Glossary
Short definitions of terms you will see throughout Bobuild and this documentation.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Builder | The design environment at builder.bobuild.com where you create objects, pages, tasks, and inspect raw data. |
| App | The live application end users open (for example https://mycompany.bobuild.com). |
| Object (table) | An entity in your data model — customers, orders, tickets. Interchangeable with “table”. |
| Field | A property of an object (column): text, number, reference, file, and so on. |
| Record | One row of an object — a single customer, order, or ticket. |
| Reference | A field that links to one record of another object. |
| Reference Array | A field that links to many records of another object. |
| Global object | An object that holds exactly one shared record for app-wide settings. See Global objects. |
| Auto field | A field filled by a formula from other fields or related records. See Auto fields. |
| Live formula | A JavaScript expression on a form field that recalculates in the browser as other fields on the same form change. See Live formula. |
| Portal | A top-level page — often a public site, customer area, or staff backoffice. |
| Page | A screen in the app. Pages nest: a grid can open a child detail page. |
| Widget | A building block on a page (form, grid, chart, menu, stepper, timeline, …). |
| Stepper | A widget that shows a sequence of steps and highlights the current one from record conditions. See Stepper. |
| Timeline | A widget that lists records as dated events along a date/time axis. See Timeline. |
| Task | A no-code automation: conditions plus sequential actions (e-mail, update, validate, …). See Tasks. |
| Batch task | A task run on many records from the Builder or a grid selection. |
| Scheduled task | A task that runs on a timetable. See Scheduled tasks. |
| Placeholder | A token such as a field value or helper function used in templates, formulas, and Rich Text. See Placeholders. |
| Display rule | Logic that shows, hides, or restyles widgets/fields based on conditions. |
| Login rule | Logic that decides which users may enter a portal. See User login. |
| Snapshot | A point-in-time backup of app structure and/or data. See Snapshots. |
| Deployment | Promoting configuration from a source app (often staging) into a target app without overwriting live records. See Deployments. |
| Collaborator | Someone invited to work in the Builder on your apps (distinct from end users who only use portals). See Collaborators. |
| Annotation | A Builder-only internal note on a widget, field, task, API endpoint, or document template (not shown to end users). See Annotations. |
| Embed | Running a Bobuild page inside an external site via iframe. See Embedding. |
| Custom View | A widget that renders your own JavaScript while Bobuild supplies the data. See Custom View. |
| SQL Console | Experimental Builder tool to query app data with SQL. See SQL Console. |
For how these pieces fit together, start with Basic concepts.