Glossary

Every protocol term used in these docs is defined here, exactly once. If you see a term in another page that isn't linked, that's a bug — open an issue.

The rule: one canonical name per concept. We use the name on the left of each entry; alternate names (right of em-dash) are listed only so search finds them.

A

Agent (protocol role) — aka dACP agent, protocol agent

A registered entity that earns a fee for facilitating an exchange. Distinct from AI agent. Configured on an offer at creation time; the agent's wallet receives a percentage cut on completion. See Roles.

Agent (AI) — aka autonomous agent, agent

An AI program (Vercel AI · LangChain · Claude SDK · etc.) that calls Boson via MCP or the SDK. Never use "agent" without a qualifier in the same paragraph where the protocol role appears.

Atomic commit-and-redeem

A single transaction that both commits to an offer and redeems the voucher. Used for instant digital deliveries.

B

Buyer

The protocol entity that commits to an offer. Created on-chain via createBuyer(). One wallet can be both a buyer and a seller.

Bundle

An offer that ships multiple items together (e.g. a digital license + a physical t-shirt). Modeled by the BUNDLE metadata schema.

C

Commit

The act of a buyer accepting an offer. Burns the buyer's deposit into escrow, issues an rNFT to the buyer, and transitions the new exchange to COMMITTED.

ConfigId

A string that uniquely identifies a protocol deployment: ${envName}-${chainId}-${index} — e.g. production-137-0 (Polygon mainnet, index 0) or staging-84532-0 (Base Sepolia). Every SDK, MCP tool, and widget call takes one. Full list in Networks & ConfigIds.

Core SDK

The TypeScript SDK at @bosonprotocol/core-sdk. The primary developer entry point for human-facing apps. See Tooling → Core SDK.

D

dACP — Decentralized Agentic Commerce Protocol

Boson Protocol's product-tier name, emphasizing the agent-commerce thesis. In these docs, "Boson" and "dACP" are interchangeable; we prefer "Boson".

Diamond

The on-chain entry point. An EIP-2535 proxy aggregating 21 handler facets (offers, exchanges, disputes, funds, …). All write paths go through it. See Architecture.

Dispute resolver — DR

A third party registered on-chain to arbitrate disputed exchanges. Can be a centralised entity, a multisig, or an external decentralised arbitration system (e.g. Kleros).

E

EIP-712 typed-data

Signed structured data, used by Boson for meta-transactions and for FullOffer signing. See Signing & meta-transactions.

Escalation

A dispute that has run out the resolution window without mutual agreement is escalated to the dispute resolver for a binding decision.

Exchange

A specific, on-chain instance of a buyer's commitment to a seller's offer. Has a numeric exchangeId, a state, and links to a single buyer, seller, and offer. The unit of state in Boson. See Exchange state machine.

F

Facet

One of the 21 handler contracts that make up the Diamond. Each facet groups related entry points (e.g. OfferHandlerFacet, ExchangeHandlerFacet). See Reference → Contracts → Diamond facets.

Facilitator

In the x402 stack, a server that relays signed meta-transactions to the Diamond on behalf of buyers. Optional. See x402 → Facilitator.

Fermion — high-value asset module

A module of the protocol for premium / fractionalized assets, with additional roles (verifier, custodian). Surfaced as a separate MCP server. See Build for AI agents → High-value asset module.

FullOffer

A signed EIP-712 payload representing an offer that hasn't yet been written on-chain. Used for non-listed (private / EIP-712) flows and for x402.

G

GOAT SDK plugin

A drop-in plugin for the GOAT SDK that auto-registers all 56 Boson MCP tools for use with Vercel AI, LangChain, Anthropic SDK, etc. See Tooling → MCP.

I

Indexing lag

The 1–3 block delay between a transaction being mined and the subgraph reflecting its effects. The number-one footgun in agent code. Handle with coreSdk.waitForGraphNodeIndexing(blockNumber). See Eventing & indexing and Troubleshooting → Indexing lag.

M

MCP — Model Context Protocol

Anthropic's open protocol for exposing tools to LLM agents. Boson ships a hosted MCP server at boson-mcp-server-{staging,production}-…run.app/mcp with ~56 tools.

Meta-transaction

A transaction signed by one party (the user) but submitted on-chain by another (a relayer or facilitator). Enables gas-less UX. Boson supports direct meta-tx, Biconomy-relayed, and token-auth variants. See Signing & meta-transactions.

Metadata

Off-chain JSON describing an offer (title, description, images, attributes, contractual agreement). Pinned to IPFS; the URI is stored on-chain. Schemas: PRODUCT_V1, BUNDLE, BASE. See The metadata pipeline.

O

Offer

The seller's listing. Includes price, deposit, validity window, dispute resolver, metadata URI, and (optionally) a token-gating condition. Lives on-chain after createOffer().

Orchestration

A family of facets that atomically combine multiple operations (e.g. createOfferAndCommit(), createOfferCommitAndRedeem()). Used to reduce round-trips and to enable atomic commit-and-redeem.

P

Permit, Permit2, ERC-3009

Three on-chain token-authorization standards, all supported in Boson meta-transactions via the token-auth meta-tx flow. See Signing & meta-transactions.

Pre-minted voucher

A voucher rNFT minted before any buyer commits. Used for limited drops.

PRODUCT_V1

The canonical metadata schema for physical products. Distinct from BASE (minimum) and BUNDLE. See Reference → Metadata schemas.

R

Redemption

The buyer's act of claiming the goods or services. Transitions the exchange from COMMITTED to REDEEMED and starts the dispute window.

rNFT — redemption NFT, voucher

The ERC-721 token minted to the buyer's wallet when they commit. Burned on redemption. Within these docs, prefer "voucher" in user-facing copy and "rNFT" only when discussing on-chain mechanics.

Royalty recipient

An entity registered to receive a percentage of secondary sales. May be the seller or a third party.

S

Seller

The protocol entity that publishes offers. Created on-chain via createSeller(). Has an assistant key (operational signer) and an admin key (privileged signer).

Sequential commit

The protocol allows the same offer to be committed to by multiple buyers in sequence; each commit issues a new exchange. The protocol adds explicit batch / expiration semantics on top.

Subgraph

A Boson-maintained Graph Protocol deployment that indexes on-chain events and exposes a GraphQL API for reading offers, exchanges, disputes, etc. The SDK's Search, Marketplace, and per-domain subgraph modules hit this. Lags 1–3 blocks behind chain. See Eventing & indexing.

T

Token-gated offer

An offer with a condition that restricts who may commit (e.g. "must hold ≥ 1 of NFT X"). Configured at offer creation.

V

Voucher

See rNFT.

W

Web3LibAdapter

The pluggable interface that abstracts the Ethereum library (ethers v5 today; viem bridged via walletClientToWeb3LibAdapter()). CoreSDK is instantiated with one. See Reference → Core SDK → Adapters.

X

x402

x402.org is an open standard for in-band HTTP-402 payments. Boson's x402b repo extends it with on-chain escrow, fulfillment channels, and a facilitator service. See Build with x402.