Glossary

Plain-language definitions of the terms you meet across the PathWise docs.

Audit log

A persistent record of every operation PathWise runs during an investigation. It stores what ran, when, and whether it was a read or a remediation attempt, so you can show after the fact that nothing was changed. See the audit log.

Confidence

How much the evidence supports a diagnosis. PathWise reports confidence honestly, including when it could not test a layer, instead of guessing past what it actually checked. See reading a diagnosis.

Diagnosis

PathWise's answer: which layer of the access path is broken, the evidence behind that call, and a recommended fix. A diagnosis can be partial. PathWise reports at the confidence the evidence earns instead of waiting for a perfect answer. See reading a diagnosis.

Effect gate

The code boundary that enforces PathWise's hard line: diagnose, never remediate. Every operation PathWise attempts passes through this gate. Anything that would change a system, not just look at it, is denied, even if it was requested. See diagnose, never remediate.

Evidence

The real result of a probe: a DNS answer, a ping time, a certificate detail. PathWise builds a diagnosis only from evidence it actually gathered, and cites the source for every claim. See how it works.

Merchant of record

The company that legally sells you PathWise and handles the payment, tax, and billing on the transaction. PathWise sells through Stripe, its merchant of record, so Stripe, not Silo7, appears on your card statement and issues your receipt. See your license explained.

Module

A package that extends what PathWise can check, such as a specific vendor's device or a particular kind of test. Modules are how PathWise reaches devices and systems beyond its built-in checks. See what modules are.

Open Module Standard

The specification a module follows so PathWise can load it and trust what it claims to do. It defines what a module is allowed to declare and how PathWise validates that declaration before running it. See writing a module.

Playbook

A named, repeatable troubleshooting flow for a specific kind of problem, walking the same layers a skilled technician would, in order.

Probe

A single, targeted check PathWise runs against the access path, such as a DNS lookup, a ping, or a traceroute. PathWise runs the cheapest probe first and goes deeper only as far as the evidence justifies. See how it works.

Reasoning engine

The model that reads the evidence PathWise gathers and decides what to check next and what the result means. You choose which reasoning engine runs PathWise, from a local model to a hosted frontier model. See the reasoning engine.

Remediation

Any action that changes a system: applying a fix, changing a configuration, restarting a service. PathWise never remediates. It recommends the fix and leaves the human to run it. See diagnose, never remediate.