# Concepts ### Issues An **Issue** is a tracked problem that Cleric investigates. Issues originate from monitoring alerts or on-demand requests. A single issue can collect multiple related alerts (see [Alert Grouping](/investigation/how-investigations-work.md#alert-grouping)). Each issue contains the complete investigation history from start to resolution. ### Integrations An **Integration** is a credential configuration that enables Cleric to authenticate with your infrastructure systems. You configure integrations once by providing credentials (API keys, tokens, service accounts), after which Cleric uses standard CLIs and APIs (`kubectl`, `gh`, `aws`, etc.) to query data during investigations. Examples: * **Datadog**: API credentials for querying metrics, logs, and monitors * **AWS**: Role-based access for CloudWatch logs, metrics, and resource inspection * **GitHub**: Access to repositories, commit history, and workflow logs Most integrations use read-only access. The GitHub integration includes write permissions by default to enable creating issues and pull requests as a result of investigation findings. View the full list of integrations, what data they access, and their setup instructions in [Supported Integrations](/integrations/supported-integrations.md). ### Skills A **Skill** is a set of instructions that teaches Cleric how to perform a specific task in your environment. When Cleric encounters a task it cannot reliably complete, it creates a skill and notifies you to provide instructions. ### Agents An **Agent** is a named workflow with instructions that Cleric runs against an issue. Cleric ships with one built-in agent (`investigate`) for deep root-cause analysis. You can create custom agents with your own instructions to encode runbooks or specialize on a service or alert type. See [Configuring Agents and Triggers](/setup/agents-and-triggers.md#agents). ### Triggers A **Trigger** is a rule that runs an agent automatically when a matching event fires. For alerts, that means a bot message in a configured Slack channel that matches the trigger's keyword rules. Each channel evaluates its triggers top-down and runs the agent attached to the first match. See [Configuring Agents and Triggers](/setup/agents-and-triggers.md#triggers). ### Memories A **Memory** is a fact that Cleric learns from your conversations and uses to improve future investigations. Memories capture infrastructure details, service dependencies, investigation preferences, and other operational knowledge. Cleric proposes memories based on what you share during investigations. You can accept or reject each proposal. ### How Cleric Communicates Cleric's responses include clear reasoning to help you understand and validate its analysis: * **Evidence Summary**: What data supports the conclusion * **Reasoning Process**: How the evidence connects to the conclusion * **Recommended Actions**: Specific next steps * **Follow-up Questions**: Additional access or information that might be needed This transparency helps you quickly assess conclusions and decide on appropriate responses. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://docs.cleric.ai/meet-cleric/concepts.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.