> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://guides.noloco.io/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://guides.noloco.io/reference/glossary.md).

# Glossary

Definitions of Noloco-specific terms, features, and the general concepts you'll come across in these guides.

This glossary is split into two parts:

* [**Noloco terminology**](#noloco-terminology) covers terms specific to the Noloco platform, its features, and how it works.
* [**General concepts**](#general-concepts) covers database, web, and AI terms that aren't Noloco-specific but show up often in the docs.

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## Noloco terminology

### Workspaces, apps, and plans

* [**Workspace**](/account/workspaces.md): The shared environment that holds your apps, your team members, and your billing. Everyone you invite to a workspace can collaborate on the apps inside it.
* **App**: A single Noloco application — its data sources, pages, users, permissions, and settings. One workspace can hold several apps.
* **Builder**: A user whose role allows them to edit the app itself, not just use it. Builder access is assigned manually and can't be granted through a [user list](/settings/user-lists.md).
* **App user**: Anyone who logs in and uses the app without editing it — teammates, clients, or partners.
* [**Plan**](/account/pricing.md): Your workspace's subscription tier. Noloco has **Free**, **Build**, and **Enterprise**, and your plan determines record limits, workflow runs, credits, and which features are available.
* [**Legacy plan**](/account/pricing/legacy-plans.md): A pricing plan from before the current structure, still honored for workspaces that subscribed on it.
* [**Record limit**](/settings/plan-limits-and-usage.md): The number of records your plan allows across the app. On Free, hitting it blocks record creation and pauses syncing; on Build, records expand automatically and are billed per block.
* [**Workflow run**](/settings/plan-limits-and-usage.md): One execution of a workflow. Every trigger counts as a run no matter how many actions it contains, and failed runs still count.
* [**Billing & usage**](/settings/billing-and-usage.md): The settings area showing your plan, current usage against each limit, and your credit consumption.
* [**Template**](/templates.md): A pre-built app you can copy as a starting point instead of building from scratch.
* [**Agency OS**](/solutions/agency-os.md): Noloco's complete pre-built solution for professional services firms, covering CRM, projects, time, billing, and a client portal.
* [**Cloning an app**](/account/cloning-an-app.md): Copying an app's configuration into a separate app, so you can branch off a working setup.
* [**Transferring an app**](/account/transferring-an-app.md): Moving an app to a different workspace, typically to hand it over to a client or another team.

### Nola and AI

* [**Nola**](/nola.md): Noloco's AI Cobuilder. You describe what you want in plain language and Nola builds and edits your app — creating tables, pages, views, and workflows for you.
* [**Nola's memory**](/nola/memory.md): The preferences and app details Nola retains between conversations, so you don't restate things like "we call them clients, not customers" every time.
* [**Credit**](/nola/credits-and-usage.md): The unit that measures Nola's AI work. Credits are shared across the whole workspace rather than per user, and the cost of an action scales with how much work it involves.
* [**Monthly credit allowance**](/nola/credits-and-usage.md): The credits your plan grants each billing cycle, refreshing when your billing cycle restarts. Higher plans include more, and on Build you can raise or lower your allowance yourself.
* [**Daily allowance**](/nola/credits-and-usage.md): An extra pool of credits that refreshes each day on the Free plan and is spent before your monthly balance. Unused daily credits don't carry over.
* [**Rollover**](/nola/credits-and-usage.md): Unused monthly credits carrying forward instead of expiring at the end of your billing cycle.
* [**Canvas**](/nola/canvas.md): Custom, Nola-built functionality you add by describing what you want. Reach for a Canvas when a standard view, record page, or dashboard can't express the layout or interaction you have in mind.
* **Canvas page**: A Canvas that is a full, standalone custom page in your app.
* [**Canvas component**](/nola/canvas/canvas-components.md): A Canvas that is a single custom section dropped into an existing record page or blank page. On a record page it knows the current record, which suits record-specific tools and summaries.
* [**Noloco AI**](/data/collections/noloco-ai.md): AI-powered fields on [Noloco Tables](/data/collections.md) that classify, summarize, analyze sentiment, correct grammar, extract keywords, or run a custom chat prompt. They regenerate whenever their input data changes, and they work on Noloco Tables only — not on synced external tables.
* [**Start with AI**](/quickstart/start-with-ai.md): A guided onboarding flow that builds a custom app from your answers to a few questions.

