> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://xanots.docs.xano.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Glossary
> The Xano and XanoTS words that mean something specific — instance, workspace, branch, ephemeral, bundle, lock, guid — and the pairs that are easy to confuse.
Most confusion with XanoTS comes from four or five words that sound interchangeable and are
not. This page is the short answer for each; every entry links to the page that explains it
properly.
## The four places things live
These nest, largest first. Getting them straight makes most other docs read easily.
| Term | What it is |
| ------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Instance** | Your Xano server — the thing with a URL like `your-instance.xano.io`. Holds one or more workspaces. `xanots whoami` prints its origin. |
| **Workspace** | One backend: its tables, endpoints, functions, and settings. **A XanoTS credential addresses exactly one workspace** — there is no `--workspace` flag. `xanots workspace details` says which. |
| **Branch** | A copy of a workspace's **logic** (endpoints, functions, tasks…). Tables are **shared** across all branches — see [what a branch isolates](/guides/development-workflows#what-a-xano-branch-actually-isolates). One branch is *live* at a time. Releasing to a branch from the CLI is **still in development**. |
| **Ephemeral** | A disposable, auto-expiring environment with its own URL, created by `xanots deploy`. Where you try things. Not production, and nothing here can reach it. |
**"Branch" means two different things** depending on context, and they are unrelated: a **git**
branch (a parallel copy of your *code*) and a **Xano** branch (a copy of your workspace's
*logic*, living on the instance). The docs say "Xano branch" whenever it is the second.
## The commands that write
| Term | What it does |
| --------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **`deploy`** | Compile and push to an **ephemeral**. A full replace, every time. Disposable, so iterate freely. |
| **`release`** | Promote to your real workspace. **Merges** — adds and updates, never deletes unless you ask, and never touches table rows. |
| **`preflight`** | Prove your code against a real engine in a throwaway environment, then delete it. Non-destructive; touches nothing you own. |
| **`export`** | Compile to a **bundle** on disk or stdout. No network, no auth. |
| **`init --from workspace`** | The *pull* direction: turn a live workspace into TypeScript. |
**`deploy` vs `release` is the distinction to internalise.** `deploy` replaces something
disposable; `release` merges into something you care about. They deliberately have no flag in
common that would let you confuse the two targets.
## Identity
| Term | What it is |
| --------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **def object** | The unit you author — `defineTable`, `defineQuery`, `defineFunction`. A plain typed object describing what should exist. |
| **bundle** | The single JSON document your whole workspace compiles to, and the only thing that is ever imported. **Carries environment variable values — never commit one.** |
| **guid** | An object's stable identity. A release matches incoming objects to existing ones by guid, which is what makes re-running update instead of duplicate. Derived from the object's name by default. |
| **`xano.lock`** | The file pinning every object's guid, plus the `canonical` URL tokens of API groups and toolsets. **Commit it.** See [why](/guides/git-and-merges#xano-lock-and-why-it-is-in-the-repo). |
| **canonical** | The URL token in an API group's public address. Pinned by the lock, because the engine otherwise randomizes it per environment — so an unpinned one changes your public URLs. |
## Credentials
| Term | What it is |
| ------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **`xanots login`** | Interactive OAuth in your browser. For people. **Never** in CI — it blocks on consent. |
| **meta credential** | `XANO_INSTANCE_URL` + `XANO_WORKSPACE_ID` + `XANO_META_TOKEN`. For machines. Never expires or rotates; all three required together. |
| **`auth.json`** | Where a credential caches — shared (`~/.xanots/`) or project-local (`./.xano/`, gitignored by `login --local`). |
## Formats and other words
| Term | What it is |
| ---------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **multidoc** | Xano's own `.xs` (XanoScript) export format. What you read if you prefer XanoScript to TypeScript. |
| **XanoScript** | Xano's native scripting language. XanoTS compiles to the same workspace, so the two describe the same objects. |
| **static host** | Frontend hosting attached to an environment. `deploy --static ./frontend/dist` puts your built frontend on the same ephemeral as its backend. |
| **`window.XANO_HOST`** | The backend URL, injected into every HTML document at deploy time — so a prebuilt frontend retargets any environment with no rebuild. |
| **middleware** | Logic that runs before or after an endpoint. |
| **`--prune`** | Deletes objects **this project released** and no longer defines. Requires `xano.lock`, and is the only ordinary way a release removes something. |
| **`--dry-run`** | Prints the plan and sends nothing. The habit worth forming. |
## Easily confused
The **instance** is the server. A **workspace** is one backend on it. An **environment** is
a place a workspace runs — your real one, or a disposable ephemeral. `xanots whoami` prints
the instance origin; `xanots status` prints the environment this project last deployed to.
A **git branch** holds your code and is merged with `git merge`. A **Xano branch** holds
your workspace's logic and is promoted with `xanots workspace branch set-live`. In
[repo-is-the-truth](/guides/workflow-repo) you mostly use the first; in
[workspace-is-the-truth](/guides/workflow-workspace) the second **is** the merge.
**conversation** is the client-visible transcript — what a user sees when they join a
channel. **history** is execution/debugger retention, for you. Orthogonal: a channel can
have either, both, or neither.
Every `deploy` is already a full replace of a disposable environment, so there is no flag.
`release --replace` wipes your **real** workspace and rebuilds it, minting fresh identities
— which is why it re-pins your lock afterwards and tells you to commit it.
A **bundle** is the compiled JSON your code produces. `xanots workspace export` writes the
*live* workspace as one. Neither is a **backup** — backups are a Xano workspace feature, and
they are what restores lost table data. A release never restores rows.