# Glossary

> Definitions of Falak terms — agent, artifact, build, builder, canvas, control plane, deployment, environment, Fleet CA, leader, release, site and more.

Source: https://falak.sh/docs/reference/glossary/

| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| **Access log** | One JSON record per HTTP request Caddy served for a site. Shown as Network Logs. |
| **Agent** | `falak-agent`, the program on each managed server. It dials out to the control plane over mutual TLS, runs commands, supervises processes and forwards telemetry. |
| **Alert** | A notification raised by an event (for example `deployments.failed`), routed by **rules** to **channels**. |
| **App port** | The loopback port a Node, Bun, Deno or Docker site listens on (3000–3999, per server). |
| **Artifact** | The `tar.gz` a native build produces and every server downloads. |
| **Build** | The step that turns a commit into an artifact or image, once per deployment, on a builder. |
| **Build mode** | `native` (tarball) or `docker` (image). |
| **Builder** | A worker running `falak-builder serve`: on the control plane host, on a `builder` server, or elsewhere. |
| **Canvas** | The board that shows an environment's services, references and groups. |
| **Channel** | Where alerts are delivered: e-mail, Slack, Discord, Telegram or webhook. |
| **Compose site** | A site with runtime `compose`: a Docker Compose project managed by Falak. |
| **Control plane** | The Falak application (UI, API, queues, builder) running as a Docker Compose stack on its own host. |
| **Deploy hook** | A secret URL (`/api/deploy/{token}`) that starts a deployment. |
| **Deploy script** | Bash with the macros `$FALAK_FETCH`, `$FALAK_ACTIVATE`, `$FALAK_RESTART_PROCS`, run during a deployment. |
| **Deployment** | One run of the pipeline that takes a commit, image or Compose file to a site's servers. Has a status, phase, trigger and strategy. |
| **Domain choice** | How a public endpoint gets its name: generated, test or custom. |
| **Environment** | An isolated set of services inside a project, for example `production` or `staging`. References resolve within it. |
| **Fleet CA** | Falak's internal certificate authority. Agents trust only it; its key is stored encrypted with `APP_KEY`. |
| **Framework preset** | Defaults for a site: runtime, web directory, shared paths, deploy script, variables, health path. |
| **Generated domain** | `<label>.<ip-with-dashes>.sslip.io`, resolved by a wildcard DNS service to the IP inside it. |
| **Group** | A frame around cards on the canvas. Compose sites are always groups; you can group other services. |
| **Health check** | An HTTP request to each server after activation; a failure rolls the deployment back. |
| **Heartbeat** | A cron job's report that it ran. Missing ones become Insights issues. |
| **Insights** | Falak's application view: grouped exceptions, performance thresholds and heartbeats. |
| **Issue** | A group of occurrences of the same exception, slowness or missed heartbeat. |
| **Leader** | The site's primary server: migrations, the Laravel scheduler and Compose leader commands run there. |
| **Load balancer** | A server of type `lb` running Caddy in front of a site's servers. |
| **Organization** | The top-level account: members, roles, tokens, connections, servers and projects. |
| **Placeholder release** | The 503 release `current` points at before a site's first deployment. |
| **Process** | A supervised program next to a site: web process, worker, Horizon, Octane or daemon. |
| **Project** | A group of environments for one product. Every organization has a `Default` project. |
| **Provisioning** | Applying the declarative plan that installs and configures a server for its type. |
| **Recipe** | A saved script you run on one or more servers. |
| **Reference** | `${{ service.KEY }}` in a variable, resolved at deploy time from another service in the same environment. |
| **Release** | The result of a deployment on the servers: `releases/<id>` (native), an image (Docker) or rendered Compose files. The last 5 are kept. |
| **Rollback** | Activating an earlier retained release, manually or automatically. |
| **Runtime** | How a site runs on its servers: `frankenphp`, `php-fpm`, `node`, `bun`, `deno`, `static`, `docker`, `compose`. |
| **Server** | A Linux machine managed by Falak through its agent. Has a type: app, web, db, cache, worker, lb or builder. |
| **Service** | A card on the canvas: a site or a database. |
| **Shared path** | A file or directory in `shared/` linked into every release (for example `storage/`, `.env`). |
| **Site** | A deployable app placed on one or more servers. |
| **Strategy** | The order in which servers switch to a release: zero-downtime, in-place, rolling, canary, blue-green, compose. |
| **Target** | A site's placement on one server, with its role (leader or member) and preparation status. |
| **Template** | A ready-made Compose app with inputs and public services, from the catalog or your organization. |
| **Test domain** | `<slug>.`, served for every site when a wildcard test domain is configured. |
| **Token (API)** | A bearer token pinned to one organization, with abilities (permission names). |
| **Trigger** | What started a deployment: manual, push, api, hook or rollback. |