### Data sources and tables

* [**Data source**](/data/data-overview.md): Wherever your app's data lives. Noloco is backend-agnostic — you can use its own tables, connect an external source, or mix several in one app.
* **External data source**: A database or spreadsheet hosted outside Noloco — [Airtable](/data/airtable.md), [Google Sheets](/data/google-sheets.md), [SmartSuite](/data/smartsuite.md), [PostgreSQL](/data/postgresql.md), [MySQL](/data/mysql.md), [Supabase](/data/supabase.md), [HubSpot](/data/hubspot.md), [Stripe](/data/stripe.md), or [Xano](/data/xano.md).
* [**Noloco Tables**](/data/collections.md): Database tables hosted by Noloco, for when you don't already have a database elsewhere. Some features, such as AI-powered fields, are available only on Noloco Tables.
* [**Table**](/data/data-overview/what-are-tables.md): A set of records that share the same fields — the equivalent of a spreadsheet tab or a database table.
* **Record**: A single item in a table — one row. A customer, a project, an invoice.
* **Field**: A single property on a record — one column. Every field has a name and a type.
* [**Primary field**](/data/data-overview/setting-a-collections-primary-field.md): The field Noloco uses to label a record wherever it appears — in page titles, linked-record pickers, and dropdowns.
* [**Sync**](/data/data-overview/syncing.md): Keeping an external data source and your Noloco app in step. When you connect a source you choose which of its tables are synced.
* **Disabled table**: A table you've toggled off so it isn't synced into the app. Disabling unneeded tables can speed up syncs and reduce clutter, and you can re-enable a table at any point.
* **Data & API tab**: The area of the builder where you manage tables, fields, and table permissions.
* [**Database consolidation**](/data-to-app/database-consolidation.md): Bringing scattered spreadsheets and databases together into one connected structure so your app has a single source of truth.
* [**Import a file**](/data/collections/import-a-file.md): Creating a Noloco table by uploading a file rather than building the schema by hand.
* [**Import data**](/data-management/import-data.md): Bringing records into an existing table, typically from a CSV.
* [**Export data**](/data-management/export-data.md): Downloading records out of a view or table.
* [**Record history**](/data-management/record-history.md): The log of every change made to a record, showing what changed, when, and by whom.
* **Base**: [Airtable's](/data/airtable.md) name for a database. One base holds many tables.
* **Solution**: [SmartSuite's](/data/smartsuite.md) name for a workspace of related tables.

### Field types

* [**Text**](/data/collections/field-types/text.md): Free-form words and characters — names, notes, descriptions.
* [**Date**](/data/collections/field-types/date.md): A calendar date, optionally with a time. See [Dates & time zones](/field-formatting/dates-and-time-zones.md) for how Noloco handles time zones.
* [**Date range**](/data/collections/field-types/date-range.md): A paired start and end date, used by layouts like [Timeline](/views/display/timeline.md).
* [**Duration**](/data/collections/field-types/duration.md): A length of time rather than a point in time — useful for tracked hours or estimates.
* [**Number (integer)**](/data/collections/field-types/number-integer.md): A whole number, with no decimal component.
* [**Number (decimal)**](/data/collections/field-types/number-decimal.md): A number that can carry decimal places, for money, rates, and measurements.
* [**Boolean (Yes/No)**](/data/collections/field-types/boolean.md): A true/false value, shown as a checkbox or toggle.
* [**Single option select**](/data/collections/field-types/single-option-select.md): One choice from a fixed list of options — a status or a stage.
* [**Multiple option select**](/data/collections/field-types/multiple-option-select.md): Any number of choices from a fixed list — tags or skills.
* [**Street address**](/data/collections/field-types/street-address.md): A structured postal address.
* [**Map coordinates**](/data/collections/field-types/map-coordinates.md): A latitude/longitude pair, which the [Map](/views/display/maps.md) layout can plot.
* [**Full name**](/data/collections/field-types/full-name.md): A structured first-and-last name, rather than one free-text field.
* [**Phone number**](/data/collections/field-types/phone-number.md): A telephone number, formatted and click-to-call in the app.
* [**File/Upload**](/data/collections/field-types/file-upload.md): One or more attached files or images.
* [**Created by**](/data/collections/field-types/created-by.md): Automatically records which user created the record.
* [**Last updated by**](/data/collections/field-types/last-updated-by.md): Automatically records which user last changed the record.
* [**Assignee**](/data/collections/field-types/assignee.md): Links a record to the user responsible for it.
* [**AI-powered field**](/data/collections/noloco-ai.md): A field whose value is generated by AI from other fields on the same record.
* [**Field types**](/data/collections/field-types.md): The full reference for every type available on a Noloco table.

