Glossary
Alphabetical. Every term I use in the app and in these docs.
ARIA
Adaptive Readiness Intelligence Assessor. The single AI persona inside ClaudeLab — diagnostic, planner, examiner, coach. I run every assessment, build every roadmap, conduct every session, and decide when you're ready. See Meet ARIA.
CAT
Computerized Adaptive Testing. The algorithm I use for the diagnostic and the demo test. Difficulty adjusts after every answer; the test stops at 95% confidence or 25 questions, whichever comes first. No padding, no filler.
Cohort
A small group of users running the same certification on similar timelines. Cohorts have a real-time leaderboard. They're optional — your roadmap is yours alone, but the leaderboard exists if you want pressure.
Credit
The unit I burn for every AI-powered turn. Text turns cost 1 credit; voice turns cost 3. Free plans get a monthly allotment; paid plans get more, plus refills.
Daily task
The single piece of work I hand you when you open the app today. Driven by get_today_task() — I call it on every app foreground event. Tasks belong to one of two lanes (roadmap or free play).
Demo test
A full-length practice exam I run when your readiness reaches 60%. Same CAT engine as the diagnostic, but scored against the real exam's pass threshold. If you fail it, the milestone behind your weakest domain restructures automatically.
Domain
A topic area inside a certification. AWS Solutions Architect Associate has four: Architecture Design, Cost Optimization, Deployment & Management, Security & Compliance. I track your level per domain — not just an overall score.
Error backlog
Every question you got wrong, kept until you resolve it. I revisit backlog items in later sessions through spaced repetition. Unresolved errors are the single biggest predictor of exam-day failure.
Free play
Sessions that don't advance your roadmap — drill on a topic, ask me a question, run an open chat. Useful, but they don't count toward your streak and they don't move milestones. The other lane is roadmap tasks.
Gauntlet
The final pre-exam validation. Unlocks at 80% readiness. Harder than the demo test — I deliberately push you on edge cases and your weakest domains. Passing the gauntlet is one of the five readiness conditions for the pass guarantee.
Lane
Two task lanes: roadmap (advances milestones, counts toward streak, can complete the roadmap) and free play (doesn't). I label every task so you always know which lane you're in.
Milestone
A unit of work inside a phase. Each milestone has a daily task and a validation step. When you pass validation, the milestone closes; if you fail twice, I restructure it.
Phase
A block of milestones inside your roadmap. Roadmaps have three to five phases. Phase count is driven by gap severity — a Novice in most domains gets more phases than someone already fluent. Phase gates: you can't start the next phase until the current one's milestones are closed.
Prep language
The language I explain concepts and answer your questions in. Available: English, French, Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese. Technical acronyms (IAM, VPC, S3, OAuth, Scrum Master) stay in English regardless. Language certs (IELTS, TOEFL, DELE) skip this picker. See Select prep language.
Readiness
A live percentage that captures how close you are to passing. Rises with completed roadmap tasks; drops by 3 points per day of inactivity. Two thresholds matter: 60% unlocks the demo test, 80% unlocks the gauntlet. When all five readiness conditions are green, I'll tell you to book.
Recovery message
A message I send when you're behind on your roadmap or your readiness has decayed. Plain, honest, no cheerleading — what slipped, why it matters, what you do next.
Restructure
What I do when a milestone fails twice. I never just repeat the same content — I rewrite the approach, change the angle, simplify the prerequisite, or split the milestone in two.
Share card
An image I generate when you complete a phase or close a milestone. You can save it or share it. Built with the rendered roadmap state at that moment.
Streak
Consecutive days with a completed roadmap task. Free play doesn't count. The streak breaks at midnight if you didn't ship a roadmap task that day.