# Star Atlas terms
Documentation: next (source: develop).

Install the preview: `pnpm add @aephia/atlas-kit@next`. These docs follow develop and may include changes not yet published to npm.

> Game and Solana vocabulary used throughout these docs.

Markdown source of https://develop.atlas-kit-docs.pages.dev/glossary/ — see https://develop.atlas-kit-docs.pages.dev/ai/ for the full machine-readable surface.

Terms as this SDK uses them. Game vocabulary is checked against the game, and
only the Solana vocabulary needed by the SDK is included.

:::note[Growing with the guides]
This glossary grows with the guides: when a guide starts leaning on a term,
the term lands here. If a guide uses a word this page does not explain, that
is a bug worth reporting.
:::

## Game

<span id="sage"></span>**SAGE** — the part of Star Atlas where fleets fly, mine, craft, and trade. The
SDK reads SAGE state.

<span id="c4"></span>**C4** — the current generation of SAGE. Runs on its own program with its own
account layouts; earlier generations are not compatible.

<span id="z-ink"></span>**z.ink** — the public test realm SAGE C4 runs on. A separate network from
Solana mainnet.

<span id="profile"></span>**Profile** — a player's on-chain identity. Created by the player, so there is
no way to derive it from a wallet address; it has to be discovered or supplied.

<span id="character"></span>**Character** — a profile's presence inside SAGE. Owns fleets and accrues
progress. One per profile.

<span id="fleet"></span>**Fleet** — a group of ships travelling together. Ships move as fleets, never
individually. A fleet has a state: docked, in transit, mining, and so on.

<span id="starbase"></span>**Starbase** — a station where fleets dock, trade, and craft. Shared starbase
data belongs to the world; a player's own state at a starbase is separate.

<span id="council-rank"></span>**Council Rank** — a player's account-wide progression level, raised through
XP. Rising ranks unlock research, larger ships, additional fleets, and
buildings.

<span id="xp"></span>**XP** — progression points earned per activity category (pilot, mining,
crafting, combat, and so on). Levels are judged against the game's thresholds,
and research spends XP back out.

<span id="research-node"></span>**Research node** — one unlockable in the research tree. It costs XP from
specific categories, ATLAS, and sometimes resources; activating it grants its
perk.

<span id="perk"></span>**Perk** — the permanent improvement a research node grants: a larger fleet
limit, faster warp, cheaper crafting, and similar modifiers. Everything in
effect for a character sums into one bundle of values.

<span id="warp-lane"></span>**Warp lane** — a system-to-system link, and the third way a fleet travels
(after subwarp and coordinate warp). Lanes define which systems neighbour
each other, work only when both ends are held by the same faction, and charge
an ATLAS toll keyed to the starbase level.

<span id="claim-stake"></span>**Claim stake** — a deployable claim on a planet or other body: a hub to
build extraction, processing, power, and storage infrastructure on, yielding
resources over time.

<span id="crafting-hab"></span>**Crafting hab** — a player-owned production facility deployed at a starbase.
Recipes run in it, and its buildings and modifiers set production speed and
efficiency.

<span id="recipe"></span>**Recipe** — the crafting rule: these inputs become that output, taking this
long. Recipes are game data, the same for everyone.

<span id="crafting-process"></span>**Crafting process** — one recipe executing in one crafting hab: a lifecycle
with a start, a duration, and an end.

<span id="rent"></span>**Rent** — the ongoing cost of keeping a crafting hab or claim stake
deployed. A balance that runs dry eventually means eviction.

<span id="atlas"></span>**ATLAS** — the in-game currency used for rewards and market settlement.

<span id="faction"></span>**Faction** — one of the three allegiances: ONI, MUD, and Ustur. Affects
standing, economics, and diplomacy.

## Solana

**Account** — a slot of on-chain storage with an address, an owning program, and
raw bytes. Everything the SDK reads is an account.

**Address** — the identifier for an account. The SDK uses the `Address` type
from `@solana/kit`.

**Program** — deployed on-chain code. SAGE C4 is one program, and it owns the
accounts the SDK reads.

**RPC endpoint** — a server that answers questions about the chain. You supply
one; see [setting up your RPC](/start-here/rpc/).

<span id="pda"></span>**PDA** — an address derived deterministically from known inputs rather than
stored. When an account has one, it can be computed instead of searched for.
Several SAGE account types do not have one, which is why some lookups need
discovery.

<span id="discriminator"></span>**Discriminator** — the leading bytes identifying an account's type. The SDK
checks it before decoding, so a wrong account fails cleanly.

**Commitment** — how strongly the network has confirmed the chain state behind
a read. A stronger commitment is safer but may lag behind the newest available
state.

**Signer** — a wallet or another external object that can authorize a
transaction for one address. Atlas Kit receives signers only for an explicit
execution call; contexts and Plans do not store them.

**Transaction** — one submitted group of on-chain instructions. A transaction
is atomic: all of its instructions succeed together or none take effect.

## TypeScript and Atlas Kit

**`bigint`** — JavaScript's exact integer type, written with an `n` suffix such
as `10n`. Atlas Kit uses it for raw game quantities that must not be rounded.

**Cache** — stored results that can be reused for a limited time instead of
making the same RPC request again.

**Context** — the Atlas Kit object that holds one realm's RPC connection, cache,
known addresses, and optional providers.

**Discriminated union** — a TypeScript value whose `kind` field tells you which
other fields are available. Fleet state uses this pattern.

**Entry point** — an import path for one part of the package, such as
`@aephia/atlas-kit/fleets`.

**Indexer** — a service that helps find account addresses by relationship. Atlas
Kit treats its results as hints and validates each account against the chain.

**Plan** — an inspectable description of a supported game action. It records the
steps, required signers, affected addresses, preconditions, expected effects,
and warnings without signing or submitting anything.

**Snapshot** — an immutable, translated view of account state from one read.