Home/ Part XV — Troubleshooting, Checklists, and Reference/48. Glossary and Quick Reference/48.1 Key terms: tokens, context, temperature, tools, RAG

48.1 Key terms: tokens, context, temperature, tools, RAG

Overview and links for this section of the guide.

Key Terms

Term Definition
Token A chunk of text (~4 characters). Models count input/output in tokens.
Context Window Maximum tokens the model can process at once (e.g., 128K, 1M).
Temperature Randomness in output. 0 = deterministic, 1 = creative.
Top-K Only consider the top K most likely tokens.
Top-P Only consider tokens with cumulative probability P.
System Instruction Prompt that defines the model's behavior for all turns.
Few-Shot Including examples in the prompt to teach the model.
Zero-Shot Asking the model without examples.
Chain-of-Thought Asking the model to think step-by-step.
RAG Retrieval-Augmented Generation. Inject retrieved docs into prompt.
Embedding Vector representation of text for similarity search.
Function Calling Model can request to call external functions/tools.
Grounding Connecting model output to real data sources.
Hallucination Model confidently stating false information.
Prompt Injection Malicious input that hijacks model behavior.

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