| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| AI Policy | A Team setting, controlled by the Team Owner, that decides whether members can use cloud AI in the Team workspace: Disabled, Allowed, or Allowed with required redaction. See Team AI policy. |
| AI usage (AI credits) | The amount of Elephas AI your plan includes each month, shown in credits. Own API key and Local AI answers do not use it. See AI usage and credits. |
| Answered by | The badge on each answer that shows which AI wrote it, for example Answered by: Elephas AI or Answered by: This computer. |
| Ask | The screen where you ask questions about your documents. Ask only searches the Brains you select. See Ask questions about your documents. |
| Audit log | The Team record of sign-ins, role changes, device approvals and Brain changes, under Security & Audit. It never includes document content. See Team audit log. |
| Brain | A collection of documents about one subject, such as a client, case, project or course. Your first Brain is called My Documents. See Create and manage Brains. |
| Chat | One conversation in Ask. Chats are saved in your workspace. See Manage chat history. |
| Citation | A numbered marker in an answer. Click it to see the exact passage in your document that supports the claim. See Citations and sources. |
| Classic Elephas | The original Elephas app for Mac, iPhone and iPad, with Super Command and Super Brains. A separate product. See Elephas Next vs classic Elephas. |
| Cloud AI | Elephas AI and own API key together: the options where your question and passages are sent to an AI provider. |
| Custom endpoint | An OpenAI-compatible server you set up yourself and use as your own API key option. See Custom API endpoint. |
| Device limit | How many computers your plan allows: 1 on Personal and during the trial, up to 3 on Professional. See Device limits. |
| Document | A file or web page you add to a Brain. Elephas keeps its own copy, so the Brain keeps working if you move the original. |
| Elephas AI | The AI option included with your plan. Requests go through the Elephas gateway to a third-party model provider. Shown in Settings as Elephas AI (included with your plan). See Elephas AI. |
| Elephas gateway | The Elephas service that relays Elephas AI requests to the model provider. It does not store your prompts or answers. See What data is sent to AI. |
| Elephas Next | The internal name for this app, used where it needs to be told apart from classic Elephas. Everywhere else these docs say Elephas. |
| First-run downloads | The on-device components, about 50 MB, that Elephas downloads the first time it opens: privacy protection, search, language detection and scanned-page text. See First-run downloads. |
| Five words | The words two of your computers show when you add a new one to Personal Sync. Approve only if they match exactly. See Add a device to Sync. |
| Hidden before sending | The panel that opens from the shield under an answer, listing the personal details that were replaced with placeholders. See Review hidden details. |
| Indexing | Reading your files, extracting text and building the search index. Indexing happens on your computer. Always. |
| Install ID | A random ID that ties anonymous usage reports together. It is not linked to your account. See Usage reports. |
| Local AI | The AI option that runs a model on your computer. Your question and documents are not sent to any AI provider. Shown in Settings as Local (on this computer). See Run Local AI. |
| Local model | The open model Local AI runs, such as Qwen 2B, 4B or 9B. See Choose a local model. |
| OCR | Text recognition for scanned pages and images. It runs on your computer. See Scanned PDFs and images (OCR). |
| Own API key | The AI option that sends requests straight from your computer to a provider you pay, such as OpenAI or Anthropic. Shown in Settings as My own AI account. See Use your own API key. |
| Passage | A short section of one of your documents that Elephas finds for a question. Cloud AI receives passages, never whole files. |
| Personal information protection | Hides many common personal details on your computer, replacing them with placeholders, before cloud AI sees them. Shown in Settings as Protect personal information when using cloud AI. See Personal information protection. |
| Personal Sync | End-to-end encrypted sync of your Brains, documents and chats between your own computers. Part of the Professional plan, off until you turn it on. See Personal Sync overview. |
| Personal workspace | Your own workspace, with your own Brains and chats. Everyone has one. |
| Placeholder | The stand-in, such as [PERSON-3fa2c1], that replaces a personal detail before cloud AI sees it. The real word is put back in the answer on your computer. |
| Plan check | A short online check that confirms your plan before Local AI or own API key answers. It sends only a device ID, and a passed check lasts up to an hour. See Use Elephas offline. |
| Protected Names | Names and terms you add to a Brain so they are always replaced with placeholders before that Brain’s content is sent to cloud AI. See Protected Names. |
| Recovery kit | An encrypted file plus a code that the Team Owner saves when setting up a Team. It is the only way back into the Team’s documents if every approved computer is lost. See Team recovery kit. |
| Shield | The marker under a cloud answer that shows how many personal details were hidden, for example 3 details hidden. See Review hidden details. |
| Sources | The documents an answer cites, listed in the Sources panel beside the answer. |
| Team Brain | A Brain in a Team workspace, shared by an Owner or Admin with specific members as Manager, Contributor or Reader. See Team Brains. |
| Team roles | Owner, Admin and Member. The Owner set up the Team and controls billing and AI policy. See Team roles and permissions. |
| Team workspace | A shared workspace for a team, with Team Brains, members, devices and an AI policy. See Teams overview. |
| Trial | The 7-day free trial. No card is needed. See Free trial. |
| Workspace | The container for your Brains and chats. You have a Personal workspace, and a Team workspace for each team you join. Switch with the Workspace switcher in the sidebar. |
Resources
Elephas Glossary
Plain definitions of the terms used in Elephas and these docs, from Answered by and Brain to Personal Sync, Protected Names, Team Brain and Team workspace.
The terms you will see in Elephas and in these docs, in alphabetical order. Labels shown in bold match the app.