Glossary

Things and locksCopy Anchor Link

Thing

Anything you save in Vando: a password, a note, an API key, a file, a one-time code. Each thing has one lock.

Lock

What it takes to open a thing. A lock has one of four levels.

Level

How much proof a lock asks for every time: Easy, Just me, Two devices or Fort Knox.

Easy

Opens whenever your vault is open on this phone: you unlocked it in the last few minutes and haven’t pressed Lock now. More.

Just me

Your phone’s unlock (fingerprint, face or PIN), now, for this thing. Where new things start. More.

Two devices

Just me on one phone, plus a yes from your other phone. More.

Fort Knox

Your fingerprint or face (not the PIN) plus a security key. More.

Vault

Where your things live. You can have more than one, like Personal and Work; new things in a vault start at its level.

Folder

A way to sort things inside a vault. Moving a thing between folders never changes its lock.

One-time code

The short code a website asks for when you sign in, made fresh every few seconds. Vando can keep the code maker as a thing and show the code when you need it.

Lock now

Closes your vault on this phone at once, so even Easy things need your unlock next time.

Keys and getting back inCopy Anchor Link

Security key

A small physical key, like a YubiKey, that you touch to your phone or plug in. Fort Knox needs one.

Recovery kit

Eight groups of letters you keep on paper, off your phone. If every phone is lost, it gets you back in after a 48-hour wait that all your devices are told about. More.

Devices

The phones and laptops on your account. You can see each one and cut one off.

Safety check

A screen in Settings that lists everything that can reach your account (devices, AIs, people) and can end all of it except the phone in your hand, at once.

Asks and approvalsCopy Anchor Link

Inbox

Where asks wait for you on your phone.

Ask

A request for your OK: your laptop wants to fill a login, Claude Code wants a password or wants to run a command. Each ask has a time limit. More.

Approve

Saying yes to an ask. The button names what happens (Give, Run, Fill, Send, Pay). Then you do the lock’s steps, and your phone signs a receipt.

Deny

Saying no to an ask. Nothing is sent or run, and the asker is told. Always as easy as approving. More.

Receipt

A signed record of an answer: who asked, for what, who said yes on which phone, and what was handed over. You can check it yourself.

Expired

An ask nobody answered in time. Nothing happened; the asker has to ask again. More.

Devices and AIsCopy Anchor Link

Your phone

The phone with the Vando app. It holds the keys, opens your things and is where you approve.

Laptop extension

The Vando extension for Chrome. It fills logins on your laptop by asking your phone; it holds no keys.

Trust window

A time you choose on your phone during which Easy logins fill on one laptop without asking. It ends by itself.

Connections

The tab where your AIs and people are listed. Connect an AI from here.

AI agent

A program that acts for you, like Claude Code. It can ask your phone for things; it can never approve.

The vando command

The small program on your computer that connects Claude Code to your phone and gives your programs their secrets: vando connect, vando setup, vando init, vando add, vando run. vando on its own says what to do next; vando doctor checks the setup.

MCP server

The part of the vando command that gives Claude tools to ask you for a secret (get_secret) and check on an ask.

Terminal guard

A check that runs before Claude Code uses a tool. Risky commands wait for your OK on your phone. Turned on with vando guard.

Key fingerprint

Four short groups of letters that name the key your computer made when it connected. The terminal and your phone show the same one.

Owner key words

Six words made from your own keys, shown on your phone when an AI connects. You pick the matching set in the terminal, so nobody can sit between the two. They stay the same until your keys change. More.

Paused

An AI that may not ask for anything until you resume it. Three denies in a row pause it by itself.

Grant

What you give a computer when it asks for secrets: those secrets, for a time you pick (once, an hour, a day), ending by itself. vando grants lists what this computer can use now; your phone can take any of it back.

Last verified 15 October 2026