### Relationships and computed fields

* [**Relationship**](/data/collections/relationships.md): A link between records in two tables — a project belonging to a client, tasks belonging to a project.
* **Linked record**: A record connected to the one you're looking at through a relationship.
* [**Automatic link**](/data/collections/automatic-links.md): A relationship Noloco maintains for you on a non-Noloco source by matching values between two tables, giving spreadsheets the filters, views, and permissions that real relationships allow. Automatic links are bi-directional, so updating the link writes the matched value back.
* [**Lookup field**](/data/collections/lookup-fields.md): Pulls a value through a relationship so it's visible on this record — showing a client's account manager on each of their projects.
* [**Rollup field**](/data/collections/rollups.md): Aggregates values across linked records — a sum, count, average, or minimum/maximum.
* [**Formula field**](/data/collections/formulas.md): A field whose value is calculated from other fields using a spreadsheet-style expression. See [creating a formula field](/data/collections/formulas/creating-formula-fields.md), [examples](/data/collections/formulas/examples.md), and [troubleshooting](/data/collections/formulas/troubleshooting.md).
* [**Operator**](/data/collections/formulas/operators.md): A function or symbol you can use in a formula, grouped into [date & time](/data/collections/formulas/operators/date-and-time.md), [logic](/data/collections/formulas/operators/logic.md), [math](/data/collections/formulas/operators/math.md), and [text](/data/collections/formulas/operators/text.md).

### Pages and navigation

* **Page**: Anything that appears as a destination in your app's sidebar — a view, a blank page, an external link, or a Canvas page.
* [**View**](/pages/views.md): A page built on a table that lists its records. Every view comes with record pages and a form to add records, with no extra setup.
* [**Record page**](/record-pages/overview.md): The page for a single record, where you lay out its fields, related records, and actions.
* [**Blank page**](/pages/blank-pages.md): A page that isn't tied to one table, so you can combine data from several tables — the usual way to build a dashboard.
* [**Home page**](/pages/the-home-page.md): The page users land on after logging in. It's determined by the first page visible to them in the sidebar.
* [**User profile page**](/pages/user-profile-page.md): The built-in page where a user views and edits their own details.
* [**Parent page and folder**](/pages/parent-pages-and-folders.md): Sidebar groupings that nest related pages together.
* [**Sidebar divider**](/pages/sidebar-dividers.md): A visual separator that breaks the sidebar into labeled groups.
* [**External link**](/pages/external-links.md): A sidebar entry that opens a URL outside the app.
* [**iFrame embed**](/pages/iframe-embeds.md): Third-party content embedded inside a page of your app.
* [**Tab**](/pages/tabs.md): Sections within a single record page or blank page, so long pages stay organized without extra navigation.
* [**Space**](/settings/spaces.md): A distinct functional area of a large app — Sales, Admin, Support — each with its own pages, ordering, theme, and visibility rules. Users see one Space at a time and switch between them. Available on the Enterprise plan.
* [**Navigation settings**](/settings/navigation-settings.md): Controls for how the app's sidebar looks and behaves.
* **Build mode**: The editing mode builders toggle on (`Cmd + E` / `Ctrl + E`) to configure pages, views, and components. Also called edit mode.
* **Build mode sidebar**: The configuration panel that opens in build mode for whatever page or component you've selected.
* [**Page visibility rule**](/pages/page-visibility-rules.md): A rule controlling which users see a page in the sidebar.
* [**Hiding a page**](/pages/hiding-pages.md): Removing a page from navigation without deleting it.
* [**Cloning a page**](/pages/cloning-pages.md): Duplicating a page and its configuration.
* [**Renaming a page**](/pages/renaming-pages.md): Changing a page's name, URL, or icon.

