Glossary

A

AI agent

An AI assistant that can take actions, such as running tools or editing files, rather than only chatting. Claude Code, Cursor and Codex are examples. Zeus is a tool that agents use for downloading.

Apache-2.0also: license

A permissive open-source license. It lets anyone use, study, change and share the software, and includes a patent grant. Zeus is licensed under Apache-2.0.

Approval

A yes or no that only a person can give, shown with the exact facts of the request. In Zeus an approval is tied to those facts with a fingerprint, so a changed request needs a new approval.

B

BLAKE3

A cryptographic hash function designed for speed. Zeus computes BLAKE3 alongside SHA-256 for every file it finishes.

Browser extension

A small add-on for Chrome or Edge. The Zeus extension rescues failed downloads and, with your approval, lets Zeus use a website session. It has no access to page contents or browsing history.

C

Checksumalso: hash, fingerprint

A short value calculated from a file’s contents. If even one byte changes, the checksum changes, which is how Zeus checks that a file arrived intact.

Consent scopealso: grant

How long an approval lasts: once, for a website for 24 hours, for one workflow, or never (a block). You can revoke any scope at any time.

Cookie

A small piece of data a website stores in your browser, often to remember that you are signed in. Zeus uses a site’s cookies only after you approve that site, keeps them in memory and never saves them.

D

Download manager

Software that downloads files more reliably than a browser: resuming, splitting files into parts and retrying. Zeus is a download manager designed for AI agents and for safety with logins.

E

Expiring linkalso: signed URL

A download address that only works for a short time. Zeus is designed to ask the browser extension for a fresh link and continue where it stopped; this is still being connected.

J

Journal

Zeus’s crash-safe record of which parts of each file are saved. The journal is written in a fixed order so that a crash or power cut does not make Zeus believe it has bytes it does not have.

K

Kill switch

One action that withdraws every active permission and pauses every download, available from the app and the extension.

L

Local-first

Software that runs on your own computer and keeps your data there, working without any cloud service. Zeus is local-first.

M

MCP (Model Context Protocol)

An open standard that lets AI apps use tools and data sources. Zeus offers its download tools through MCP, so any MCP-capable assistant can use it.

MCP tool

One action an AI can call through MCP. Zeus’s tools have names such as zeus_probe, zeus_enqueue, zeus_status and zeus_session_request.

N

Native messaging

The official, private channel between a browser extension and an app on the same computer. The Zeus extension talks to the Zeus app only this way, never over the internet.

O

Open source

Software whose source code anyone can read, check and improve. For a tool that may handle your logins, it means you do not have to take our word for anything.

P

Pre-alpha

An early stage: the software runs and has automated tests, but it has not been tried on many machines, parts are unfinished and anything may change. Zeus 0.0.1a is a pre-alpha release, for trying out.

Prompt injection

A trick where text on a web page or in a file tries to give an AI new instructions. Zeus labels everything that comes from the web as untrusted data and never lets an AI approve anything, so injected text cannot unlock your logins.

Provenance

The record of where a file came from: its source address (with secrets removed), when it was fetched, by which tool and with what fingerprint. Zeus keeps a provenance receipt for each file.

Q

Quarantine mark

A flag the operating system puts on downloaded files so it can warn before you open them. Zeus sets it the way Windows and macOS expect.

R

Range request

A request for only part of a file, from one byte to another. It is what makes resuming and parallel parts possible.

Resumable download

A download that can continue from where it stopped instead of starting again. Zeus checks the server’s file has not changed before resuming.

robots.txt

A file where websites say which pages automated tools may visit. Zeus follows it by default when it collects many files from a site.

S

Segmented downloadalso: parallel parts

Fetching different parts of one file at the same time and joining them on disk. Zeus limits the number of parts per file and per server.

SHA-256

The most widely used cryptographic hash function. Many websites publish a SHA-256 value next to a download; Zeus can check it for you.

T

Telemetry

Data an app sends back to its makers about how it is used. Zeus has none, and neither does this website.

W

Website session

The state that keeps you signed in to a site. Zeus can borrow a session through the extension, only for a site you approved, and only for minutes at a time.