refac

Author: tjbck

docs/ecosystem/computer/choose.md

@@ -9,25 +9,26 @@ Three tools, three different centers of gravity. Pick by where the work lives, a
 
 | | **Open WebUI** | **Open Terminal** | **Open WebUI Computer** |
 | --- | --- | --- | --- |
-| Center of gravity | The conversation | A clean execution environment | Your actual machine |
-| Best for | Model choice, knowledge, prompts, shared AI workflows | Self-contained jobs: analyze an upload, build a prototype, run a script | The project, terminal, services, and logins already on one computer |
+| Center of gravity | The conversation and control layer | The action layer that completes the harness | Your actual machine |
+| Best for | Model choice, knowledge, prompts, users, permissions, shared AI workflows | Self-contained agent work: analyze an upload, build a prototype, run a script, return an artifact | The project, terminal, services, and logins already on one computer |
 | Environment | n/a | Fresh, isolated (Docker) or host | The real host: existing files, state, tools |
 | Users | One to many | Follows Open WebUI | One trusted owner |
 | AI required | Yes | Yes | No; files, terminal, and git work without it |
 
 **Start in Open WebUI** when the important context is the conversation or connected knowledge, with no particular machine required.
 
-**Add [Open Terminal](/features/open-terminal)** when a chat needs a place to execute: write files, install packages, run code, return the result. Fresh environment per job; nothing to keep.
+**Add [Open Terminal](/features/open-terminal)** when Open WebUI needs to become a full agent harness: write files, install packages, run code, observe output, verify work, and return the result. Fresh environment per job unless you configure persistence.
 
 **Start in Computer** when the answer begins with "let me check my computer": the branch you left dirty, the dev server that's running, the folder of PDFs, the agent mid-task. Computer opens that same machine from any browser instead of recreating the work somewhere else.
 
 ## Using them together
 
-- **Open WebUI as the front door, Computer as the hands.** Connect the [gateway](/ecosystem/computer/automate/open-webui) and each Computer workspace shows up in Open WebUI's model picker as `cptr/<workspace>`. The chat happens in Open WebUI; the file edits, commands, and tools happen on the Computer host. Knowledge bases, prompts, and users don't transfer between the two, so configure what the workspace needs on the Computer side.
-- **All three at once** is normal: Open WebUI to think and organize, Open Terminal for disposable execution, Computer for the machine where your ongoing work must stay continuous.
+- **Open WebUI plus Open Terminal as the full harness.** Open WebUI provides the control layer; Open Terminal provides the computer substrate where actions run and evidence comes back.
+- **Open WebUI as the front door, Computer as the real machine.** Connect the [gateway](/ecosystem/computer/automate/open-webui) and each Computer workspace shows up in Open WebUI's model picker as `cptr/<workspace>`. The chat happens in Open WebUI; the file edits, commands, and tools happen on the Computer host. Knowledge bases, prompts, and users don't transfer between the two, so configure what the workspace needs on the Computer side.
+- **All three at once** is normal: Open WebUI to govern the workflow, Open Terminal for disposable harness execution, Computer for the machine where ongoing work must stay continuous.
 
 ## Already using a coding-agent CLI?
 
 Computer doesn't replace it. Run any agent CLI in a [terminal tab](/ecosystem/computer/workspace/terminals) exactly as you do today. Or, for Codex, Claude Code, Cursor, Grok, OpenCode, Cline, and Pi, [add it as a native backend](/ecosystem/computer/ai/coding-agents) so it becomes a chat model with streaming, approvals, and session resume, using the subscription and login you already have.
 
-One trust note: Open Terminal gives a chat a disposable execution environment. Computer serves a machine you own, and you choose its boundary: run it bare for the whole workstation, or [in Docker](/ecosystem/computer/install/docker) so it sees only the folders you mount. Either way, everyone you let sign in shares that boundary; see the [security model](/ecosystem/computer/phone-and-remote/security).
+One trust note: Open Terminal gives Open WebUI agents a disposable or policy-managed action workspace. Computer serves a machine you own, and you choose its boundary: run it bare for the whole workstation, or [in Docker](/ecosystem/computer/install/docker) so it sees only the folders you mount. Either way, everyone you let sign in shares that boundary; see the [security model](/ecosystem/computer/phone-and-remote/security).

docs/ecosystem/computer/faq.md

@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ Python 3.10+ on macOS, Linux, or Windows (`pip install cptr`), or Docker (`ghcr.
 
