The words Orvial uses, and what they mean.

Orvial brings the two together: one Scene, resolved against whichever Environment exists right now.

Scene

What is a Scene in Orvial?

A Scene is the workspace you want for an activity.

Development, Research, Finance, Present, Writing. A Scene holds the desired state for everything that belongs to that activity — which applications, which windows, and where each of them belongs.

“A Scene remembers how you want to work.”

Environment

What is an Environment in Orvial?

An Environment is the physical setup available right now.

Home, Office, Mobile, Meeting Room. An Environment describes the displays in front of you and the role each one plays.

“An Environment describes where you are working.”

Display Role

What is a display role?

A display role is the job a screen does in a Scene, rather than which physical screen it happens to be.

A Scene can ask for reference material on a secondary display without knowing whether that display is a 27-inch monitor at home or the right-hand third of an ultrawide at the office. Roles are what let one Scene resolve against different desks.

Gravity

What is Gravity in Orvial?

Gravity is where a window naturally belongs.

You do not need a whole Scene to fix one window. Gravity is the fast everyday placement layer — left half, right half, the next display — for when only one thing is wrong.

“Gravity puts a window where it belongs.”

Drift

What does drift mean in Orvial?

Drift is what has happened when reality has moved away from the workspace you intended.

Applications open, a cable is unplugged, a meeting starts. Nothing broke; the desk simply stopped matching the intent. Work creates drift.

Alignment

What does alignment mean in Orvial?

Alignment is when the workspace matches the intended state.

It is the outcome the whole product exists to reach, and the reason the promise is 'Your workspace, perfectly aligned.'

Cue

What is a Cue in Orvial?

A Cue is something that tells Orvial it may be time to change the workspace.

A display is connected, an Environment changes, an application opens, a Mac wakes. A Cue is a reason to consider acting — not a licence to rearrange your desktop on its own.

“Cues let Orvial respond to the moments that matter.”

Verification

What does Orvial mean by verification?

Verification is re-reading the real workspace after acting, and reporting only what the evidence supports.

An API call that returns successfully does not prove a window ended up where it belongs. Orvial is being designed to distinguish outcomes that were confirmed from outcomes that were merely attempted.

Orbit

What is an Orbit in Orvial?

An Orbit is a set of things that belong together.

Communication tools, development tools, research references. A reusable grouping that a Scene can call on.

A future concept. Orbit is not part of the first release.

Context

What is Context in Orvial?

Context is what is happening inside an application or document, beyond where its window sits.

The project that was open, the workbook and worksheet, the browser profile, the page in a PDF.

“Eventually Orvial should restore not only where your work is, but where you were in it.”

A roadmap direction, not a first-release promise.

Ask Orvial

What is Ask Orvial?

Ask Orvial is a planned way to request a workspace in your own words.

Asking for the workspace you want, rather than configuring it.

A future surface. It is not how Orvial works today, and it is not the basic explanation of the product.

The engine behind these words is described on how it works, and the permissions it needs are on permissions.