Glossary
Every term the API, the panel and these docs share, in one sentence each, with the page that explains it.
The first group is the vocabulary every page uses. The rest follow from A to Z.
Words every page uses
Release
The whole search configuration, one JSON file per area such as synonyms.json, stored as a version that never changes and named by its content. See Releases.
Snapshot
One upload of the catalog, kept byte for byte and named by its content, so the same bytes sent again are the same snapshot. See The write path.
Index run
The indexer's work of taking one snapshot and one release live in Meilisearch; the latest run that succeeded is what searches read. See Index run states.
Resolution
What a query names in the shop's own words, such as "graues Sofa" (grey sofa) read as the category wohnen/sofas and the color grey, with the rest left as text. See How search understands a query.
Trace
What debug=1 adds to an answer: every decision behind it, step by step, as the Query API made it. See The trace.
Section
The results of one entity type in an answer, such as its products or its categories. See Sections and hits.
Channel
A market the shop sells in, with its currency, countries and locales, such as the example store's de; every search is answered in one channel. See Channels.
Locale
The language a channel's texts are read and answered in, such as de or en; every search is answered in one locale. See Channels.
Facet
A filter shoppers choose from, over an attribute or a field such as price or brand, with the count each value would find. See Facets and filters.
Node
One category's settings in categories.json, such as its facets and sorts; a node inherits from its parent and overrides only what differs. See Where a page's settings come from.
Rule
A change to answers, such as a pin, a boost, a redirect or a banner, and when it applies, in rules.json. See Rules.
Pin
A rule's effect that puts an entity at a fixed position, such as SOFA-NIKO-SCHLAF first on wohnen/sofas; a sponsored product is a pin with a campaign. See Effects and Sponsored products.
Draft
An import that is not live yet: an export with release files that the panel or the management API changes and previews before publishing it. See Change in a draft.
More terms
Attribute
A defined property of entities, such as a product's color or seats, with a type such as option, quantity or boolean, in attributes.json. See Attributes.
Boost and bury
Rule effects that move matching entities up or down without fixing their places. See Effects.
Catalog
Everything shoppers can find, as the shop exports it: products with their variants, categories, brands and content. See Formats we read.
Control plane
The service with the management API and the panel, which keeps catalogs, releases and index runs. See The parts.
Derived setting
A setting an index run reads from the catalog because the release leaves its file out, with its evidence in the run's report. See Your own catalog.
Entity
Anything a shopper can find, of exactly one type, named type:id as in product:SOFA-ASKA-2. See OrbSearch JSON Lines.
Event
A click or a view a storefront reports to POST /v1/events, naming the query ID of the answer it belongs to. See Clicks and views.
Export
The file the shop already writes, such as a CSV or a Merchant Center feed, which OrbSearch reads as its catalog. See Your own catalog.
Hide
A rule's effect that removes entities from an answer; a hide beats a pin. See Effects.
Import
An export kept without going live, so you see what it becomes and correct how it is read before you publish it. See Importing and mapping.
Indexer
The service that runs the index runs. See The parts.
Insights
The panel's reports of what shoppers search, click and choose, from the Query API's search log. See Insights.
Management API
The control plane's API under /api/v1, called with the management key; the panel does nothing it cannot. See Management API.
Meilisearch
The search engine underneath, which holds the indexes and answers each search's call; OrbSearch decides everything around it. See Concepts.
Overlay
A correction or a badge for catalog data in overlays.json, applied when documents are built and never written into the catalog. See Overlays.
Panel
The merchant's web interface, part of the control plane. See Open the panel.
Pattern
A phrase that captures a number for a filter, such as {seats}-sitzer (seater), in patterns.json. See Patterns.
Playground
The panel's screen that shows any search or page as shoppers get it, with why each product is where it is. See Preview.
Publish
Make a release the active configuration, which the next index run takes live. See How a publish goes live.
Query API
The service that answers searches, products and URLs, without a key. See Query API.
Query ID
The id every search answer carries, which events name to join a click to its search. See Clicks and views.
Redirect
Where an answer tells the storefront to send the shopper, because the query names a whole page or a rule says so. See URLs and redirects.
Rollback
Publishing an earlier release again. See Roll back.
Synonym
Words that find each other, such as "couch" and "sofa", in synonyms.json. See Synonyms.
Type
The kind of an entity, such as product, category, content or brand, set up in types.json. See Types.
Upper bound
A count marked upper_bound, which may be higher than the true count where a product's variants differ. See Upper bounds.
Variant
One buyable version of a product, such as a color or a size, with its own price and stock. See Variants.