### View layouts

* [**Layout**](/views/display.md): How a view displays its records. Also called the display option, and switched from the **Layout** section of the builder's General tab.
* [**Rows**](/views/display/rows.md): Full-width rows you can scan, group, and drag.
* [**Cards**](/views/display/cards.md): A responsive grid of cards that wraps to fill the page.
* [**Columns**](/views/display/columns.md): Fixed columns with horizontal scrolling inside each group.
* [**Table**](/views/display/tables.md): A spreadsheet-style grid. Also available as a full-width table.
* **Data grid**: The editable spreadsheet-style table interface, where users can work through records inline.
* [**Kanban board**](/views/display/kanban-boards.md): Records as cards in columns, dragged between stages of a single option field.
* [**Calendar**](/views/display/calendar.md): Records placed on a calendar by a date field.
* [**Timeline**](/views/display/timeline.md): Records plotted over time from a date range, in Gantt or Stacked layouts, for scheduling and tracking.
* [**Split-view**](/views/display/split-view.md): The list and the selected record side by side, so users can move through records without losing their place.
* [**Chart view**](/views/display/charts.md): A view that visualizes the table's records instead of listing them.
* [**Map**](/views/display/maps.md): Records plotted geographically from address or coordinate fields.
* [**Pivot table**](/views/display/pivot-table.md): Records cross-tabulated and summarized across two dimensions.
* [**Checklist**](/views/display/checklist.md): Records as a checklist of items that can be ticked off.
* [**Single record view**](/views/display/single-record-view.md): A view that shows exactly one record rather than a list — useful for a settings page or a personal dashboard.

### View configuration

* [**Adding views**](/views/adding-views.md): Creating a view on any connected table.
* [**Grouping**](/views/display/grouping-records.md): Splitting records into expandable lanes by a field's value. Available on most layouts, excluding single record view and charts.
* [**Record colors**](/views/display/record-colors.md): Conditional highlight colors that make records visually distinct based on their values.
* [**Row action**](/views/row-action.md): What happens when a user clicks a record — open the default record page, open a specific page, open a sidebar, or do nothing.
* [**Column summary**](/views/column-summaries.md): A total, average, or other aggregate shown at the foot of a numeric column in a table layout.
* [**Sort & limit**](/views/sort-and-limit.md): The order records appear in, how many load at once, and how users load more.
* [**Record count**](/pages/views/show-record-count.md): The number of records shown beside a view in the sidebar.
* [**Empty state**](/pages/views/empty-state.md): What a view shows when it has no records to display.
* **Action bar**: The strip above a view holding the search box, filter button, and view-level buttons.
* [**In-line editing**](/field-formatting/in-line-editing.md): Letting users edit a field's value directly in a view or details component, without opening a form.
* [**Conditional highlight color**](/field-formatting/conditional-highlight-colors.md): A color applied to a field's value when a condition is met.
* [**Field visibility condition**](/field-formatting/field-visibility-conditions.md): A rule that shows or hides an individual field based on record values or the logged-in user.

### Filters and search

* [**Filter**](/views/filters.md): A rule set by a builder that limits which records a view shows. Filters organize data — they are not a security mechanism.
* [**In-app filter**](/views/filter-fields.md): Filters your users apply themselves from the action bar. They stack on top of the view's own filters and never reveal records the user couldn't otherwise see.
* **Quick filter**: An in-app filter whose badge is always visible in the filter bar, even before a value is set, rather than living inside the filter menu.
* **Filter bar**: The strip below the action bar showing active filters as badges, with a **Clear all** button.
* **Filter badge**: One active in-app filter, combining the field name, its value, and its operator.
* [**Relative filter**](/views/filters/relative-filters.md): A filter based on a moving reference point — the last 7 days, next month — rather than a fixed date.
* [**Logged in user filter**](/views/filters/logged-in-user.md): A filter comparing record values against the user viewing the page, so everyone sees their own data.
* [**Record value filter**](/views/filters/record-values.md): A filter comparing one field against another value on the record.
* **Search box**: A single input that searches every visible text and number field on a view, as an alternative to setting up a filter per field.
* **Filter operator**: The comparison a filter makes — *contains*, *is*, *is between*, *is empty*. Each field type has its own default operator and its own available set.

