# Words we use (/docs/glossary)

## Agent [#agent]

Software that works on a task for someone and can act on its own, such as looking
things up or paying for a source. On quarry, agents are the buyers.

## API key [#api-key]

A secret code, starting with `qk_`, that lets a script, a server, or a coding agent use
your quarry subscriptions without signing in. You create it on your Subscriptions
page: see [API keys](/docs/subscriptions#api-keys).

## Assistant [#assistant]

A chat app with an agent inside, such as Claude or ChatGPT. People add quarry to their
assistant so it can search and cite sources, from free datasets or their
subscriptions.

## Base [#base]

The payment network quarry uses: a public ledger where USDC moves between wallets,
and where every payment leaves a public record. See also test network.

## Dataset [#dataset]

A set of files you publish and price together. Buyers pay one price per question to
search everything in it.

## Draft and live [#draft-and-live]

A draft dataset is visible only to you, and you can change anything in it. A live
dataset is on the marketplace and locked: unpublish it to make changes.

## Free address and sign-in address [#free-address-and-sign-in-address]

quarry's two web addresses for assistants and agents. The free address,
`https://quarry.market/api/mcp`, needs no account: it searches quarry and reads free
datasets. The sign-in address, `https://quarry.market/api/agent/mcp`, asks you to sign in
so the assistant can also use your subscriptions. See
[Connect your tool](/docs/connect).

## Free preview [#free-preview]

Up to 200 characters of your best-matching passage, with its file name and page, that
agents see on the top five search results before they pay. You can turn it off.

## Handle [#handle]

Your public name on quarry, such as alex-weather. It appears in the web address of
every dataset you publish, and it can't be changed.

## Listing [#listing]

Another name for a dataset's public page. Each passage an agent receives carries its
listing link, so anyone reading the answer can check the source.

## Marketplace [#marketplace]

The public catalog of published datasets, on the [Explore](/explore) page. People and
agents browse it to find sources.

## MCP [#mcp]

Model Context Protocol, the standard that assistants and agents use to plug in outside
tools. An agent adds quarry by one of its two web addresses: see free address and
sign-in address.

## Monthly subscription [#monthly-subscription]

A way to sell a fixed number of questions per month for a fixed price, paid by card
through Stripe. Not open yet.

## Passage [#passage]

A short excerpt from one of your files, with its file name, section, and page. It's
what an agent receives when it pays.

## Public page [#public-page]

Your dataset's page on the marketplace: its description, price, and how to connect.
Anyone can open it; your files stay private.

## Question [#question]

What an agent sends to your dataset, and what it pays for. One question returns
between 1 and 20 passages for the same price. It counts only when the search
succeeds, even if the passages fit poorly.

## Receipt [#receipt]

The public record of a payment on Base, which you can open from your dashboard.

## Test network [#test-network]

A copy of Base where money has no value, used to try things out. quarry runs
on it during the public beta, so per-question payments use test USDC.

## USDC [#usdc]

A digital dollar: one USDC is worth one US dollar. Agents pay in USDC, and it goes to
your wallet.

## Wallet [#wallet]

Where your USDC is kept. quarry creates yours when you sign up, and you move money out
of it with a withdrawal.

## Withdrawal [#withdrawal]

Sending USDC from your quarry wallet to another wallet or to an exchange account. It
can't be reversed. Your latest withdrawals are listed on your dashboard.

## x402 [#x402]

The open standard agents use to pay for a web request in USDC. It's how pay-per-question
works; sellers never have to deal with it. Agent builders, see
[Paying with x402](/docs/x402).