Terminology

2225 terms, tools, patterns and metrics an architect is expected to use precisely. Each one gets a short explanation of what it is, and — where it matters — what it is commonly confused with. Search filters as you type; the column headers sort.

All areas2225 Architecture Fundamentals77 Distributed Systems107 Data Architecture110 Cloud Architecture94 Networking88 API & Integration Architecture82 Reliability & Resilience75 Observability70 Performance & Capacity Engineering72 Security Architecture86 Cost Architecture & FinOps71 Business Architecture67 Architecture Communication67 Enterprise Architecture66 Legacy Modernization71 AI-Era Architecture74 Software Architecture & Engineering71 Architecture Patterns71 Architecture Decision-Making63 The Architect's Meta-Skills61 Delivery & Release Engineering66 Platform Engineering & Developer Experience70 Testing & Quality Architecture66 Data Platform Architecture69 Streaming & Real-Time Data69 Data Governance & Semantics74 Frontend & Experience Architecture66 Edge, Mobile & IoT68 Regulatory & Data Protection Architecture65 Assurance, Audit & Model Risk69

Kind Any concept801 practice736 pattern377 metric127 case-study77 tool62 protocol45

4 terms shown.

Term	Kind	Topic	What it is
Accessible Component Contract Component Accessibility Contract, Design System Accessibility Guarantee	pattern	Accessibility Testing	A published, tested statement of a shared component's keyboard model, roles, names and announced states, so that accessibility is verified once where the component is built rather than re-audited in every prod…
Consumer-Driven Contract CDC, Pact Testing	pattern	Consumer-Driven Contracts	A machine-checkable expectation written by the consumer of an API and verified against the provider's build, catching integration breaks without a shared environment.
Test Pyramid	pattern	Test Pyramid Shapes	The heuristic that a suite should hold many fast isolated tests, fewer integrated ones, and very few full end-to-end tests.
Test-Owned Data Data Created By The Test, Per-Test Tenancy	pattern	Test Data Management	Each test creating the exact data it needs through the product's own write path and disposing of it afterwards - replacing shared fixtures whose drift and coupling cause most cross-team test failures.