Terms, defined once
48 terms that recur across the documentation and the product pages. Each definition stands on its own, so it can be quoted without the page around it, and each links onward to the guide or reference page where the term is used.
This glossary defines 48 terms in five groups: product and licensing, panel administration, DNS, certificates and mail, the Discord bot, and web and AI search. Each entry gives a one-sentence definition followed by the detail, points to the page where the term is used, and lists related terms. Entries are also published as DefinedTerm structured data.
Product and licensing
- Self-hosted#
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Software that runs on hardware the operator owns or rents directly, with no vendor-side runtime.
A self-hosted product is installed on your machine and executes there. No vendor database holds your records, no per-seat account system exists, and no service can revoke access to data already sitting on your disk. Both Vorqul products work this way: VorqulBOT runs as a Node process and VorqulPanel as a Java JAR.
- Server control panel#
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A single administrative interface for the services running on a Linux server.
A control panel puts web hosting, DNS, mail, databases, file access, firewall rules and monitoring behind one interface. Routine changes stop meaning a different config file for each subsystem. VorqulPanel covers those areas on one server and keeps its own data in SQLite, or in MySQL, MariaDB or PostgreSQL if you prefer.
- One-off license#
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A single purchase covering a deployment, rather than a recurring subscription.
VorqulPanel is licensed this way. You pay once per deployment, the price depends on how many servers it runs on, and you can keep using the version you bought without renewing. Redistribution, resale, sublicensing and re-hosting for third parties are excluded.
Related Self-hostedTelemetry
- Telemetry#
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Usage data sent from installed software back to its vendor.
Telemetry shows up in open and commercial software alike, and vendors usually call it anonymous. Vorqul products send none at all. That also means no runtime license check, and nothing that stops working if the vendor does.
Related Self-hostedAudit log
- Audit log#
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An append-only record of administrative actions, kept so that changes can be attributed after the fact.
Knowing a setting changed is one thing. Knowing who changed it, when and from where is what an audit log gives you. VorqulBOT writes one per guild and VorqulPanel writes one per server, and both stay on infrastructure the operator controls.
- Panel database#
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Where VorqulPanel keeps its own state: SQLite by default, with MySQL, MariaDB and PostgreSQL as options and SQL Server in beta.
It is separate from the databases the panel creates for your websites. Changing the engine later does not move data, so choose at install time with DB_ENGINE.
- Module switch#
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A setting that turns a whole part of VorqulPanel on or off: game hosting, web hosting, mail or one of their sub-features.
A switch that is off hides the menu entry and also makes the API answer 404, so the feature cannot be reached by URL either. Nothing is uninstalled and no data is deleted, and switching back on restores everything.
- Two-factor authentication (TOTP)#
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A second sign-in step using a time-based code from an authenticator app, which VorqulPanel can require for admins.
Turn it on under Settings, Account right after creating the admin. If you lose access, vorqulctl reset-admin issues a new setup link.
Panel administration
- vorqulctl#
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The command-line tool installed with VorqulPanel for starting, updating, recovering and inspecting the panel.
It wraps the systemd service and the jobs you need around it: status, logs, setup-url, reset-admin, modules, update with automatic rollback, fix-libs and uninstall. Run it as root or with sudo.
- Root helper (vorqul-helper)#
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A small root-owned script that performs the few privileged actions VorqulPanel needs, so the panel itself can run as an unprivileged user.
It accepts a fixed list of actions and refuses everything else. Its policy lives in /etc/vorqul-helper.conf and is cut down to the modules you enabled, which is why switching a module on in Settings alone does not give the panel those rights.
- Setup URL#
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The one-time link printed by the installer that opens the form for creating the first admin account.
Until an admin exists, whoever reaches the panel port first can create one, so the window closes an hour after the panel starts. vorqulctl setup-url prints a fresh link and vorqulctl reset-admin issues one for a replacement admin.
- Config test with rollback#
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The safety step VorqulPanel runs before applying a web server change: test the new configuration, and restore the old one if the test fails.
It is why a bad vhost does not take the whole server down. The same idea covers DNS zones, which are validated with named-checkzone before BIND reloads.
- Virtual host (vhost)#
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The web server configuration block that tells nginx or Apache which site to serve for a given domain name.
VorqulPanel writes only its own vorqul-prefixed vhost files and leaves everything else in the web server configuration alone.
Related Vhost takeoverConfig test with rollbackReverse-proxy mode
- Vhost takeover#
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The explicit confirmation needed before VorqulPanel is allowed to manage a site it found already configured on the server.
Adopted sites are read without being rewritten. After you confirm, a backup is taken first, and taking over only removes the sites-enabled link and never deletes the original file.
- Reverse-proxy mode#
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A domain setting that puts a web server vhost in front of an application running on a local port.
The panel writes the vhost and can issue the certificate, so any app, including a Node.js or Python service, is served on a normal domain with HTTPS.
- cgroup v2 limits#
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The Linux kernel mechanism VorqulPanel uses to cap memory, CPU and process count for each game server.
