Glossary of technical terms

This section provides definitions for key terms used within the Platform, ensuring clarity and a common understanding of terminology related to the governance and lifecycle management of digital products.

Active Catalog

The catalog where users find all the digital products they can see (APIs, MCP servers, AI Agents and other types) and the assets, with filters by type, card and table views and saved filters. It is the starting point for consumers.

Administrators

Alias: Admins Refers to users with administrative privileges, including Tenant Owners, Organization Admins, Group Admins, and any custom role with administrative permissions.

Agent AI

Alias: AI Agent An artificial intelligence system that acts as an autonomous agent to accomplish goals. Agent AI is capable of perceiving its environment, reasoning through complex goals, making decisions, and autonomously executing multi-step workflows using external tools and APIs with minimal human oversight. Unlike traditional generative models that simply respond to prompts, Agent AI operates in a continuous loop of planning, acting, and reflecting to achieve an intended outcome. In the Platform, AI Agents can be described and published as digital products, communicating through the A2A protocol (available if enabled for your installation). Not to be confused with the AI Assistants that help users inside the Platform.

AI Assistant

An agent based on artificial intelligence that helps users with a specific task inside the Platform, through a chat in natural language: for example the Discovery Agent and the Designer Agent. AI assistants are part of the Platform and are available only if enabled for your installation; they are different from the AI Agents published as digital products (see Agent AI).

API

An Application Programming Interface (API) is a mechanism that allows two software applications to communicate. In the Platform, APIs fall into two categories:

• Enterprise Asset: A backend service such as a REST API, SOAP service, JDBC connection, or Kafka topic that enables software integration.

• Digital Product: A standardized version of an API Asset designed for modern application integration and partner connectivity.

API Designer

Interactive tool for creating and editing Swagger / OpenAPI definitions of REST APIs in both form-based and code-based modes, to help design, update, and standardize your APIs. Definitions in OAS 2.0 can be converted to OpenAPI 3.0. Its AI assistant, the Designer Agent, is available if enabled for your installation.

API Gateway

Alias: API GW, GW A component that acts as an entry point for API traffic, handling request routing, authentication, rate limiting, and logging.

API Governance

A set of policies and best practices that ensure APIs are developed, secured, and managed in a consistent and efficient manner.

API Guidelines

Alias: Guidelines A structured framework of rules for API design, covering topics like authentication, endpoint naming, error handling, and versioning.

APP (Application)

Alias: Application A software entity that either produces APIs (Provider) or consumes APIs (Consumer). Applications can belong to one or more groups within an organization.

Asset

Alias: API Asset A technical representation of an enterprise integration that provides valuable resources such as data or functionalities. API Assets serve as the foundation for Digital Products.

Consumer

A user or team that discovers digital products, mainly in the Active Catalog, and uses them through its applications, for example by subscribing to an API Product. See also Producer.

Cross functional roles

Platform-wide roles that grant users access to manage transversal features across organizations for centralized control and oversight.

Deployment Pipeline

Alias: Pipeline A structured process that automates the building, testing, and deployment of APIs across different environments (DEV, TEST, PROD).

Designer Agent

The AI Assistant of the API Designer, opened with the Ask AI button. It helps users create, enrich and fix the OpenAPI specification of an API; the proposed changes are applied only if the user accepts them. Available only if enabled for your installation.

Developer

Alias: Dev A user responsible for the technical implementation of an API or application.

Digital Product

In the Platform, a Digital Product represents a consumable package of one or more assets. It defines the capabilities, terms, and policies that applications can utilize when subscribing to the product (such as API, AI agents and service protocols). Digital products include API Products, MCP servers, AI Agents and the custom types defined by the administrator; types other than APIs are available if enabled for your installation.

Digital Product Type

The kind of a digital product (for example API, MCP or AI Agent). Administrators can define custom types, each with one or more Templates.

Discovery Agent

An AI Assistant that helps users search and explore the contents of the Platform, such as digital products, applications and subscriptions, by asking questions in natural language. It is opened from the Discovery AI entry of the sidebar. Available only if enabled for your installation.

Ecosystem

Alias: API Ecosystem Represents the entire governance framework in the Platform, including organizations, groups, digital products, and applications.

Enterprise Integration

Alias: EI The process of connecting business applications and services using APIs to enable seamless data flow and operational efficiency.

Environment Domain

Alias: Env domain, Application domain, APP domain A logical grouping that defines the scope in which APIs and applications operate, such as Development, Testing, or Production environments.

Group

A structural unit within an organization that houses users, digital products, and applications, allowing for governance and access control.

IP Address

A unique numerical identifier assigned to each device connected to a network, allowing AI agents, APIs, and servers to locate and communicate with each other. In the Platform, consumer applications can declare the client IP addresses from which they call an API; the addresses are managed in the Network section.

List

A set of IP addresses, for example an allowlist, associated with one or more API environments. Each IP address has its own status (Proposed, Approved, Rejected) on each list it belongs to. Lists are configured on the tenant by the platform operators.

MCP Server

A MCP Server (Model Context Protocol Server) is an open-standard service or adapter that exposes specific tools, capabilities, or data structures to AI models via the Model Context Protocol. MCP Servers act as secure bridges, allowing Agent AI to interact with local files, databases, software applications, and external APIs using a standardized communication layer. In the Platform, MCP servers can be described and published as digital products (available if enabled for your installation).

Network

The section of the Workspace that keeps the central registry of the client IP addresses used by consumer applications and of the Lists they belong to, where the association of each address with a list is approved or rejected.

Operational Model

Alias: Operative Model Defines how APIs are developed, deployed, monitored, and retired within an organization's governance framework.

Organization

Alias: Org The highest-level governance entity in the Platform, representing business units or external partners. Organizations contain multiple groups and define the visibility and ownership of digital products.

Owner

The designated business owner of an API or application, responsible for its functional and strategic management.

Producer

A user or team that creates digital products and makes them available to others, working mainly in the Workspace. See also Consumer and, for applications, Provider.

Product (API Product)

Alias: API Product An exposed API that is published for external use through an API Gateway. API Products are one of the types of Digital Product.

Profiling

The administration section (previously called Features) that defines what each type of user (internal, external, guest, visitor) can see in the Platform.

Provider

Alias: [APP] Producer The Application that exposes an API, making it available for consumption.

Public show case

Customizable, public-facing landing page that showcases your APIs, documentation, and product value before login. Available if enabled for your installation.

Subscription

Alias: Subs A contractual relationship between an application (consumer) and an API (provider), defining the terms of API access.

Template

The definition of the fields and technical specifications of a Digital Product Type. A digital product is created from a template.

Tenant

A self-contained instance of the Platform used by a specific organization. Each tenant maintains independent data, settings, and user permissions.

Use Case

A specific scenario in which an API is utilized to address a business need, such as mobile integration or third-party connectivity.

Workspace

A user’s working environment within the Platform, where administrative and digital product management tasks are performed.