 ### How is this different from Open WebUI or Open Terminal?
 
-Open WebUI is a chat interface for models; Open Terminal shares a terminal; Computer serves your whole machine to any browser: files, editor, terminal, git, AI, agents. Full comparison: [which tool do I need?](/ecosystem/computer/choose)
+Open WebUI is the AI interface and control layer. Open Terminal gives Open WebUI the action layer that turns it into a full agent harness. Computer serves your whole machine to any browser: files, editor, terminal, git, AI, agents. Full comparison: [which tool do I need?](/ecosystem/computer/choose)
 
 ### What's the license? Does it cost anything?
 

docs/ecosystem/computer/index.md

@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ AI is optional and pluggable: bring an API key, point it at local models via Oll
 
 ## Where it fits
 
-Open WebUI is the AI interface and workflow platform. Open Terminal gives an Open WebUI chat a clean execution environment. Computer serves the machine your work already lives on, and it can also [act as a model provider for Open WebUI](/ecosystem/computer/automate/open-webui). Not sure which you need? [Compare them](/ecosystem/computer/choose).
+Open WebUI is the AI interface and control layer. Open Terminal gives Open WebUI the action layer that turns it into a full agent harness. Computer serves the machine your work already lives on, with its own files, terminal, git, editor, AI, and agent backends, and it can also [act as a model provider for Open WebUI](/ecosystem/computer/automate/open-webui). Not sure which you need? [Compare them](/ecosystem/computer/choose).
 
 ## Private by design
 

docs/ecosystem/index.md

@@ -17,10 +17,10 @@ import useBaseUrl from '@docusaurus/useBaseUrl';
   style={{ width: '100%', margin: '0.25rem 0 1.75rem' }}
 />
 
-Open WebUI is the core AI interface. The ecosystem is the set of separate Open WebUI projects that connect to it, extend it, or solve adjacent jobs while staying useful on their own.
+Open WebUI is the core AI interface and agent control layer. The ecosystem is the set of separate Open WebUI projects that connect to it, complete it, or solve adjacent jobs while staying useful on their own.
 
 ## Projects
 
-- [**Open Terminal & Terminals**](/ecosystem/open-terminal): the computer substrate for Open WebUI agents, plus the enterprise orchestrator that provisions governed per-user workspaces with policies for images, tools, resources, storage, security context, cleanup, and resets.
-- [**Open WebUI Computer**](/ecosystem/computer): your whole computer served to any browser (files, terminal, git, editor), with a full agent harness built in. The newest capabilities ship here first and graduate into the stable Open WebUI platform where they fit. Connects to Open WebUI through an OpenAI-compatible gateway.
+- [**Open Terminal & Terminals**](/ecosystem/open-terminal): the action layer that turns Open WebUI into a full agent harness, plus the enterprise orchestrator that provisions governed per-user workspaces with policies for images, tools, resources, storage, security context, cleanup, and resets.
+- [**Open WebUI Computer**](/ecosystem/computer): your whole computer served to any browser (files, terminal, git, editor), with its own agent runtime for work that should happen on your real machine. The newest capabilities ship here first and graduate into the stable Open WebUI platform where they fit. Connects to Open WebUI through an OpenAI-compatible gateway.
 - [**Knowledge Base Sync (oikb)**](/ecosystem/knowledge-base-sync): mirror folders, repos, buckets, wikis, and other sources into Open WebUI Knowledge Bases with incremental sync.

docs/ecosystem/open-terminal.md

@@ -17,28 +17,31 @@ import useBaseUrl from '@docusaurus/useBaseUrl';
   style={{ width: '100%', margin: '0.25rem 0 1.75rem' }}
 />
 
-**Turn Open WebUI into an agentic workbench: tool use plus a stateful computer substrate where the model can write files, run commands, observe results, recover from errors, and return artifacts.**
+**Turn Open WebUI into a full agent harness: the control layer, the action layer, and the feedback loop between them.**
 
-[Open Terminal](/features/open-terminal) is the computer substrate for Open WebUI agents: files, shell, package manager, running processes, document and data handling, generated artifacts, and live previews. It is named after the terminal, but the point is broader than a shell panel. It gives the model a stateful workspace where it can create, run, inspect, repair, and hand back something usable.
+[Open Terminal](/features/open-terminal) is the action layer that completes Open WebUI's harness. Open WebUI already has the model, chat, prompts, knowledge, tools, MCP connections, memory, users, permissions, automations, and workflow controls. Open Terminal adds the computer substrate: files, shell, package manager, running processes, document and data handling, generated artifacts, and live previews.
+
+It is named after the terminal, but the point is broader than a shell panel. It gives the model a stateful workspace where it can create, run, inspect, repair, and hand back something usable.
 
