A pre-built workflow from the Template Library that you can install and adapt for your own org, rather than building a trigger or sequence from scratch. Alias: you'll sometimes see templates and configured triggers informally called "plays", and a trigger's instructions called its "playbook". See [templates](../knowledge-and-skills/templates).

**Desk**
The screen that surfaces everything Swan wants a human to see or act on: tasks, outreach awaiting approval, and execution activity. See [Desk and tasks](../workspace/desk-and-tasks).

**Toolkit**
A group of related tools Swan can use — for example, everything needed to work with HubSpot, or everything needed to manage tags. Toolkits come from three places: built into Swan, connected through the third-party integration layer, or added as a custom MCP server. Your org can enable or disable individual toolkits and set who needs to approve which of their actions.

**Connected account**
A third-party login (a CRM, an inbox, a LinkedIn profile, a Slack workspace, and so on) that you've authorized Swan to act through. A connected account is what makes a related toolkit or sender usable.

**Target market / ICP segment**
The definition of the kind of company you sell to — the firmographic and behavioral criteria Swan uses to identify a good-fit account. Configured as part of org knowledge.

**Persona**
A defined buyer type within a target market — the role, seniority, and characteristics of the person Swan should be trying to reach at a good-fit company.

**Funnel stage**
Where a company sits in your pipeline (for example, an early awareness stage through to a closed stage), tracked on the company record and used to reason about what to do next.

**Tag**
A label you or Swan can apply to a company to mark it for a purpose (for example, to include or exclude it from something), separate from its funnel stage.

**List**
A saved set of companies grouped together, used to scope which companies a trigger, sequence, or query applies to.

## Common questions

**Is a "job" the same thing as a "run"?**
Yes — some parts of the UI say "job," but it refers to the same thing as a run or execution.

**Is a task the same as a review item?**
Yes. "Review item" is the internal name; the product always shows and calls it a task.

**What's the difference between org knowledge and memory?**
Org knowledge is structured (value proposition, competition, ICP, personas) and drives how Swan reasons about fit and messaging. Memory is freeform notes for context that doesn't belong in a fixed field.

**Is a sequence the same as a trigger?**
No. A trigger is what starts automated work; a sequence is the outreach flow a contact is enrolled in, which a trigger (or a chat conversation) can create.

**What's the difference between a tag and a funnel stage?**
A funnel stage tracks pipeline position (one value at a time); a tag is a free-form label a company can have zero, one, or several of.