Concepts
This section defines the key resources and terminology used in the ACXD SDK.
Workspace
A workspace is an isolated environment containing all the resources for a project or team applications, flows, secrets, knowledge bases, and more. Most SDK operations are scoped to a single workspace, specified via the workspaceId client configuration.
Application
An application is the top-level conversational AI unit. It contains flows, settings, and deployment configuration. Applications go through a build and deploy lifecycle before they are live.
Flow
A flow defines the conversational logic, the dialog paths, node connections, messages, and behavior your application follows during a conversation. Flows are authored as a graph of typed nodes.
Build
A build compiles an application's flows and configuration into a deployable artifact. Builds are immutable. Once built, the artifact does not change.
Deployment
A deployment publishes a build to a channel, making it live for end users. You can have multiple deployments per application (e.g., production, staging).
Secret
A secret stores a sensitive value (API key, credential, connection string) encrypted at rest. Secrets can be referenced in data requests and integrations without exposing the value.
Context Variable
A context variable is a typed variable available across conversations within a workspace. Use them to pass information between flows or from external systems.
Slot Type
A slot type defines a custom entity for extracting structured data from user input, for example a list of product names or cities with synonyms.
Data Request
A data request is a webhook integration that retrieves or sends data during a conversation. It connects your application to external APIs and services.
Knowledge Base
A knowledge base is a collection of articles or documents that power AI-generated responses. Knowledge bases must be published before they are available in conversations.
Guardrail
A guardrail is a safety rule that monitors conversation content and enforces behavior, like blocking, masking, or rerouting when violations are detected.
Evaluation
An evaluation runs automated quality checks against your application using defined criteria. Evaluations produce scored results and detailed logs.
Simulation
A simulation runs automated conversations against a deployed application to test behavior at scale.
Scenario
A scenario defines a scripted test conversation, a sequence of user inputs and expected behaviors used for automated testing.
Modality
A modality defines the input/output schema for a specific interaction channel (text, voice, custom).
Analytics Tag
An analytics tag labels conversation events as positive, negative, or neutral for reporting and analysis.
Trail
A trail is the audit log of changes made to workspace resources, who changed what, and when.
Programmatic User
A programmatic user is a machine identity that authenticates with the ACXD SDK via API key. Programmatic users are managed by account administrators.
Role
A role defines a set of permissions. Roles can be pre-defined (administrator, developer, content manager, read-only) or custom. Roles are assigned to programmatic users to control what they can access.
