> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.earthcare.network/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Concepts & glossary

> The shared vocabulary for Earth Care Network — the same words mean the same thing whether you're in sales, on the founding team, or writing code.

This is the **common ground**: one definition per term, so business and engineering
talk about the same thing. Each entry links to where it's documented in depth.

## Prospecting

<a id="buying-signal" />

**Buying signal** — Public evidence that someone is in-market *right now*: a kitchen-
remodel project posted this week, a fund announcing a new thesis, a job opening that
implies a purchase. ECN keeps the source (platform, snippet, link) so you can verify
it. → [How it works](/business/how-it-works) · [Prospecting engine](/guides/prospecting-engine)

<a id="prospect-score" />

**Prospect Score** — An explainable 0–100 ranking. It starts from how well a prospect
fits your Ideal Customer Profile, then **rises with live buying intent that's decayed by
recency** (a signal from this week counts fully; a stale one fades). Intent only ever
*lifts* a prospect — a weak signal never drags a strong fit down. Small bonuses reward
reachability and decision-power. → [Prospecting engine](/guides/prospecting-engine)

<a id="why-now" />

**Why-now** — The one-line, citeable reason a prospect is recommended *now* (e.g.
"🔥 active buying signal on Houzz, 3d ago · strong ICP fit"). Always present, built
from the real signals — not marketing fluff.

<a id="next-action" />

**Next action** — The suggested move for a prospect given its strongest dimension
(e.g. "Reach out now — reference their recent post").

<a id="icp" />

**ICP (Ideal Customer Profile)** — The picture of who you're trying to reach: firmographics
plus the intent keywords a real buyer uses. For a regenerative business, fit includes
**values alignment**, not just company size.

## Trust & money

<a id="managed-credits" />

**Managed credits** — The hosted billing model: ECN provides the AI keys and meters your
usage in credits at cost-plus. → [Pricing](/business/pricing) · [Metering](/guides/metering-credits)

<a id="byok" />

**BYOK / self-host** — Bring Your Own Keys. In the self-host (Community) edition you run
ECN with your own AI provider keys and pay providers directly — \$0 to ECN for AI usage.
Not a hosted feature. → [BYOK & self-host](/self-host/byok)

<a id="cost-plus" />

**Cost-plus metering** — Pricing that tracks the *real* provider cost of each action, so
you're never billed below cost. Every AI action writes an immutable usage record.

<a id="approval-gated" />

**Approval-gated** — AI-drafted outreach is held as a draft until a human approves it;
nothing in the prospecting pipeline sends on its own. → [Security](/mcp/security)

<a id="values-alignment" />

**Values alignment** — ECN's shared-value thesis: Jaguar shapes your ICP/fit around
mission alignment and exposes explicit values filters for recruiting and fundraising.

## Affiliate & ambassador

<a id="affiliate" />

**Affiliate / ambassador** — Someone who refers businesses (or customers) and earns
commission. An *ambassador* is the person-to-person version, often inviting a specific
business owner to claim their listing. → [Ambassador overview](/ambassadors/overview)

<a id="commission" />

**Commission** — What you earn on a conversion: a percent of the sale or a fixed amount.
Kinds include the sale commission, a first-introducer bonus, a mentee override, and a
wellness-pool contribution.

<a id="volume-tier" />

**Volume tier** — A higher commission rate unlocked by referring more. Programs run either
flat (one rate) or tiered.

<a id="referral" />

**Referral** — An attributed journey from a click on your link → lead → converted customer.
Referrals expire after a program-set window.

<a id="first-introducer" />

**First-introducer bonus** — A bonus for being the first to bring a business in.

<a id="mentee-override" />

**Mentee override** — If you mentor another ambassador, you earn an override on what they refer.

<a id="wellness-pool" />

**Wellness pool** — A transparent shared pool some programs contribute a slice of
commissions to — collaborative rather than zero-sum.

## The platform

<a id="jaguar" />

**Jaguar** — Your proactive, consultative AI growth partner. It runs the prospecting
engine and delegates to read-only specialists (sales, recruiting, operations, fundraising).
→ [Architecture](/get-started/architecture)

<a id="context-pack" />

**Context Pack** — The AI-ready, structured profile of a business that agents read.
AI-authored content enters as `seeded` and is never auto-marked verified. → [Context](/data-model/context)

<a id="ai-gateway" />

**AI Gateway** — The single path every AI call goes through: it resolves keys, checks
your budget, runs the call, and meters it. Why metering is trustworthy. → [Architecture](/get-started/architecture#the-ai-gateway-is-sacred)

<a id="mcp" />

**MCP (Model Context Protocol)** — The open standard that lets AI clients (Claude Code,
Cursor) use your ECN workspace as tools. → [MCP overview](/mcp/overview)

<a id="murmurations" />

**Murmurations** — The open, federated directory network ECN publishes to, so your
business profile is portable and not locked into ECN.