[New to ICP?]
> A–Z Definitions
> Actor Model
The programming paradigm used by Motoko. Every canister is an "actor" — an isolated object that communicates by sending and receiving asynchronous messages. No shared state, no concurrency bugs.
> Caffeine
An AI-powered builder for the Internet Computer that creates full-stack apps (React frontend + Motoko backend) from natural language prompts. No coding required.
> Canister
A smart contract on ICP that combines code + state + computation. Think of it as a self-sovereign mini-server that runs forever, scales automatically, and stores its own data.
> Cycles
The "gas" that powers computation on ICP. Every canister needs cycles to run. Think of them as the fuel your app burns to serve requests. You top up canisters with cycles using ICP tokens.
> DAO
Decentralized Autonomous Organization. A governance system where token holders vote on proposals to control software upgrades, treasury spending, and protocol rules — no company required.
> ICP Tokens
The native cryptocurrency of the Internet Computer. Used to buy cycles, vote in governance (via the NNS), stake neurons, and participate in SNS DAOs.
> Internet Identity
ICP's built-in, passwordless authentication system. Uses passkeys (Face ID, Touch ID, hardware keys) instead of passwords. No tracking, no third-party login.
> NNS (Network Nervous System)
The on-chain governance system that controls the Internet Computer protocol itself. ICP token holders vote on proposals to upgrade nodes, set economic parameters, and more.
> Orthogonal Persistence
The property that makes stable vars work. The IC runtime automatically saves and restores canister state across upgrades and restarts, as if the program never stopped running.
> Principal
A unique identity on ICP. Can represent a user (Internet Identity), a canister, or a developer key. Every message sent on ICP is signed by a principal.
> Prompt Engineering
The skill of giving clear, structured instructions to an AI builder (like Caffeine) to get the best possible output. The core skill taught in this guide.
> SNS (Service Nervous System)
A framework for launching a DAO to govern a specific app on ICP. OpenChat uses an SNS DAO, as does NationOS (in development).
> Stable Variable (stable var)
A Motoko keyword that marks a variable as persistent. When a canister is upgraded, normal variables reset to zero. Stable variables survive upgrades automatically — no migration scripts needed.
> Subnet
A group of nodes that collectively run a set of canisters. ICP is made of many subnets; each subnet replicates all its canisters across all its nodes for redundancy.
> WebAssembly (Wasm)
The bytecode format that canisters compile to. Motoko compiles to Wasm, which the IC runtime executes. It's platform-neutral, fast, and deterministic.
[Use These in Your Prompts]