### Components

* [**Component**](/components.md): The building blocks you add to record pages and blank pages to display and interact with data.
* **Title**: A title, subtitle, and optional action buttons that give a page context. The subtitle supports Markdown.
* **List**: Shows multiple records, in any of the view layouts, and can be filtered to records related to the page's record. Previously called the Collection component.
* **Details**: A list of record fields for display and, with in-line editing enabled, for editing. Fields can be shown as links, buttons, images, Markdown, QR codes, headings, and more.
* **Highlights**: A card that presents your most important fields in a larger format. Highlight fields aren't editable.
* [**Video**](/components/video.md): A video powered by a file field or a custom URL.
* **Iframe**: Embedded external content, with the URL powered by a field or set manually.
* **Stages**: A single option field's value shown as a progress track — a project's status, a lead's stage.
* **Chart**: A chart group powered by data related to the page. See [Charts](/charts/overview.md).
* **Buttons**: A group of [action buttons](/actions/action-buttons.md) for acting on the page's data.
* **Links**: A set of links out to other parts of the app or to external URLs.
* **Text**: A Markdown text block that can include dynamic values.
* **Gallery**: A file field presented for browsing, when a record has several files or images.
* **Notice**: A callout that draws attention to something, styled as Primary, Success, Warning, Danger, or Default.
* **Divider**: A visual break that separates a page into logical groups.
* [**Comments**](/record-pages/record-comments.md): A rich-text discussion thread on a record, with attachments and notification controls.
* **Image**: An uploaded image, an image URL, or an image from a file field.
* **Embed**: Third-party content embedded through an iFrame.
* [**Container**](/components/containers.md): A wrapper that groups several components together for layout.

### Forms and actions

* [**Form**](/forms/forms.md): The interface for adding records to a table. Every view comes with one out of the box.
* [**Customizing form fields**](/forms/forms/customizing-form-fields.md): Choosing which fields appear on a form and setting their default values, placeholders, help text, and validation.
* [**Dynamic form field filter**](/forms/forms/dynamic-form-field-filters.md): Narrowing the options in a linked-record field based on other answers on the form.
* [**Passing linked record values**](/forms/forms/passing-linked-record-values-to-a-form.md): Carrying a relationship from a record page into a form, so the record is created already linked.
* [**Hidden field value**](/record-pages/hidden-field-values.md): A value set behind the scenes on a form or action button — commonly the logged-in user's ID — without showing the field to the user.
* [**E-signature field**](/forms/forms/e-signature-fields.md): A field that captures a signature drawn by the user.
* [**Public form**](/forms/public-forms.md): A form anyone can submit without logging in.
* [**Action button**](/actions/action-buttons.md): A button that performs one action or a chain of actions on a record — create, update, delete, comment, navigate, run a workflow, and more.
* **Navigation button**: An action button configured at the view level, so it isn't tied to any one record.
* **Record button**: An action button that appears on each record and acts on that record.
* **One-click and modal buttons**: Whether an action button executes immediately or first opens a confirmation modal.
* [**Bulk action**](/actions/action-buttons/bulk-actions.md): An action applied to several selected records at once, enabled per view.
* [**Barcode scanner**](/actions/action-buttons/barcode-scanner.md): An action that scans a barcode or QR code to populate a field or find a record.

### Workflows and notifications

* [**Workflow**](/workflows/workflows.md): An automation that runs a series of actions when something happens in your data.
* **Trigger**: The event that starts a workflow — a record created or updated, a comment added, or a manual run.
* **Action**: One step a workflow performs — creating or updating a record, sending an email, calling a webhook, messaging Slack.
* [**Watched fields**](/workflows/workflows/watched-fields.md): Restricting an update trigger so the workflow only runs when specific fields change.
* [**Comment added trigger**](/workflows/workflows/comment-added-trigger.md): A trigger that fires when someone comments on a record.
* [**On-demand workflow**](/workflows/workflows/on-demand-workflows.md): A workflow with no automatic trigger, run deliberately from an [action button](/actions/action-buttons/run-on-demand-workflow.md).
* [**Only continue if**](/workflows/workflows/only-continue-if.md): A condition that stops a workflow part-way through unless its criteria are met.
* [**For each item in a list**](/workflows/workflows/for-each-item-in-a-list...do....md): A loop that repeats actions once for every record in a related list.
* [**Trigger webhook**](/workflows/workflows/trigger-webhooks.md): A workflow action that calls an external URL, commonly to start a Zapier or Make scenario.
* [**Troubleshooting workflows**](/workflows/workflows/troubleshooting-workflows.md): Diagnosing workflows that don't fire or don't finish as expected.
* [**Notification**](/notifications/notifications.md): An in-app message telling a user something relevant has happened.
* [**Notification preference**](/notifications/notification-preferences.md): A user's own settings for which notifications they receive and how.
* [**Push notification**](/workflows/workflows/send-a-push-notification.md): A notification delivered to a user's device from a workflow.

