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

9 terms shown.

Term	Kind	Topic	What it is
Artifact Signing	practice	Supply Chain Security	Cryptographically signing build outputs so that deployment can verify what is being run was produced by the expected pipeline from the expected source.
Build Provenance Attestation, SLSA Provenance, Artefact Lineage	pattern	Supply Chain Security	A signed, verifiable record of which source, builder and inputs produced a given artefact, checked at deployment - which makes the integrity of the build system testable rather than assumed.
Build Provenance Artefact Attestation, SLSA Provenance	practice	Supply Chain Security	A signed, verifiable statement of what was built, from which source, by which builder, with which dependencies - so a consumer can check that an artefact corresponds to reviewed source.
CI Secret Exposure Surface Build Credential Blast Radius, Runner Secret Surface	concept	Supply Chain Security	The set of credentials reachable by any code that executes in a build job, which is usually far larger than the job needs and is exposed in full by a single compromised step.
Dependency Confusion Internal Package Name Hijack, Registry Resolution Confusion	concept	Supply Chain Security	A build resolving an internal package name from a public registry because the package manager prefers the highest version across all configured sources - an anti-pattern in resolution configuration rather than…
Equifax 2017: A Known Patch and an Expired Certificate Equifax Breach	case-study	Supply Chain Security	An unpatched framework vulnerability provided entry, and an expired certificate on a monitoring device meant the exfiltration went undetected for months.
Reachability Triage Exploitability Prioritisation, Vulnerability Relevance	practice	Supply Chain Security	Prioritising dependency vulnerabilities by whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable and exploitable in your application, rather than by severity score - which is what makes vulnerability manageme…
Software Bill of Materials SBOM	tool	Supply Chain Security	A machine-readable inventory of every component and dependency in a piece of software, including transitive ones, used to answer exposure questions quickly.
Supply Chain Attestation SLSA, Provenance Attestation	practice	Supply Chain Security	A signed statement about how an artifact was produced — from which source, by which builder, with which inputs — verified before deployment.