Terminology

2205 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 areas2205 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 Architecture69 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 Architecture64 Streaming & Real-Time Data69 Data Governance & Semantics69 Frontend & Experience Architecture66 Edge, Mobile & IoT68 Regulatory & Data Protection Architecture65 Assurance, Audit & Model Risk64

Kind Any concept794 practice734 pattern368 metric125 case-study77 tool62 protocol45

6 terms shown.

Term	Kind	Topic	What it is
Break-Glass Access Emergency Access, Just-in-Time Elevation	practice	Identity & Access Management	A pre-agreed, heavily audited path to elevated privilege for emergencies, replacing standing administrative access.
Capital One 2019: From SSRF to the Metadata Endpoint IMDSv1 Breach	case-study	Identity & Access Management	A server-side request forgery reached the cloud instance metadata service, obtained temporary credentials, and used an over-permissioned role to read a very large volume of data.
Permission Boundary	concept	Identity & Access Management	A policy limiting the maximum permissions an identity can have, used so that the ability to create roles does not become the ability to grant unlimited privilege.
Privilege Creep Access Accumulation, Permission Sprawl	concept	Identity & Access Management	The gradual accumulation of access as people change roles without losing prior permissions, producing long-tenured staff with far more access than anyone intended.
Usage-Based Access Review Last-Used Entitlement Review, Evidence-Based Access Recertification	practice	Identity & Access Management	Recertifying entitlements against observed use rather than against manager approval, so unused permissions are removed by default instead of being re-approved by someone who cannot evaluate them.
Workload Identity SPIFFE, Managed Identity, Service Identity	concept	Identity & Access Management	Giving a running workload a cryptographic identity derived from its platform context, so it can authenticate without a stored credential.