### Users, roles, and permissions

* [**User table**](/users-and-permissions/user-table.md): The table present in every app that holds your users. It drives permission and visibility rules, and can be extended with custom fields.
* [**User list**](/settings/user-lists.md): A sync that brings users in from an external source such as Airtable, Google Sheets, or Postgres, so an existing table stays the source of truth for who can log in.
* **Default role**: The role assigned to every user imported through a user list.
* **Conditional role**: A rule that assigns a different role to imported users based on their data. Available on the Build and Enterprise plans.
* [**User role**](/users-and-permissions/user-roles-and-permissions.md): A named access level assigned to users. Noloco provides **Team Admin** (full access for internal team members) and **User** (the default for clients and partners); custom roles are available on Build and above. Users can hold several roles, and permissions add up.
* **Team member flag**: The setting on a role that marks it internal or external. Team member enabled makes a user an internal user; disabled makes them an external user, such as a client.
* [**Internal and external user**](/record-pages/visibility-settings.md): The two user types you can target with visibility settings — your team versus your clients.
* [**Permission**](/users-and-permissions/user-roles-and-permissions.md): A rule enforced at the database and API level controlling which data a role can read, create, update, or delete. Permissions are the only one of Noloco's three access-control layers that provides real security.
* [**Record-level permission**](/users-and-permissions/user-roles-and-permissions/record-level-permissions.md): A permission limiting which records a role can access — an agent seeing only their assigned properties.
* [**Field-level permission**](/users-and-permissions/user-roles-and-permissions/field-level-permissions.md): A permission limiting which fields a role can see or edit — hiding salary from non-HR staff. Field-level CRUD permissions are available on Build and above.
* [**Visibility rule**](/record-pages/visibility-settings.md): A rule controlling whether a page, component, tab, or button appears in the interface. Visibility improves the experience but doesn't secure data — the records are still fetched by the browser.
* **Custom rule**: A visibility condition built from record field values or logged-in user attributes, combinable with AND/OR.
* **Logged in user**: The person currently using the app, referenced in filters, permissions, and visibility rules to personalize what they see.
* [**Permissions vs visibility vs filters**](/users-and-permissions/permissions-vs-visibility-vs-filters.md): The guide to choosing between the three layers — permissions for security, visibility for experience, filters for organization.
* [**Permissions quick start**](/users-and-permissions/permissions-quick-start.md): A practical introduction to setting permissions up.
* [**View as user**](/users-and-permissions/testing-as-other-users.md): Impersonating another user or role in build mode to check what they can actually see.
* [**Open sign up**](/users-and-permissions/open-sign-up.md): Letting people create their own accounts rather than being invited.
* [**Public access**](/settings/public-access.md): Exposing chosen tables, records, fields, and pages to visitors who aren't logged in. Everything is private by default. Available on the Build and Enterprise plans.
* [**Offboarding a user**](/users-and-permissions/offboarding-users.md): Deactivating an account so the person can no longer log in, while keeping their data and history intact.
* [**User management**](/users-and-permissions/user-management.md): Inviting users, assigning roles, and managing accounts.

