Glossary

This page defines key terms used throughout the Actionbase documentation.

API Version Mapping

Actionbase is in the process of migrating from v2 to v3 APIs. The terminology differs between versions:

v2 Term	v3 Term	Description
Service	Database	Namespace for grouping tables
Label	Table	Edge schema definition

• Metadata APIs use v2 (service/label) — will migrate to v3 in a future release
• Query/Mutation APIs use v3 (database/table)

Data Model

Term	Description
Edge	A graph edge representing a user interaction
Source	The entity performing the interaction (e.g., user_id)
Target	The entity receiving the interaction (e.g., product_id)
Properties	Attributes stored on an edge (e.g., created_at)
Unique-edge	An edge identified by (source, target) pair
Multi-edge	An edge identified by ID; multiple edges allowed per (source, target)
Index	Pre-computed structure for efficient querying
Alias	An alternative name for a label (or table)

Query and Mutation

Term	Description
Count	Query that returns the number of edges
Get	Query that retrieves a specific edge by source and target
Scan	Query that scans edges using a pre-computed index
Start	Starting node for Scan/Count queries; acts as source when direction is OUT, target when IN
Direction	Query direction: OUT (source→target) or IN (target←source)
Range	Index-based scan boundaries applied at storage level
Filter	Post-retrieval filtering applied at application level
Version	Uses client-provided timestamp (milliseconds or nanoseconds) for concurrency control and event ordering
Offset	Encoded string indicating the starting position for pagination
Limit	Maximum number of results to return; 25 is recommended for production

Write-Time Optimization

Term	Description
EdgeState	Current edge state, accessed by Get queries
EdgeIndex	Sorted index entries, accessed by Scan queries
EdgeCounter	Pre-computed counters, accessed by Count queries

Data Pipeline

Term	Description
WAL	Write-Ahead Log for durability and recovery
CDC	Change Data Capture for downstream synchronization