# Core concepts (/getting-started/core-concepts)



Ciele uses a small set of terms consistently across the whole product. Learning
them once makes every other page easier to follow.

## Organization [#organization]

An Organization is your workspace. It owns your assistants, your members, your
help desks, and your data. Everything you create belongs to one organization, and
data stays isolated between organizations.

## Member and Role [#member-and-role]

A Member is a person who belongs to your organization. Each member has a Role that
controls what they can see and change. Roles range from full control to view only
access. See [Members and roles](/organization/members-and-roles).

## Assistant [#assistant]

An Assistant is a single AI chat experience: a widget that visitors talk to. An
organization can have many assistants, each with its own name, knowledge, rules,
and appearance. You configure an assistant in its editor, which has a live
preview on the right.

## Visitor and Conversation [#visitor-and-conversation]

A Visitor is anyone who talks to a published assistant. A Conversation is the
full exchange between a visitor and an assistant, including every message, the
sources cited, and any escalation. Conversations appear in the Inbox.

## Knowledge and Source [#knowledge-and-source]

Knowledge is everything an assistant can draw on to answer: websites, files, and
FAQs. When the assistant uses a piece of knowledge in an answer, it can cite the
Source, so the visitor sees where the information came from.

## Flow and Default behavior [#flow-and-default-behavior]

A Flow is a rule. It has a description of the kind of message it handles, optional
conditions, and a set of actions to run. Flows are ordered, and the first one that
matches wins. The Default behavior is the built in rule at the very end that
handles any message no flow matched.

## Flow action [#flow-action]

A Flow action is one step the assistant runs when a flow matches. Examples include
sending a fixed message, searching your knowledge, showing buttons, or escalating.
See [Flow actions](/flows/actions).

## Help Desk [#help-desk]

A Help Desk is an escalation destination that belongs to your organization. It
groups one or more channels, such as email or live chat, that a visitor can use
to reach your team. Assistants choose which help desks they offer. See
[Help Desks](/help-desks).

## Widget [#widget]

The Widget is the assistant as your visitors see it: the launch button and the
chat window on your site. You control its colors and position, and you publish it
with an embed snippet.

## Improvement [#improvement]

An Improvement is a tracked item for making answers better. It can be created
automatically when an answer falls short or a visitor escalates, or manually when
someone flags an answer. Improvements move through a simple board from open to
done. See [Improvements](/operations/improvements).