### Publishing and app settings

* [**Publish**](/settings/publishing.md): Pushing your changes out to app users. Until you publish, edits are visible only to builders, and each publish snapshots the app's configuration as a checkpoint.
* [**App version history**](/settings/publishing/app-version-history.md): The record of previous published versions, which you can restore or republish.
* [**Live mode**](/settings/general-settings/live-mode.md): The setting that lets non-builder users log in. Until it's on, only builders can access the app.
* [**Theme & design**](/settings/theme-and-design.md): The colors, fonts, and styling applied across your app.
* [**Custom logo**](/settings/general-settings/custom-logos.md): Your own branding in place of Noloco's.
* [**Progressive web app**](/settings/progressive-web-apps.md): Installing your Noloco app on a phone or desktop so it behaves like a native app.
* [**Custom code**](/settings/custom-code.md): Your own scripts or styles injected into the app.
* [**Custom domain**](/settings/custom-domain.md): Serving your app from your own domain rather than a Noloco URL.
* [**Login screen**](/settings/login-screen.md): The sign-in page users see, customizable to match your brand.
* [**Sign in options**](/settings/login-and-signup/sign-in-options.md): The methods users can authenticate with, including magic links and Google.
* [**Single sign-on**](/settings/login-and-signup/single-sign-on.md): Letting users sign in through your organization's identity provider.
* [**Two-factor authentication**](/settings/login-and-signup/2fa-two-factor-authentication.md): Requiring a second factor beyond a password or magic link at sign-in.
* [**Email settings**](/settings/email-settings.md): The templates and configuration for the emails your app sends.
* [**App settings**](/app-settings.md): The area covering your app's design, privacy, and data configuration.
* [**Support**](/settings/support.md): The in-app links through to these guides and Noloco's other support material.

### Integrations and API

* [**API key**](/settings/integrations-and-api-keys.md): A credential that lets an external system authenticate against your app's API.
* [**Noloco API**](/api-documentation/api-overview.md): The GraphQL API for reading and writing your app's data programmatically — [fetching records](/api-documentation/api-overview/fetching-records.md), [fetching a record](/api-documentation/api-overview/fetching-a-record.md), [creating](/api-documentation/api-overview/creating-a-record.md), [updating](/api-documentation/api-overview/update-a-record.md), and [deleting](/api-documentation/api-overview/deleting-a-record.md).
* [**MCP integration**](/settings/mcp-integration.md): Noloco's Model Context Protocol servers, which connect an AI assistant such as Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini to your live app data and these guides. See the [MCP FAQ](/settings/mcp-integration/mcp-faq.md) and [Connect your own AI agent](/quickstart/connect-an-ai-agent.md).
* [**Zapier**](/integrations/zapier.md), [**Make.com**](/integrations/make.md), [**n8n**](/integrations/n8n.md): Automation platforms that connect Noloco to thousands of other tools.
* [**SMTP emails**](/integrations/smtp-emails.md): Sending your app's emails through your own mail server so they come from your domain.
* [**Sign in with Google**](/integrations/sign-in-with-google.md): Letting users authenticate with their Google account.
* [**Intercom**](/integrations/intercom.md): Embedding Intercom messaging inside your app.
* [**Documint**](/integrations/documint.md) and [**DocsAutomator**](/workflows/workflows/generate-a-pdf-with-docsautomator.md): Document generation services for producing PDFs from your records.

## General concepts

### Databases and data modeling

* **Database**: An organized store of data that can be queried and updated — the layer your app's information actually lives in.
* **Row**: One entry in a table. Noloco calls this a record.
* **Column**: One property shared by every row in a table. Noloco calls this a field.
* **Schema**: The structure of a database — its tables, their fields, the type of each field, and how the tables relate.
* **Relational database**: A database that stores data in tables which reference each other, rather than duplicating information. PostgreSQL and MySQL are relational.
* **Primary key**: A value that uniquely identifies a row within its table, so it can be referenced unambiguously.
* **Foreign key**: A value in one table that points at a row in another, forming the link between them.
* **One-to-many**: A relationship where one record on one side connects to many on the other — one client, many projects.
* **Many-to-many**: A relationship where records on both sides can connect to many of the other — projects and the team members staffed on them.
* **One-to-one**: A relationship where each record connects to at most one record on the other side.
* **Join**: Combining rows from two tables using the relationship between them.
* **Aggregation**: Reducing many values to one — a sum, count, average, minimum, or maximum.
* **Normalization**: Structuring data so each fact is stored once, in one place, and referenced elsewhere rather than copied.
* **Single source of truth**: One authoritative place a given piece of data lives, so systems don't disagree about it.
* **Tabular data**: Data arranged in neat rows and columns, with a unique name for each column — the shape Noloco needs to work with a source.
* **CSV**: Comma-separated values, a plain-text file format for tabular data that nearly every tool can import and export.

