Glossary

Definitions of terms used throughout APSO documentation.

A

API Key

A secret token used for machine-to-machine authentication. Unlike JWT tokens used by users, API keys are long-lived and typically used by automated systems.

APSO Cloud

The managed hosting platform for APSO backends. Provides automatic scaling, SSL, monitoring, and database management.

.apsorc

The configuration file that defines your APSO schema. Contains entity definitions, field types, relationships, and configuration options. Written in JSON format.

B

Better Auth

The recommended authentication library for APSO backends. Provides email/password auth, OAuth, sessions, and two-factor authentication out of the box.

BYOA (Bring Your Own Auth)

APSO’s philosophy of allowing any authentication provider. You can use Better Auth, Auth0, Firebase Auth, or any JWT-issuing system.

C

Code Generation

The process of transforming your schema definition into working application code. APSO generates entities, controllers, services, DTOs, and more.

Controller

A class that handles HTTP requests in a NestJS application. Controllers define API endpoints and delegate business logic to services.

D

DTO (Data Transfer Object)

A class that defines the shape of data for API requests and responses. DTOs include validation decorators to ensure data integrity.

Data Scoping

The mechanism that controls which users can access which data. See also: Multi-tenancy, Organization.

E

Entity

A TypeORM class that represents a database table. Entities define the structure of your data including fields, types, and relationships.

Extensions

Custom code that you add to your APSO backend. Extensions live in src/extensions/ and are preserved during code regeneration.

F

Field

A property of an entity that corresponds to a database column. Fields have types, constraints, and optional validation rules.

Field Type

The data type of a field. APSO supports: string, text, number, decimal, boolean, date, datetime, uuid, json, enum.

G

Guard

A NestJS mechanism that controls access to routes. Guards can check authentication, roles, permissions, or any other criteria.

Generated Code

Code produced by APSO from your schema. Generated code includes entities, modules, controllers, services, and DTOs.

J

JWT (JSON Web Token)

A compact, URL-safe token format used for authentication. JWTs contain claims about the user including their ID and organization.

M

Migration

A versioned change to your database schema. Migrations allow you to evolve your database structure over time while preserving data.

Module

A NestJS organizational unit that groups related controllers, services, and providers. Each entity gets its own module.

Multi-tenancy

An architecture where a single application serves multiple organizations (tenants) with data isolation between them.

N

NestJS

A progressive Node.js framework for building server-side applications. APSO uses NestJS for its TypeScript template.

O

ORM (Object-Relational Mapping)

A technique for converting between database records and application objects. APSO uses TypeORM for TypeScript and SQLAlchemy for Python.

Organization

The primary unit of multi-tenancy in APSO. Users belong to organizations, and data is scoped to organizations by default.

Organization ID

A UUID that identifies an organization. Included in JWT tokens and used to scope all database queries.

P

PostgreSQL

The relational database used by APSO backends. All generated code targets PostgreSQL 14+.

R

Relationship

A connection between two entities. APSO supports OneToOne, OneToMany, ManyToOne, and ManyToMany relationships.

Repository

A TypeORM class that provides database operations for an entity. Services use repositories to interact with the database.

S

Schema

The complete definition of your APSO backend stored in .apsorc. Includes entities, fields, relationships, and configuration.

Scoping

See: Data Scoping.

SDK

The APSO TypeScript SDK for frontend applications. Provides type-safe API calls to your APSO backend.

Service

A class containing business logic in a NestJS application. Services are called by controllers and use repositories for data access.

Swagger

OpenAPI documentation automatically generated for your API. Accessible at /api/docs by default.

T

Template

A pre-configured project structure for a specific framework. APSO offers templates for TypeScript (NestJS), Python (FastAPI), and Go (Gin).

TypeORM

An ORM for TypeScript and JavaScript. Used in APSO’s TypeScript template for database operations.

U

UUID

A universally unique identifier. APSO uses UUIDs for entity IDs by default.

V

Validation

The process of checking that incoming data meets required constraints. APSO uses class-validator decorators for validation.

Common Abbreviations