Reference
Tech glossary
Plain-English definitions for founders, product managers, and anyone working with engineers. No jargon to explain the jargon.
A
- API (Application Programming Interface)
- A contract that lets two software systems talk to each other. When your app shows live weather data, it's calling a weather API to get it.
B
- Backend
- The server-side of an application - the code that handles business logic, databases, authentication, and everything users don't see directly.
C
- CI/CD (Continuous Integration / Continuous Deployment)
- Automated pipelines that test and deploy code changes safely and reliably, often multiple times per day.
- Cloud Computing
- Renting compute power, storage, and networking from providers like AWS, GCP, or Azure instead of owning physical servers.
- Container (Docker)
- A lightweight, portable package that bundles your app and its dependencies so it runs the same way everywhere - on your laptop, in staging, or in production.
- Cross-Platform App
- An app built with one codebase that runs on both iOS and Android. Tools like React Native and Flutter make this possible.
D
- DevOps
- The practice of combining software development (Dev) and IT operations (Ops) to shorten the delivery lifecycle and improve reliability.
F
- Frontend
- Everything the user sees and interacts with in a browser or app - built with tools like React, Vue, or Swift/Kotlin for mobile.
G
- GraphQL
- An API query language that lets clients request exactly the data they need - nothing more, nothing less. An alternative to REST APIs.
H
- Headless CMS
- A content management system that stores content but has no built-in frontend - letting developers use any frontend technology to display it.
I
- Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
- Managing servers and cloud resources using code (like Terraform or Pulumi) instead of manually clicking through dashboards - making environments reproducible and auditable.
K
- Kubernetes (K8s)
- An open-source system for automating deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications.
L
- LLM (Large Language Model)
- An AI model trained on massive text datasets that can generate, summarize, translate, and reason about text. GPT-4 and Claude are examples.
M
- Microservices
- An architectural style that structures an application as a collection of small, independently deployable services, each responsible for a specific function.
- MVP (Minimum Viable Product)
- The smallest version of a product that delivers value to early users and generates useful feedback - without building everything at once.
P
- PostgreSQL
- A powerful, open-source relational database used in production by thousands of companies - the default choice for most MindGrid Labs projects.
- PWA (Progressive Web App)
- A web application that behaves like a native app - it can be installed on a device, work offline, and send push notifications.
R
- RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation)
- An AI pattern where an LLM retrieves relevant documents from a knowledge base before generating a response - making answers more accurate and up-to-date.
- React Native
- A framework by Meta for building native iOS and Android apps using JavaScript and React - one codebase, two platforms.
- REST API
- A common style for web APIs that uses HTTP methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE) to interact with resources. Most modern web services expose a REST API.
S
- SaaS (Software as a Service)
- Software delivered over the internet on a subscription basis - like Slack, Notion, or Stripe. Users access it via browser or app without installing anything.
- Serverless
- Running code without managing servers. The cloud provider automatically provisions infrastructure as needed - you only pay for what you use.
T
- Technical Debt
- The accumulated cost of shortcuts and quick fixes in code. Like financial debt, it accrues interest - making future changes slower and riskier.
- TypeScript
- A typed superset of JavaScript that catches bugs before they reach production. Used in almost every MindGrid Labs frontend and Node.js project.
W
- Webhook
- A way for one system to notify another when something happens - like a payment processor calling your backend when a payment succeeds.