### Web and APIs

* **API**: An interface that lets one system talk to another programmatically, rather than through a user interface.
* **REST**: An API style built on standard HTTP verbs, where each URL represents a resource.
* **GraphQL**: An API style where the client asks for exactly the fields it needs in a single query. Noloco's API is GraphQL.
* **Endpoint**: A specific URL an API exposes for a particular operation.
* **Request and response**: The message a client sends to a server, and what the server sends back.
* **Webhook**: An automatic HTTP call one system makes to another when an event happens — a push, rather than the other system polling for changes.
* **JSON**: A lightweight text format for structured data, and the format most web APIs speak.
* **CRUD**: Create, read, update, delete — the four basic operations on a record.
* **Rate limit**: A cap on how many requests a system accepts in a period, protecting it from overload.
* **Cache**: A temporary copy of data kept close to where it's needed, so repeat requests are faster. It also means a change can take a moment to appear.
* **iFrame**: An HTML element that embeds one web page inside another.
* **Slug**: The human-readable part of a URL that identifies a page.
* **DNS**: The system that translates domain names into the addresses of the servers behind them.
* **CNAME record**: A DNS entry pointing one domain at another — how a custom domain is connected to a hosted app.
* **SSL/TLS**: The encryption that secures traffic between a browser and a server, indicated by `https://`.
* **Responsive design**: Layouts that adapt to the size of the screen, so one app works on desktop and mobile.
* **Modal**: A window layered over the current page that takes focus until it's dismissed.

### Authentication and security

* **Authentication**: Establishing who a user is.
* **Authorization**: Establishing what that user is allowed to do. Noloco's permissions are an authorization layer.
* **Single sign-on (SSO)**: Signing in once with a central identity provider and gaining access to connected applications.
* **SAML 2.0**: A long-established standard for exchanging authentication data between an identity provider and an application, widely used for enterprise SSO.
* **OIDC**: OpenID Connect, an identity layer on top of OAuth 2.0 and the more modern basis for SSO.
* **OAuth**: A standard that lets one application act on your behalf in another without ever handling your password.
* **Two-factor authentication (2FA/MFA)**: Requiring a second proof of identity beyond the first, so a stolen password isn't enough.
* **Magic link**: A single-use sign-in link emailed to the user, removing the need for a password.
* **Session**: The period a user stays signed in after authenticating.
* **Multi-tenancy**: One application serving many separate customers, with each tenant's data isolated from the others. Client portals are a multi-tenant pattern.
* **Row-level security**: Restricting access to individual rows based on who is asking. Noloco's record-level permissions do this.
* **Principle of least privilege**: Granting the minimum access needed for the job, then adding more only where it's required.
* **PII**: Personally identifiable information — data that identifies a specific person, usually carrying legal obligations about how it's stored and shared.

### AI and agents

* **LLM**: A large language model — the kind of AI model that understands and generates natural language, and what powers Nola.
* **Prompt**: The natural-language instruction you give an AI to describe what you want.
* **Context**: The information an AI can see while answering — your prompt, the conversation so far, and any data it's been given about your app.
* **Token**: The unit of text an LLM processes. Noloco measures Nola's work in [credits](/nola/credits-and-usage.md) instead, so you never have to think about tokens.
* **AI agent**: An AI that can take actions and use tools to accomplish a goal, rather than only producing text.
* **MCP**: Model Context Protocol, an open standard for connecting AI assistants to external tools and data. Noloco provides [MCP servers](/settings/mcp-integration.md) for your app data and these guides.
* **Hallucination**: An AI stating something confidently that isn't true — the reason to check AI output against your own data.
* **Classification**: Sorting an input into predefined categories, such as tagging a support message as urgent.
* **Summarization**: Condensing longer text into a shorter version that keeps the substance.
* **Sentiment analysis**: Judging the emotional tone of text as positive, negative, or neutral.
* **Keyword extraction**: Pulling the most significant terms out of a body of text.

### No-code and internal tools

* **No-code**: Building software through a visual interface instead of writing code. Noloco is a no-code platform.
* **Low-code**: Mostly visual building, with the option to drop into code for the parts that need it.
* **Internal tool**: Software built for your own team rather than for customers — a CRM, an operations dashboard, an approvals queue.
* **Client portal**: A branded area where external clients log in to see their own data, share files, and submit requests.
* **Frontend**: The part of an application a user sees and interacts with.
* **Backend**: The data and logic behind the interface. Noloco is backend-agnostic, so your backend can be Noloco Tables or a database you already run.
* **Deployment**: Making a change live for real users. In Noloco this is [publishing](/settings/publishing.md).


---

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