Guide / Start here

Words used in this guide

Every technical word the guide uses, explained once in plain language.

Free

The words are in alphabetical order. Each entry says what the word means and where to read more.

Baseline

A file that lists the problems a project already has. With a baseline, penstock check fails only on new problems. See Pipelines, reports and the bot.

BPMN

Business Process Model and Notation. A standard way to draw a process as boxes and arrows. A BPMN file is XML with the drawing coordinates inside. See BPMN elements.

bpmnlint

A tool that reads a BPMN file and lists modelling mistakes, such as a task with no name. Penstock has it built in. See Validation.

Business rule task

A task that calls a decision (a DMN table) and stores the answer in a variable.

Camunda

A company and a family of process engines. Camunda 7 and Camunda 8 are two different engines with two different ways to write a diagram. See Engines.

Check

The list of what is wrong with a diagram. In the editor it is a card with the first findings and the Problems tab with all of them. In a terminal it is penstock check. See Diagram check.

CI, pipeline

A program on a server that runs your checks every time you push code. Penstock treats a run as a pipeline when the environment variable CI is set. See Pipelines, reports and the bot.

Comment

A short note on one element of a diagram, kept in the file. See Comments.

Delegate

A Java class that Camunda 7 calls to do the work of a service task. See Code links.

Deploy

Send a diagram to an engine so the engine can run it. See Deployment.

DMN

Decision Model and Notation. A standard way to write business rules as tables. A DMN file has the extension .dmn. See The DMN editor.

DRD, requirements diagram

The diagram of a DMN file that shows which decisions need which other decisions and inputs. See The DMN editor.

Element template

A JSON file that describes a ready-made task, for example "send an e-mail". You pick it, fill in a few fields and the task is configured. See Element templates.

Engine

The server that runs your processes. Penstock supports Camunda 7, Camunda 8, Operaton and CIB seven. See Engines.

External task, topic

A Camunda 7 way to do the work of a service task outside the engine. The task names a topic. A worker asks the engine for tasks on that topic.

FEEL

The expression language of Camunda 8 and of DMN. An example is = amount > 100.

Camunda Form

A user form described in a .form file. A user task shows it. See The form editor.

Gateway

A diamond in a diagram where the path splits or joins.

Hit policy

A rule in a decision table that says what happens when several rows match. For example, FIRST takes the first matching row.

Tool, host

The program you use Penstock in. That is a JetBrains IDE, VS Code, or the penstock command line. Features work the same in each. See JetBrains and Command line.

Job type, job worker

The Camunda 8 way to do the work of a service task outside the engine. The task names a job type. A job worker asks the engine for jobs of that type and completes them. See Code links.

JUEL

The expression language of Camunda 7. An example is ${amount > 100}.

Monitor

A view that shows what the engine is doing with this diagram right now: how many instances wait at each step and where the incidents are. See Monitor.

MCP

Model Context Protocol. A way for an AI assistant to use a program's tools. penstock mcp lets an assistant read, check and edit your diagrams. See The MCP server.

Problems tab

The tab of the sidebar that lists every finding of the check, in groups. See Diagram check and The sidebar.

Pool, lane

A pool is a big box around one participant's process. A lane is a row inside a pool, usually one per role.

Process instance

One run of a process. If a process is a recipe, an instance is one meal cooked from it.

Profile

Two different things share this word. An engine profile is the kind of diagram Penstock builds: Classic, Camunda 7 or Camunda 8. A deployment profile is a named set of settings in penstock.yaml, such as prod. See Engines and Profiles.

SARIF

A file format for tool findings that GitHub reads and shows as notes on a pull request. See Pipelines, reports and the bot.

Scenario

One way through a process, with the variables it starts with and an answer for each task. Flow analysis finds the scenarios of a diagram, and Generate turns them into runnable ones. See Scenarios.

Service task

A task done by a program instead of a person.

Sidebar

The column beside the canvas, with a row of tabs for the properties, scenarios, problems, comments, Monitor and code of a diagram. See The sidebar.

Token

The marker that shows where a process instance is. Token simulation moves a token through the diagram so you can watch. See Token simulation.

Trace paths

Shows every path that runs through a chosen step and dims the rest of the diagram. See Trace paths.

Try tab

The tab of the decision editor that runs a decision table against values you type. See The DMN editor.

User task

A task done by a person, usually with a form.

Worker

A program that does the work of a service task. It is a job worker on Camunda 8 and an external task worker on Camunda 7. See Code links.

XML

The text format a BPMN file is stored in. The Text tab shows it.