Glossary

Definitions match what you see in CLI output, API responses, and error messages.

acli

Acquia’s command-line interface for the Cloud Platform: sites, environments, logs, deploys, Cloud IDEs. It does not manage Pipelines (a separate CLI) or Drupal itself (drush). Used in: CLI quickstart, everyday workflows, command reference.

Acquia ID

The single identity you sign in to Acquia products with. One Acquia ID can belong to multiple subscriptions. Used in: CLI quickstart.

Acquia Search

Hosted Solr for Cloud Platform sites, delivered as SaaS (in partnership with SearchStax): Drupal indexes content into and queries a managed search index instead of searching through MySQL. Two module generations exist (acquia_search, searchstax); the index or app is selected per environment. Used in: configure environments.

Acquia Skills

Machine-readable skill files (installed with npx skills add acquia/acquia-skills) that teach agentic CLIs to run Cloud Platform operations (deploys, database syncs, log diagnosis) from natural language, using your existing credentials and permissions. Available to Enterprise and Site Factory subscriptions only. Used in: Acquia Skills guide.

Active configuration

The configuration Drupal actually runs on, stored in the site’s database and changed whenever someone saves a settings form. Because environment databases never move forward on a deploy, active configuration does not travel with your code: it is exported to the sync directory as YAML, committed, and applied on the target environment by drush config:import. Used in: manage configuration.

API client

A per-site OAuth 2.0 credential (client ID + client secret) created under API > API clients, used to obtain access tokens for the Content API. Used in: auth quickstart, auth guide.

API token

The account-level Cloud Platform credential (API Key + API Secret) generated at cloud.acquia.com/a/profile/tokens, exchanged for a 300-second access token that authenticates Cloud Platform API calls. Not an API client: an API token inherits your user’s permissions across the subscription, while an API client is scoped to one site’s Content API. Used in: Cloud Platform API page, CLI quickstart.

Application (Cloud Platform)

The unit acli and the Cloud Platform API manage: a codebase plus its environments under one subscription. Identified by a UUID or an alias (its name field, e.g. myapp), and combined with an environment name as myapp.dev. Distinct from a Source CMS site. Used in: CLI quickstart, everyday workflows.

Auto DevOps

Code Studio’s zero-configuration CI/CD: detect the project type (Drupal or Node.js), then build, test, and deploy it without a hand-written pipeline file. Used in: CI/CD section.

Build artifact

The built output of a frontend or application: the files a server actually runs (a .next/ or dist/ directory), as opposed to the source code that produced them. Acquia’s Front End Hosting deploys prebuilt artifacts: your CI builds, then pushes the result to a dedicated artifact branch. Used in: deploy section, deploy from your own CI, everyday workflows.

Canvas Headless

The Drupal Canvas capability that makes a decoupled frontend app the renderer for the Canvas editor itself. The editor embeds the app in place of Drupal’s own preview, the app’s components become placeable in the Canvas component library, and a short-lived token bound to the editing user lets the app render unpublished content. Built from an experimental Drupal submodule plus the Canvas Headless SDK on npm (@drupal-canvas/headless and one adapter per framework). Distinct from plain headless delivery, where the frontend reads content over JSON:API and the CMS has no view of it. Used in: Build a headless frontend.

CDE

Continuous Delivery Environment: a temporary environment, created automatically by Code Studio’s Auto DevOps for a merge request (torn down when the MR closes) or manually with acli env:create. Used in: CI/CD section, everyday workflows.

Cloud Classic

The earlier generation of Cloud Platform infrastructure; new hosting capabilities land on Cloud Next instead. Used in: caching guide, read logs.

Cloud Hooks

Shell scripts in a Cloud Platform application’s hooks/ directory that the platform runs on deploy events (post-code-update, post-code-deploy, post-db-copy, post-files-copy), scoped per environment or common for all. The mechanism for pairing code deploys with their update path. Used in: code-workflow guide, manage configuration.

Cloud IDE

A browser-based development environment (Eclipse Theia) running on Acquia’s infrastructure, preauthenticated with the Cloud Platform. Used in: local development guide.

Cloud Next

Acquia’s current-generation Cloud Platform infrastructure. Front End Hosting runs on Cloud Next; new hosting capabilities land here, not on Cloud Classic. Used in: caching guide, configure settings.

CMS content

Standard content entities (articles, pages, custom types) managed in the CMS and served over JSON:API. Contrast with Pages, which are built with Drupal Canvas. Content workflows govern CMS content, not Canvas pages. Used in: content model reference.

Code Studio

Acquia-managed GitLab (code.acquia.com) providing repositories and CI/CD via Auto DevOps. For new CI/CD setups, prefer Pipelines for Cloud Platform work and your own CI for frontends. Used in: CI/CD section, CI/CD guide.

