# 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](/docs/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](/docs/concepts#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](/docs/import-report#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](/docs/query-understanding#what-the-query-named). ### Trace What `debug=1` adds to an answer: every decision behind it, step by step, as the Query API made it. See [The trace](/docs/reference/trace). ### Section The results of one entity type in an answer, such as its products or its categories. See [Sections and hits](/docs/search#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](/docs/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](/docs/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](/docs/facets). ### 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](/docs/pages#where-a-pages-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](/docs/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](/docs/rules#effects) and [Sponsored products](/docs/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](/docs/releases#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](/docs/types-and-attributes#attributes). ### Boost and bury Rule effects that move matching entities up or down without fixing their places. See [Effects](/docs/rules#effects). ### Catalog Everything shoppers can find, as the shop exports it: products with their variants, categories, brands and content. See [Formats we read](/docs/formats). ### Control plane The service with the management API and the panel, which keeps catalogs, releases and index runs. See [The parts](/docs/concepts#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](/docs/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](/docs/formats#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](/docs/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](/docs/your-own-catalog). ### Hide A rule's effect that removes entities from an answer; a hide beats a pin. See [Effects](/docs/rules#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](/docs/importing). ### Indexer The service that runs the index runs. See [The parts](/docs/concepts#the-parts). ### Insights The panel's reports of what shoppers search, click and choose, from the Query API's search log. See [Insights](/docs/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](/docs/reference/management-api). ### Meilisearch The search engine underneath, which holds the indexes and answers each search's call; OrbSearch decides everything around it. See [Concepts](/docs/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](/docs/overlays). ### Panel The merchant's web interface, part of the control plane. See [Open the panel](/docs/quickstart#open-the-panel). ### Pattern A phrase that captures a number for a filter, such as `{seats}-sitzer` (seater), in `patterns.json`. See [Patterns](/docs/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](/docs/releases#preview). ### Publish Make a release the active configuration, which the next index run takes live. See [How a publish goes live](/docs/releases#how-a-publish-goes-live). ### Query API The service that answers searches, products and URLs, without a key. See [Query API](/docs/reference/query-api). ### Query ID The id every search answer carries, which events name to join a click to its search. See [Clicks and views](/docs/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](/docs/urls). ### Rollback Publishing an earlier release again. See [Roll back](/docs/releases#roll-back). ### Synonym Words that find each other, such as "couch" and "sofa", in `synonyms.json`. See [Synonyms](/docs/synonyms). ### Type The kind of an entity, such as `product`, `category`, `content` or `brand`, set up in `types.json`. See [Types](/docs/types-and-attributes#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](/docs/facets#upper-bounds). ### Variant One buyable version of a product, such as a color or a size, with its own price and stock. See [Variants](/docs/variants).