Glossary¶

Shared vocabulary used across the orchard. Where vendors use different names for the same idea, the neutral term is listed first.

Connection & transport¶

LAN mode / LAN-only mode — the printer setting that disables the vendor cloud and allows direct local-network access. Nearly every brand has one, usually paired with a per-device local credential (see access code). Names vary ("LAN Only", "Developer Mode", "LAN mode") but the posture is the same: cloud off, local access via a code.
Access code / auth code / check code — the per-device local credential a user reads from their own printer to authenticate a LAN connection. A user secret; never shipped in this orchard.
Discovery — how a client finds printers on the network: mDNS/Bonjour, SSDP, UDP broadcast, or manual IP entry. Many brands support only manual IP; some add a broadcast.
Poll vs push — whether the printer pushes state changes (MQTT/WebSocket subscriptions) or must be polled (periodic HTTP/serial queries). See poll-synth.
Poll-synth (synthesized state feed) — when a printer only supports polling, the client polls on a cadence and synthesizes a change-event stream from the diffs. The standard shape for HTTP-poll and serial printers.

Klipper / Moonraker — a popular open firmware (Klipper) fronted by an HTTP+WebSocket API server (Moonraker, usually :7125). Many brands ship it (sometimes locked down); if a printer speaks Moonraker, most "different" vendors collapse to the same protocol.
Marlin — classic firmware controlled by G-code over USB serial (no network of its own). The one non-network paradigm.
RepRapFirmware (RRF) / Duet — firmware with a rich Object Model; a toolchanger leader.
G-code flavor — which dialect the printer expects (klipper, marlin, reprapfirmware, …); a strong tell for which protocol stack it runs.

Feeder / MMU (multi-material unit) — hardware that presents multiple filament inputs to one hotend (a color changer). Bank of spools → shared nozzle. Examples: Bambu AMS, Anycubic ACE, Elegoo CANVAS, Creality CFS, ERCF, Box Turtle, Happy-Hare-driven units.
Capability provider vs hardware — for DIY MMUs, the software framework (e.g. Happy Hare) is the capability provider that exposes a uniform interface, and the physical unit (ERCF, Box Turtle, …) is an implementation behind it. Detect the provider, not each hardware model.
Toolchanger — multiple physical toolheads that dock/undock, each with its own hotend and per-tool XYZ offset. Distinct from an MMU (which is N inputs → 1 hotend).
IDEX (Independent Dual Extruder) — two independent X carriages. Supports duplication (both print the same object), mirror, and independent (each prints a different object at once — a concurrent-jobs idea, not just a motion mode).
Splicer — a device (e.g. Palette) that joins multiple filaments into one stream before the printer; the printer sees a single spool and is blind to the multi-material.
Slot / lane / gate / tray — a single filament position in a feeder. Slot map / color map / ams_mapping — the print-time assignment of sliced colors/tools to physical slots.

Print launch — the sequence to start a job: usually upload the sliced file (HTTP multipart / FTPS / SD) then issue a start command. Some printers need a two-step upload; some print from SD after transfer.
Sliced file — a .gcode or .gcode.3mf produced by a slicer; carries thumbnails, per-tool filament usage (; filament used [mm]/[g]), and metadata that the wire often doesn't report.

See patterns/timing-normalization.md. Key trap: time fields are in minutes on some brands, seconds on others, and milliseconds ("ticks") on a third — and progress is time-based on some, file-byte-position on others (so ETA-from-progress is wrong for the latter).