It replaces nice, cpulimit and ulimit, which either do not limit real usage or freeze the process. A server over its ceiling is killed in its own group and the panel records that the kernel did it, so you can tell an out-of-memory kill from a crash.
- Crash analysis#
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A VorqulPanel feature that reads the last lines of a dead game server and names the likely cause and the fix.
Typical causes are the wrong Java version, a port already in use, running out of memory, a missing EULA, a broken plugin or a full disk. Autorestart is skipped when restarting cannot help.
Related cgroup v2 limits
- Offsite backup#
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A backup copy pushed to storage outside the server, so losing the machine does not lose the backups.
VorqulPanel encrypts the copy with AES-256-GCM before it leaves the server. Targets can be configured in the panel, and a cloud such as Google Drive can be reached through rclone.
Related Restore drillPanel database
- Restore drill#
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A scheduled check in which the panel unpacks its own newest backup and opens the database inside it.
It proves the archive can really be restored, which is a different thing from the archive existing.
Related Offsite backup
- Chrooted SFTP#
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A file-transfer account confined to a single directory, so it cannot browse the rest of the server.
Every game server in VorqulPanel gets its own chrooted SFTP account, and websites can have one scoped to their folder. Brute-force protection is built in.
- nftables#
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The Linux packet filter VorqulPanel drives, alongside ufw and firewalld, to open and close ports.
The panel only adds and removes its own tagged rules in its own tables. It never flushes the ruleset, changes the default policy or touches SSH rules.
DNS, certificates and mail
- DNS zone#
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The set of DNS records for a domain, which VorqulPanel can serve itself through BIND9.
The panel writes and validates the zone file, and can copy records to and from Cloudflare without deleting anything there.
- ACME and Let's Encrypt#
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The protocol and the free certificate authority VorqulPanel uses, through acme.sh or certbot, to issue HTTPS certificates.
Issuing needs the DNS record to resolve to the server first, or a Cloudflare DNS token to prove the name without port 80. Let's Encrypt allows only five failed validations per hostname per hour, which is why the panel checks DNS, port 80 and vhost coverage before it contacts the authority.
Related Reverse-proxy modeDNS zone
- DKIM#
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A cryptographic signature on outgoing mail, published as a DNS record, that lets receivers verify the message came from your domain.
In VorqulPanel the key is created with Rspamd when you add a mail domain, and the panel shows the record to publish. It lives under the domain in the From header, never under the mail host.
- SPF and DMARC#
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Two DNS records that say which servers may send mail for a domain and what receivers should do with mail that fails the check.
They work together with DKIM. VorqulPanel generates the records, and its deliverability check reports when one is missing or wrong.
- PTR record#
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The reverse DNS entry that maps a server IP address back to a hostname, which receiving mail servers check.
It is set where the IP is rented, so no panel can change it for you. A mail hostname that does not match the PTR hurts deliverability more than a missing certificate does.
Related DKIMDeliverability
- MTA-STS and TLS-RPT#
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DNS-published policies that tell sending servers they must use TLS to reach your mail server, and where to report failures.
Without MTA-STS, someone who can intercept the connection can strip the STARTTLS offer and the sender quietly falls back to plaintext. The policy file itself must be served at https://mta-sts.your-domain/.well-known/mta-sts.txt.
Related SPF and DMARCDeliverability
- Deliverability#
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Whether the mail you send actually reaches an inbox instead of being rejected or filed as spam.
It depends on PTR, SPF, DKIM, DMARC and on the reputation of the IP address. VorqulPanel checks the records, the mail queue and the main public blocklists, and tells you which one is the problem.
Discord bot
- Server Health Score#
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A composite score VorqulBOT computes from activity, retention, growth and onboarding signals in a Discord server.
The score turns four separate trends into one number you can watch over time. It rates a server against its own history and ranks nobody against anybody else, and it passes no verdict on moderation.
- Case history#
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A numbered, searchable record of every moderation action taken in a Discord server.
Each ban, kick, warn or timeout produces a case with the target, the moderator, the reason, the duration and the timestamp. Months later you can still say why a decision was made and who made it, and that is the whole point of keeping them.
- Module registry#
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The single list of 44 modules that both VorqulBOT and its dashboard read, so a toggle cannot exist in one and be ignored by the other.
The registry names each module, the group it belongs to and whether it starts enabled. Nine start on: moderation, leveling, afk, polls, economy, games, giveaways, reminders and prefix commands. The other 35 start off. The bot process and the web dashboard read the same file, so the two halves cannot drift apart, which is how bots with a separate web UI usually go wrong.
- AutoMod filter#
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One of the 15 message checks VorqulBOT can run before a moderator sees a message, each with its own threshold, action and duration.
The filters cover spam, repeated text, links, invites, caps, mentions, mass mentions, ghost pings, emoji floods, spoiler floods, zalgo, phishing, fake nitro, crypto scams and custom regular expressions. Only phishing and fake nitro are on by default. Each filter works independently, so one can delete, another can time out and a third can ban.
Related Escalation ladderShadow-mute
- Escalation ladder#
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A rule that turns a number of offences inside a time window into a heavier action, without a moderator deciding each time.