Component

A reusable building block for Drupal Canvas pages, written as React/JSX and executed on the Preact runtime. Receives content through props and slots. Used in: Canvas quickstart, Canvas components section.

Composer

PHP’s dependency manager (getcomposer.org): a Drupal codebase declares its modules and libraries in composer.json, and Composer installs them into vendor/. Application-level tools like Drush are installed per-project with Composer, not globally. Used in: which CLI do I use?, local development guide.

Content template

A Drupal Canvas composition that renders every entity of one content type in one view mode (e.g. article in full), with props bound to entity fields instead of holding editor-typed values. Created in the Canvas editor, then pulled, versioned, and pushed as code (content-templates/*.json). Used in: content templates guide.

Content type (bundle)

A named shape of content: a bundle of an entity type, e.g. article is a bundle of the node entity type. The machine name appears in API paths: /api/node/article. Used in: query quickstart, content model reference.

CORS

Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (MDN guide): the browser-only mechanism deciding whether JavaScript served from one origin may read responses from another. Server-side fetches are never subject to it; it matters only when browser code calls the Content API directly. Used in: auth guide.

DDEV

An open-source local development environment (ddev.com) that runs a project’s web server, PHP, and database in Docker containers and gives it a *.ddev.site hostname. Commands run inside the containers by prefix: ddev composer, ddev drush. One of the three ways to develop a Cloud Platform application locally. Used in: local development section.

Drupal API Client

The recommended JavaScript client for the Content API: the api_client project on Drupal.org, published to npm as @drupal-api-client/json-api-client. It handles the OAuth client_credentials token exchange and refresh automatically and pairs with drupal-jsonapi-params for building query strings. On Source CMS sites, construct it with apiPrefix: "api", since JSON:API is served at /api. It is a community project not covered by the Drupal security advisory policy. Used in: auth quickstart, query quickstart, querying guide.

Drupal Canvas

Acquia’s visual page builder: pages composed from components in a drag-and-drop editor. Renamed from Experience Builder in October 2025. This is the only place the former name appears. Used in: Canvas quickstart, Canvas components section.

Drush

Drupal’s own command-line tool (drush.org) for application-level operations: cache rebuilds, database updates, configuration import. Installed per-codebase as a Composer dependency, not a global tool, and distinct from acli, which manages the platform around the application. Used in: which CLI do I use?, everyday workflows, acli reference.

Entitlement

What a subscription actually includes: which products and hosting tiers you can use. Entitlement, not preference, decides questions like whether you can deploy to Front End Hosting. Used in: deploy from your own CI.

Entity type

The top-level kind of a piece of content in the API: node (content), media, taxonomy_term, and so on. Each entity type has bundles. Appears as the first path segment after /api/. Used in: content model reference.

Entry

One piece of content: a single item of a content type, such as one article. In Drupal terms it is a node. JSON:API returns it as one resource object with an id (a UUID), a type like node--article, and its data under attributes and relationships. Used in: querying guide, response document reference.

Environment

A running instance of your application with its own URL, code state, and environment variables. A Cloud Platform application starts with three, named dev, test, and prod; their labels are Dev, Stage, and Prod, so the environment shown as Stage is the one named test in aliases, commands, and AH_SITE_ENVIRONMENT. Used in: deploy section, everyday workflows.

Field

A single piece of data on a content entry (text, date, reference, media). Field machine names appear verbatim as keys in JSON:API responses under attributes or relationships. Used in: querying guide, content model reference.

Front End Hosting

Acquia’s hosting product for headless frontends: your app runs as a Node.js production server (SSR and ISR included) with autoscaling, deployed as a prebuilt artifact. The full product name is Front End Hosting – Advanced. Used in: deploy section.

GitHub Sync

Bidirectional synchronization between a site’s Drupal Canvas library and a GitHub repository. Publishing in Canvas commits code components, global CSS, pages, content templates, and global regions to the repository, and repository pushes sync the same set back to the site. Each direction is a mirror with no merge, so the last writer wins. Nodes and other content, users, and general site configuration never sync; disconnecting is reversible. Used in: Canvas CLI & schema reference.

Global region

A Drupal Canvas component composition rendered on every page of a site, outside any one page’s content: typically the header and footer. Where the project’s layout places them is set by <Region name="…"> in src/layout.jsx; their content lives in regions/*.json and pulls/pushes like pages. Used in: pages and regions guide.

Headless

An architecture where a separate frontend you build (Next.js, Astro, Nuxt) reads content over JSON:API and renders the pages; the CMS only serves data. The deliberate departure from in-platform rendering, chosen when you have a frontend to integrate, a non-web channel, or an independently shipping frontend team. Used in: choose your path, direct-fetch guide, local dev guide.

