Squarebox is a portable, containerized development environment whose installation, persistent user state, optional tools, and published releases must behave as one managed system across Docker, Podman, Compose, and Dev Containers. Published Candidate bytes are immutable by digest; rebuilding mutable base/APT inputs is not promised to reproduce those bytes.
Box: A runnable Squarebox development environment made from an image, persistent home, workspace, and managed configuration. Avoid: Container, sandbox, instance when referring to the complete user environment
Candidate: An exact source revision, multi-architecture image digest, and matched installer assets being evaluated for publication. Avoid: Build, tag when the complete releaseable identity is meant
Release: A Candidate that passed its required evidence and is discoverable through published release metadata. Avoid: Raw tag, latest commit
Install identity: The durable record of the runtime, paths, resource names, source revision, host identity, observed image identity, and lifecycle preferences (such as the opt-in SSH-directory mount) managed by one Squarebox installation. Release pulls record an immutable digest; source/edge builds record their local image ID and reference. Avoid: Installer environment, defaults
Managed resource: A file, directory, container, image reference, or volume whose ownership by an Install identity has been recorded and verified. Avoid: Any resource with a familiar fixed name
Managed home: The persistent user-home volume that survives Box replacement and holds user-owned configuration, authentication, toolchains, and history. Avoid: Home directory when persistence semantics matter
Workspace: The host-owned project tree exposed inside a Box for development work. Avoid: Squarebox state directory
Selection: A user's desired optional tools, SDKs, multiplexers, and shell for a Box. Avoid: Installed state
Observed state: The tools and generated configuration actually present and usable in the current Box and Managed home. Avoid: Saved Selection
Evidence: A machine-readable assertion emitted by the exact scenario that exercised a release requirement. Avoid: Green job, inferred pass
Tool tier: The lifecycle that owns a tool: image tier, Box tier, or Managed-home tier. Avoid: Core/optional when update and persistence behavior is meant