VorqulBOT has two. AutoMod escalation fires on repeat filter hits inside a window, one hour by default. Warning actions work the same way by hand: a count, a window in days and an action, so three warnings in seven days can mean a mute. Several rules can stack, and repeat offenders escalate on their own.
Related Case historyAutoMod filterJail
- Shadow-mute#
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A mute where the member still sees their own messages and nobody else does.
It removes the feedback loop. Tell a member they are muted and they argue about it or return on another account. Let them see their messages posted as usual and they tend to lose interest. VorqulBOT offers it as shadowmute and unshadowmute, next to the conventional mute, timeout and jail.
- Jail#
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A moderation state that strips a member of their roles and narrows their access to a restricted set of channels.
Jail sits between a timeout and a ban. The member stays in the server and you can still talk to them, which helps while you sort out an incident, but they lose access to everything they could reach before. Roles come back on unjail.
- Prefix bridge#
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The module that keeps old text commands like !daily working alongside slash commands.
Slash commands win on almost every count, and a server that has typed !daily for three years will keep typing it anyway. The bridge maps the text form onto the same handler. Nobody retrains, and nothing gets maintained twice. It is one of the nine modules enabled by default.
Related Slash command
- Pterodactyl egg#
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A configuration file that tells the Pterodactyl panel how to install and start a particular application.
VorqulBOT ships one. Import it, upload the files over SFTP, put the Discord token in the Startup variables and press start. The first boot installs dependencies and compiles the code on its own. If you already run a game-hosting panel, this is the shortest way to get the bot going.
Related Self-hostedPrivileged intents
- Webhook signature#
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An HMAC-SHA256 hash of the request body, sent in a header so the receiver can prove the request came from the bot.
VorqulBOT posts four member events to a URL you choose: join, leave, ban and unban. If you set a shared secret, each request carries an X-Vorqul-Signature header computed from the body with that secret, and your endpoint can reject anything that does not match. Without a secret the events still arrive, just unauthenticated.
Related OAuth2 dashboard sign-in
- XP cooldown#
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The minimum time between two messages that both earn XP. VorqulBOT defaults to 60 seconds.
With no cooldown, leveling rewards volume, and the top of the leaderboard goes to whoever types the most single-word messages. With one, twenty rapid messages earn exactly as much as one. It is the most important setting in a leveling system, and servers most often leave it at whatever the bot shipped with.
- Alt-account check#
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A heuristic score a moderator can run against one member, built from account age, avatar, join date and roles.
An account younger than 7 days scores 40, younger than 30 scores 25 and younger than 90 scores 10. A default avatar adds 20, joining less than a day ago adds 15, having no roles adds 10, and bots score zero. Treat the result as evidence for a human decision and skip the automatic ban. Heuristics like these throw false positives, and a wrong ban costs more trust than it saves time.
Related JailCase history
- Ticket transcript#
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The conversation in a support ticket written to a plain-text file and posted to a channel you nominate.
VorqulBOT exports the last 100 messages of a ticket channel. That is what Discord returns in one fetch, and it normally covers the whole ticket. The file is plain on purpose: text, authors and timestamps, so it opens anywhere and is easy to search. Nothing goes to an external service.
- Privileged intents#
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Discord settings a bot must enable before it can see presences, server members and the content of messages.
VorqulBOT needs the presence, server members and message content intents switched on in the Discord developer portal. Without them commands appear to do nothing.
- Slash command#
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A Discord command typed with a leading slash that the bot registers with Discord, which shows it in the command picker.
Registering needs the applications.commands scope in the invite and a deploy step. When slash commands are missing, repeat the deploy and check the invite scope.
Related Privileged intentsPrefix bridge
- OAuth2 dashboard sign-in#
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How you sign in to the VorqulBOT dashboard: through Discord, with a redirect address that must match the one you registered.
A mismatch between the redirect URI in the Discord portal and the dashboard address is the most common cause of a failed sign-in. Leaving NEXTAUTH_URL empty lets it be detected automatically.
Web and AI search
- llms.txt#
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A plain-text index at the root of a site that points language models at its canonical content.
The convention borrows its shape from robots.txt and works the other way round: instead of restricting crawlers, it hands them a curated map. It is an emerging convention and no ratified standard, and nobody has independently established how much it helps retrieval. vorqul.com publishes one at /llms.txt and a full-content variant at /llms-full.txt.
Related Entity homeServer-side rendering
- Entity home#
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The single canonical page a brand owns that states, in machine-readable form, what it is.
An entity home makes explicit claims about category, purpose and audience, backs them with structured data, and gets corroborated when the same description appears on third-party profiles. When those sources disagree, a system trusts the entity less. For Vorqul that page is /about, linked to a Wikidata identifier.
Related llms.txt
- Server-side rendering#
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Producing complete HTML before it reaches the client, rather than assembling it with JavaScript in the browser.
The retrieval crawlers behind answer engines fetch HTML and generally skip JavaScript, so anything that only exists after client-side hydration is invisible to them. vorqul.com is built statically. Every page arrives as complete HTML, and the little JavaScript that ships handles menus, the language hint and analytics you have agreed to.
Related llms.txt
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