In-platform rendering

The default rendering mode: the CMS renders its own pages. Editors compose them and the Drupal application serves them, with no separate frontend to build or host. Contrast with headless. Used in: choose your path, what you can build.

Island

How a Drupal Canvas component runs on a served page: each placed component arrives as its own <canvas-island> element and mounts as an independent Preact render tree, components placed in a slot included. React context, providers, and state work normally inside one component’s subtree and never cross from one placed component into another. Used in: component development guide, choose your path.

ISR

Incremental Static Regeneration: a Next.js rendering mode that serves pre-generated static pages and regenerates individual pages on a schedule or on demand, without a full-site rebuild. On Front End Hosting – Advanced, ISR works only with the in-memory ISR cache set to 0, because each server runs two or more Node processes that share no memory. Used in: webhooks, render content guide.

JSON:API

The specification (jsonapi.org) behind the Content API. Every Source CMS site serves it at /api, with the media type application/vnd.api+json. Used in: query quickstart, Content API reference.

JSON:API Query Builder

The in-product query workbench at API > JSON:API Query Builder in a site’s sidebar. Pick an entity type and bundle, add fields, filters, includes, and sort criteria, then execute the query, preview the live response, and copy the request URL or generated code. Used in: query quickstart, querying guide, Content API reference, query parameter reference.

Langcode

The machine code identifying a language on a site: en, es, hi. Langcodes appear verbatim as the langcode attribute in JSON:API responses and as the value of the langCode query parameter that the JSON:API Multilingual module accepts on every operation (the attribute is lowercase, the parameter camelCase). Used in: multilingual guide.

Launchpad

The Source CMS home screen after sign-in, from which you reach the Sites Dashboard and per-site configuration. Like Views, a UI label worth recognizing rather than a term you work with.

llms.txt

A plain-text index served at a site’s root (/llms.txt) that advertises agent-readable content and tools to LLM-driven crawlers: a title, a one-line summary, and sections of annotated markdown links. Used in: Acquia Skills guide.

Machine name

The lowercase, underscore-separated identifier Drupal assigns a content type, field, or other configuration (article, field_image), distinct from its human-readable label. Machine names appear verbatim in API paths (/api/node/article) and as keys in JSON:API responses. Used in: first fetch, query quickstart, content model reference.

MCP server

A server exposing a product’s data and operations to AI agents over the Model Context Protocol, an open standard for connecting assistants to external tools. The Source CMS MCP Server is experimental and per-site opt-in, exposing site content and Canvas operations (streamable HTTP + OAuth). Acquia DAM and Web Governance run MCP servers of their own, for asset search and delivery and for accessibility, spelling, readability, and policy checks. Used in: MCP quickstart, MCP guide, MCP server reference.

Media type

A bundle of the media entity type (image, video, document). Media entries hold file metadata and URLs, referenced from content via relationship fields. Used in: content model reference.

Memcached

An in-memory key-value store available on every Cloud Platform environment. Drupal can keep most of its cache bins in memcached rather than the database, cutting database load on requests that reach PHP; it is a cache in front of the database, not a replacement for it. Enabled per codebase via the Memcache API and Integration module; the platform’s included settings select the backend and connection on Cloud Next. Used in: caching guide.

Menu

A named, ordered tree of links that editors manage in the CMS, addressed by its machine name (main is a site’s primary navigation). Served over the API at /api/menu_items/{menu} as a flat list whose parent ids carry the nesting, so a frontend renders navigation from data instead of hard-coding it. Used in: render content guide, content model reference.

OpenAPI documentation

Each site’s built-in, generated API documentation at API > OpenAPI documentation: browse every live endpoint and test calls interactively. The source of truth for a site’s endpoint list, including the resource types unique to that site. Used in: Content API reference, query quickstart.

Pages (Canvas)

Entries built visually with Drupal Canvas (served as the page resource type at /api/page) as opposed to CMS content. Content workflows do not apply to them. Used in: content model reference, writing content guide.

Pattern

A saved arrangement of Canvas components that is copied, not linked, when placed: later edits to the source components do not propagate to existing uses. Used in: Canvas components section.

Phar

A single-file PHP executable archive (php.net), comparable to a .jar for PHP: download one .phar file, make it executable, run it. acli is distributed as a Phar. Used in: CLI quickstart.

Pipelines

Acquia’s CI/CD service for Cloud Platform applications, supported on Cloud Next: driven by an acquia-pipelines.yaml build definition file and a separate pipelines CLI (not acli), with runs triggered by git events on a connected repository, the CLI, or the Cloud Platform user interface. The recommended CI/CD surface for Cloud Platform work; it does not build Front End Hosting artifacts (frontends deploy from your own CI or Code Studio). Used in: Pipelines quickstart, CI/CD guide.

