Glossary

The following is a glossary of important or frequently used terms. These terms may have meanings or assumed context outside wasmCloud, and so these definitions should help to clarify how wasmCloud defines them.

Components

A component is the smallest deployment of compute within a wasmCloud cluster. Components are .wasm files that have been cryptographically signed with claim attestations indicating what they can and cannot do. For more information, see components.

Providers

"Capability Providers" or more commonly "Providers" fulfill non-functional requirements like HTTP handling or key-value storage as managed by an abstraction called a capability. For more information, see providers.

Lattice

The lattice is a self-forming cluster of wasmCloud nodes. Each lattice is uniquely identified by a name, which is used to differentiate traffic from other lattices. Membership within a lattice requires a secret key for signing invocations and the ability to trust a specific set of public keys from other hosts. For more information, see lattice management.