Terminology

454 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 areas454 Architecture Fundamentals16 Distributed Systems73 Data Architecture71 Cloud Architecture55 Networking13 API & Integration Architecture17 Reliability & Resilience16 Observability14 Performance & Capacity Engineering13 Security Architecture50 Cost Architecture & FinOps12 Business Architecture9 Architecture Communication8 Enterprise Architecture8 Legacy Modernization11 AI-Era Architecture15 Software Architecture & Engineering19 Architecture Patterns15 Architecture Decision-Making11 The Architect's Meta-Skills8

Kind Any concept166 practice107 pattern93 case-study26 tool26 protocol22 metric14

6 terms shown.

Term	Kind	Topic	What it is
Authorization Code Flow with PKCE PKCE	protocol	OAuth 2.0 & OIDC	The OAuth flow recommended for all client types, in which an authorisation code is exchanged for tokens using a proof key that binds the exchange to the original requester.
JSON Web Token JWT	protocol	Security Architecture	A signed, self-contained token carrying claims, which a service can validate locally without calling the issuer.
JWKS JSON Web Key Set	protocol	Tokens & JWTs	A published endpoint listing an issuer's current public keys, allowing resource servers to validate token signatures without a shared secret and to survive key rotation.
OAuth 2.0	protocol	Security Architecture	An authorisation framework that lets an application obtain scoped, delegated access to a resource without handling the user's credentials.
OpenID Connect OIDC	protocol	Security Architecture	An identity layer over OAuth 2.0 that adds a signed ID token asserting who the user is and how they authenticated.
Token Introspection	protocol	OAuth 2.0 & OIDC	Asking the authorisation server whether a token is currently valid, rather than validating it locally from its signature.