Prop

A typed value a Canvas component declares and receives from the editor (text, number, image reference). Contrast with slots. Used in: Canvas components section.

Recipe (Drupal)

A packaged set of Drupal configuration applied to a site on demand with drush recipe <path>: content types, fields, roles, and the modules they need, installed in one command and then owned by the site. Drupal 11 moved the article and page content types out of the standard install profile into core/recipes/, so a freshly installed site has none until a recipe is applied (recipes on drupal.org).

Scope

A permission a token carries, selected as a checkbox on the API client (Allowed Scopes). The client’s selected scopes are the token’s defaults: a token request needs no scope parameter, and one that names an unknown or unselected scope fails with invalid_scope. The vocabulary spans broad administer scopes (content:administer, the content scope with no read-only counterpart; media:administer, taxonomy:administer, …) and the granular canvas:* family (canvas:page:read, canvas:js_component, …). Select the fewest checkboxes the task needs. Used in: auth guide, auth reference.

Site

The tenant unit in Source CMS: one CMS instance with its own content, configuration, API clients, and URL. Not called a workspace or project. Used in: everything, starting with the auth quickstart.

Site (Multi-Experience Operations)

On Cloud Platform’s Multi-Experience Operations add-on, a logical website that shares its codebase and environments with other sites, rather than having its own repository. Not the same concept as a Source CMS site (the tenant unit): same word, different product, different meaning.

Sites Dashboard

The Source CMS screen listing every site in your subscription. Used in: what you can build, Canvas components section.

Slot

A region a Canvas component declares where editors place other components. Props carry values; slots carry components. Used in: Canvas components section.

Solr

Apache Solr, the open-source search engine underneath Acquia Search: it stores an index of your content and answers search queries against it. Drupal talks to it through the Search API module.

Source CMS

Acquia’s SaaS content management product: a Drupal backend Acquia runs, updates, and hosts for you, administered through its own web UI and consumed over JSON:API. You do not manage a codebase or servers for it, and you cannot install arbitrary Drupal modules on it; that is the trade against Cloud Platform, where you run a Drupal application yourself. Its tenant unit is a site. Because it is Drupal underneath, its API speaks Drupal’s vocabulary: entity types like node, resource types like node--article, and fields by machine name. Used in: everything under Source CMS, starting with what you can build.

SSH key

A public/private key pair that authenticates git and shell connections without a password. It is what Acquia uses to authorize git clone/push and shell access to Cloud Platform environments. The public half is registered with Acquia (acli ssh-key:create-upload generates the pair if needed and registers it); the private half stays on your machine, and is what CI systems store as a secret. Key basics: GitHub’s SSH guide. Used in: code-workflow quickstart, local dev quickstart, deploy from your own CI.

SSR

Server-side rendering: pages are rendered by a server process at request time instead of pre-built as static files at build time. Next.js and Nuxt support it out of the box; Astro requires an SSR adapter (npx astro add node). Contrast with static output, where the build emits finished HTML; ISR sits between the two. Used in: render content guide.

Subscription

Your contract-level account with Acquia, owning sites, users, and entitlements. Used in: what you can build, call the Cloud Platform API.

Sync directory

The directory of exported configuration YAML files that Drupal imports from and exports to, set by $settings['config_sync_directory']. On Cloud Platform it belongs in the repository and outside docroot/ (../config/sync), so active configuration rides the code path through environments instead of being stranded in each database. Used in: manage configuration.

Varnish

A caching reverse proxy in front of all Cloud Platform load balancing: anonymous page responses and static assets are served from memory without reaching PHP. Acquia-managed and steered through response headers (Cache-Control max-age, Vary), not configuration you deploy. Used in: caching guide, fix stale content.

Views

In Source CMS, Views is a billing metric (page views counted against your subscription), not the Drupal Views module. If a dashboard or invoice mentions Views, it is about traffic, not query building.

Vocabulary

A bundle of the taxonomy entity type: a named set of terms used to categorize content (tags, categories, topics). The machine name appears in API paths: /api/taxonomy/{vocabulary} (the path segment is taxonomy, not the entity type machine name taxonomy_term). Used in: content model reference.

Webhook

An outgoing HTTP notification your site sends when content changes (entity create, update, delete). Source CMS has no inbound webhooks: inbound integration is the JSON:API. Used in: webhooks guide, webhook reference.

Workflow

A defined editorial process that content follows from creation to publication: states (for example Draft, Review, Published) and the permitted transitions between them, with per-role transition permissions. Workflows govern CMS content only; they do not apply to Canvas pages. Used in: writing content guide.