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.
On this page
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. |