What is define.wtf?
Learn what define.wtf is and how it helps teams build a shared understanding of their terminology
What is define.wtf?
define.wtf is a collaborative acronym dictionary built for teams and organizations of all sizes. It's a centralized place where your team defines, organizes, and maintains the acronyms and jargon that are core to how you work together.
The Problem We Solve
Every organization has acronyms — some widely known, others understood only by specific teams. When new employees join, they spend weeks decoding terminology. Conversations stall when people don't understand what SCIM, RBAC, or OKR means. Institutional knowledge lives in people's heads or scattered across Slack channels, wikis, and email threads.
define.wtf eliminates this friction by creating a single source of truth for your team's terminology.
Core Features
Collaborative Contributions
Everyone on your team can propose new acronyms, add alternative definitions, and suggest improvements. The collaborative model means knowledge builds organically as people encounter terms they think others should know about.
Private Workspaces & Security
Each organization gets its own private workspace at yourteam.define.wtf. All data is isolated and secure. Enterprise sign-in ensures only your team members can access your dictionary.
Permission-Based Roles
Control who can view, create, edit, and manage acronyms. Admins can set permissions by role, ensuring appropriate access levels across your organization.
Full-Text Search & Typo Tolerance
Instantly search through your entire dictionary. Even if you misspell something, the search finds what you're looking for. Search suggestions appear as you type.
Collections & Organization
Organize acronyms into curated collections by department, project, or domain. Browse your dictionary by category or create filtered views for specific teams.
Voting & Community Validation
Team members can vote on definitions they find most useful. The most upvoted definitions rise to the top, surfacing the most agreed-upon understanding across your organization.
Audit Trail & Accountability
Track who created, edited, or deleted each acronym. Maintain a complete audit log of changes for compliance and transparency. Soft deletes preserve history.
Slack Integration
Look up acronyms directly in Slack with /define TERM. Get instant answers without leaving your workflow. Perfect for onboarding and reducing context switching.
User Points & Gamification
Contributors earn points for adding acronyms and receiving upvotes. Build an engaged community of contributors and reward those who invest in your shared knowledge.
Organizations can retrieve points and contributor rankings to recognize and celebrate team members who invest in building shared terminology.
Automatic User Sync
Automatically sync users from your identity provider (Okta, Azure AD, etc.). Users are created and updated automatically as your team structure changes.
How It Works
Your Private Workspace
When your organization signs up for define.wtf, you get a private workspace at yourteam.define.wtf. This is your team's dedicated dictionary—completely separate from other organizations.
Build Your Dictionary
Your team members sign in with their work credentials. They can immediately start adding acronyms, providing definitions, and organizing them into categories. Each entry includes:
- Acronym — The term itself (e.g., "OKR")
- Definition — A clear explanation of what it means
- Context — When and where it's used (optional)
- Categories — Assign to one or more categories for organization
- Related Terms — Link to other related acronyms (optional)
Search & Discover
When someone encounters an acronym they don't understand:
- Use the search bar or command palette (Cmd+K) to search by acronym or keyword
- Browse by category to explore terms in a specific domain
- Check Slack — just type
/define TERMto get the answer instantly
Maintain Quality Through Collaboration
Multiple definitions can exist for the same acronym. The community votes on which definition is most useful, helping you build consensus around terminology. Admins can manage definitions and ensure quality.
Enterprise Ready
define.wtf is built for organizations of all sizes:
- Isolated Data — Your team's data is completely separate and secure
- Dedicated Workspace — Your team gets a branded workspace at your custom domain
- Automatic Updates — New features and improvements roll out automatically
- Scales with You — Whether you have 10 employees or 10,000, the system grows with you
Who Uses define.wtf
- Tech Teams — Manage API acronyms, framework terms, and internal tooling vocabulary
- Enterprise Organizations — Onboard new employees faster with a searchable reference library
- Multi-Department Companies — Each department has its own dictionary while maintaining visibility
- Startups — Lock in tribal knowledge before your team scales
- Consulting Firms — Maintain consistent terminology across client engagements and internal projects
Value Proposition
By centralizing your team's terminology, define.wtf reduces onboarding time, improves cross-team communication, and builds institutional knowledge that outlasts individual team members.
Faster Onboarding — New hires understand your jargon without constant interruptions
Shared Understanding — Eliminate ambiguity and reduce miscommunication
Institutional Knowledge — Your team's terminology is preserved and searchable, not scattered across channels
Compliance & Governance — Audit trail tracks all changes; admins maintain quality and consistency
Team Engagement — Gamification encourages contributions and builds community
Ready to get started? Check out Quick Start to log in and add your first acronym.