Keywords are associated with specific hardware devices or with the procedure set. A few keywords naturally have the same name on different devices so every keyword has a prefix to designate its device group, e.g. dcr.integrationtime. The prefixes assigned so far are shown in Table 1.
| Keyword Prefix | Device |
| proc | Procedures |
| sc | Scan Coordinator |
| ant | Antenna |
| lo1 | LO1 |
| conv | Converter Rack |
| ifrack | IF Rack |
| algfilt | Analog Filter Rack |
| rx | Currently selected receiver |
| rxpf1 | Prime Focus 1 Receiver |
| rxpf2 | Prime Focus 2 Receiver |
| rx1to2 | 21 cm Receiver |
| rx2to3 | 11 cm Receiver |
| rx4to6 | 6 cm Receiver |
| rx8to10 | 3 cm Receiver |
| rx12to18 | 2 cm Receiver |
| rx18to26 | 1 cm Receiver |
| rx26to40 | 8 mm Receiver |
| rx40to52 | 6 mm Receiver |
| rx65to95 | 4 mm Receiver |
| rx95to115 | 3 mm Receiver |
| pfsup | Prime Focus Support Rack |
| bcpm | Berkley-CalTech Pulsar Machine |
| dcr | Digital Continuum Receiver |
| spm | Spectrometer |
| sp | Spectral Processor |