Glossary

Agreement

The contract created when a buyer accepts one supplier-issued quote version. It holds the accepted terms, the price, a contract hash and its own state. See Agreements.

Allocation

The runnable form of an agreement: contracted input and output tokens, a delivery window and rate limits, carved out for one buyer. API keys are bound to it and every request is metered against it. See Allocations.

Activation checks

The conditions that must all be true for an agreement to go live: countersigned, settled, supplier verified, lot active, route enabled and passing a live health check, and the window not over.

Capacity class

What kind of capacity a lot or quote promises: metered allowance, reserved throughput or dedicated window. See Capacity classes.

Countersignature

The supplier's confirmation of an agreement the buyer accepted. It issues the invoice, or the no-charge record for sandbox.

Deal room

The private space where one buyer and one supplier exchange messages and quote versions on a request.

Depleted

The allocation state reached when the input or output allowance is fully used. Its agreement completes.

Gateway

Cairva's OpenAI-compatible API under /v1. It authenticates keys, admits requests against the allocation, calls the route and meters the result.

Hold

Allowance reserved for a running request: an input estimate from the prompt plus max_tokens of output. Released when real usage is booked or the request fails. See Rate limits and holds.

Inventory lot

A block of capacity a supplier lists on one of its routes, with a window, token amounts and limits. Quotes are drawn from lots. See Inventory lots.

Live

A route, lot or allocation backed by commercial supply and settled by invoice. Keys start with cv_live_. No live supply is listed today.

Metered allowance

A prepaid token allowance on a shared route, with rate limits but no dedicated hardware or throughput minimum.

Quote version

One immutable set of proposed terms in a deal room, with a number, an expiry and a SHA-256 hash of the terms. See Negotiation.

Reconciliation

Booking usage for a request whose provider didn't report token counts inline. Done by Cairva operations from provider metering, with written evidence.

Request (RFQ)

A buyer's private description of the capacity they need, sent to suppliers they choose. See Requests and quotes.

Route

The connection between a model on a supplier's deployment and Cairva's gateway, with a region and a mode. Created by Cairva operations for verified suppliers.

Sandbox

A route, lot or allocation used for development and integration. The flow is real, no money moves, and there are no guarantees. Keys start with cv_test_. See Sandbox.

Scope

What a key may do: inference to call models, usage:read to read the allocation and usage.

Terms hash

The SHA-256 hash of a quote version's terms, price and expiry. The buyer echoes it on acceptance, so they accept exactly what they reviewed.

Usage event

One booked record of input and output tokens for a request, visible to both buyer and supplier. See Usage events.

Usage pending

A request that completed without reported token counts. Its hold stays until reconciliation.

Verified supplier

A supplier organization whose application Cairva operations approved. Only verified suppliers can receive requests, list lots and quote.