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Glossary

The vocabulary, defined rather than sold

Most of these terms are used loosely, and several are used to mean two different things in the same sentence. Each entry says what the word denotes, where the boundary with the neighbouring term falls, and what it does not promise.

How to read these entries

Definitions, not comparisons

An entry describes the term. Where two terms are routinely confused, it names the distinction and stops there. The argument for one approach over another belongs in an article, not in a definition.

Including what a word does not mean

Several of these terms are worth knowing mostly for what they fail to promise. Data residency is the clearest case: it answers where, and reviews that stop there have answered the easier question.

Mechanisms, not evasion

Bot detection and fingerprinting are here because a reader who does not understand the mechanism cannot reason about why their automation is failing. Neither entry describes how to defeat it, and we do not sell that.

Dated, because the ground moves

Every entry carries the date it was last checked. In a category where the meaning of agentic changed twice in two years, an undated definition is a claim about a moment nobody can identify.

Try it against your own workload

Five browser hours, no card. The definitions are free; the useful test is pointing an existing script at a different endpoint.

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  • What is RPA (robotic process automation)?

    RPA automates work by replaying recorded interface steps. What it is genuinely good at, where it breaks, and how agents change the calculation.

  • What is a browser agent?

    A browser agent is a language model that decides what to do next in a live browser. How it differs from a script, and what breaks first.

  • What is a cloud browser?

    A cloud browser runs the engine on someone else's machine and gives you a protocol endpoint. What you gain, what you give up, what to check.

  • What is a headless browser?

    A headless browser is a real browser engine running without a visible window. What that means in practice, what it costs, and where it breaks.

  • What is agentic AI?

    Agentic AI describes systems that pursue a goal by choosing their own actions. What the word actually denotes and how to tell it from a chatbot.

  • What is bot detection?

    Bot detection is a site deciding whether a visitor is automated. What the signals are, why blocks happen, and the direction the web is moving.

  • What is browser fingerprinting?

    Fingerprinting identifies a browser from the properties it exposes, without cookies. How it works, what it is used for, and what it means for automation.

  • What is data extraction?

    Data extraction turns whatever a system will show you into a structured record. The sources, the methods, and how to keep the result trustworthy.

  • What is data residency?

    Data residency is where data physically sits. Why that is a weaker promise than sovereignty, and the questions a review should ask instead.

  • What is the Chrome DevTools Protocol?

    CDP is the wire protocol every browser automation tool speaks underneath. Its shape, its domains, and why it leaks through the libraries above it.

  • What is web crawling?

    Crawling is discovering pages by following links. How it differs from scraping, why frontier design matters, and how to crawl without causing harm.

  • What is web scraping?

    Web scraping is reading a page the way a browser does and keeping the parts you need. The method, the limits, and the legal questions worth asking.