 Use it when a chat needs more than a text answer: analyze a spreadsheet, write a script, build a small app, render a report, inspect logs, run tests, organize files, or start a server and preview the result. Open WebUI stays the interface; Open Terminal gives the agent a workspace where those results can actually be produced.
 
 [Terminals](/features/open-terminal/terminals/) is the enterprise orchestrator for Open Terminal. It turns one agent workspace into a managed fleet: separate workspaces per user and policy, controlled images, resource limits, storage, environment variables, security context, idle cleanup, refreshes, and scheduled resets.
 
 :::tip Looking for your own machine in a browser?
-Open Terminal gives **AI** an execution workspace inside Open WebUI. [Open WebUI Computer](/ecosystem/computer) gives **you** your real machine in a browser: files, editor, terminal, git, and optional AI. See [Computer, Open WebUI, or Open Terminal?](/ecosystem/computer/choose) for the short comparison.
+Open Terminal gives **AI** a computer substrate inside Open WebUI's harness. [Open WebUI Computer](/ecosystem/computer) gives **you** your real machine in a browser: files, editor, terminal, git, and optional AI. See [Computer, Open WebUI, or Open Terminal?](/ecosystem/computer/choose) for the short comparison.
 :::
 
 ## The Familiar Words
 
-If you have heard people talk about agentic workflows, tool use, computer use, runtimes, guardrails, and orchestration, this is where Open Terminal and Terminals fit.
+If you have heard people talk about agent harnesses, agentic workflows, tool use, computer use, runtimes, guardrails, and orchestration, this is where Open Terminal and Terminals fit.
 
 | Term people use | What it means here |
 | :--- | :--- |
+| **Agent harness** | Open WebUI plus Open Terminal: control/context/tooling from Open WebUI, real action and observation in Open Terminal |
 | **Agentic workflow** | The model plans, takes an action, observes the result, and keeps going instead of returning one static answer |
 | **Tool use / function calling** | Open WebUI lets the model call tools; Open Terminal gives those tools a real filesystem, shell, and process environment |
 | **Computer use** | The agent works inside a computer-like workspace: files, commands, packages, previews, and generated artifacts |
-| **Agent runtime** | Open Terminal is the execution runtime where stateful, tool-heavy work happens between model calls |
+| **Agent runtime** | The loop and state around the model; Open Terminal supplies the OS-level action workspace inside it |
 | **Stateful session** | The workspace keeps files, output, processes, and task context around long enough for multi-step work |
 | **Guardrails / human review** | Open WebUI controls the user, model, tool, and approval layer; Terminals controls the workspace boundary by policy |
 | **Orchestration** | Terminals provisions, routes, isolates, refreshes, and cleans up Open Terminal workspaces for teams |
@@ -79,7 +82,7 @@ Use Terminals when agent workspaces need to be provisioned, isolated, reused, re
 
 ## How To Think About It
 
-Open WebUI is the front door for models, chats, prompts, knowledge, users, permissions, automations, tools, approvals, and shared workflows. Open Terminal supplies the missing operating-system-shaped runtime behind the chat.
+Open WebUI is the control side of the harness: models, chats, prompts, knowledge, users, permissions, automations, tools, approvals, and shared workflows. Open Terminal supplies the missing operating-system-shaped action layer behind the chat.
 
 That one addition changes what Open WebUI can be used for. A model can move from explaining the next step to taking the next step: create the file, run the command, inspect the failure, fix it, and return the finished artifact.
 
@@ -104,7 +107,7 @@ For teams, the same model becomes infrastructure:
 | Open Terminal workspace | Files, shell, processes, packages, code execution, previews, and artifacts |
 | Policy | Image, tools, limits, storage, env vars, security context, and idle timeout |
 
-In agentic-infrastructure terms: Open WebUI is the control plane, Open Terminal is the computer substrate, and Terminals is the fleet manager for those substrates.
+In harness-engineering terms: Open WebUI plus Open Terminal is the full harness, Open Terminal is the computer substrate inside it, and Terminals is the fleet manager for those substrates.
 
 ## Operate It Safely