Glossary

  • Component: A reusable piece of a document, stored as a separate file (e.g., signature_block.md). It's a "document building block" that focuses on presentation.

  • Assistant (Extension): A chat-based drafting experience where the LLM drives the interview using the same VIBE questions you define. Assistants run inside the Workbench UI, rely on {% assistant %} blocks for their initial prompt, and are activated by setting interview_mode: assistant plus an assistants: entry in config.yml.

  • config.yml: The main configuration file for a template. It contains the questions block, definitions, and other settings.

  • Definition: A reusable data structure defined in the definitions: block of config.yml. It describes a set of fields that belong together, like the fields for a "person" or "address".

  • Follow-up Question: A question that is initially hidden and appears nested underneath the option that triggered it. Configured via the followups key on multichoice and radio/select options (per-option list) or on bool questions (mapping of yes/no to lists).

  • Session Context: A set of pre-filled variables provided by the external authentication system (e.g., PASETO token) or administrator configuration based on the user's role or department. These variables are automatically available in the template and cannot be modified by the user during the interview.

  • Host Template: The main template that is currently being run. It may insert one or more components.

  • insert(): The special function used inside a template to include a component.

  • Jinja: The simple templating language used inside .md and .docx files. It provides commands like {{ variable }} and {% if condition %}.

  • Label: The friendly, user-facing text for a question.

  • Passthrough: The mechanism where a component can automatically access variables from the host template without them being explicitly passed in the insert() function.

  • Placeholder: The {{ variable_name }} syntax used in a template file.

  • Probe / Probing: The process the VIBE engine uses to read the template and figure out which variables are currently needed. This is how VIBE knows which questions to ask.

  • Question ID: The unique, internal name for a variable in config.yml (e.g., client_name). This is what you use in your template's placeholders.

  • Question Type: The type of input a question will have, such as text, number, bool, or list.

  • Relevance: A question is "relevant" if VIBE's probe determines that it is currently needed to generate the final document. Only relevant questions are shown to the user.

  • Review (Extension): A document compliance workflow that evaluates existing documents against requirements and produces structured assessments and reports.

  • Structured Question: A question (type: structured) that asks for a group of fields defined by a reusable definition.

  • Variable: A piece of data in the system, identified by its unique ID (e.g., client_name). Its value comes from a user's answer, a default, or a calculation.