Adobe Commerce Architect Master key terms

A set of PHP interfaces in a module's Api directory that defines how other modules interact with it, keeping business logic behind stable, versioned boundaries instead of direct class dependencies.

A framework mechanism where object dependencies are supplied by configuration in di.xml rather than created inside classes, allowing replacement, decoration, and environment-specific behavior without code changes.

A di.xml node that maps an interface or class to a concrete implementation, letting you swap the class the framework instantiates globally or per area.

A class that wraps a public method of another class to run code before, after, or around it, extending behavior without modifying the original class.

An event listener registered in events.xml that reacts to a dispatched event, used for side effects that should not block or alter the original operation's return value.

A versioned PHP class under Setup/Patch that applies schema or data changes once, tracked in the patch registry, replacing older install and upgrade script conventions.

A db_schema.xml file that describes the desired database structure, from which the framework generates the SQL diff needed to bring the database into that state.

A data model storing product or customer attributes as rows in shared attribute tables rather than fixed columns, allowing attributes to be added per attribute set without schema changes.

A named grouping of EAV attributes assigned to a product, determining which fields appear and are stored for products of a given type.

A process that materializes derived data, such as flattened product attributes or price, into dedicated tables so read queries stay fast instead of joining EAV tables at runtime.

A database table holding the precomputed result of a query, refreshed by an indexer, trading write-time work for fast reads on storefront pages.

A service-contract pattern exposing get, save, delete, and search operations over a data model, hiding persistence details from callers and enabling caching and interception.

A builder object carrying filters, sorting, pagination, and field selection into repository search methods, providing a uniform query interface across data models.

An HTTP interface exposing services under /rest with JSON or XML payloads, authenticated by tokens or OAuth, and defined by webapi.xml routes and service contracts.

A typed query language endpoint where clients request exactly the fields they need in one call, with schema defined in schema.graphqls files and resolvers supplying data.

A hosted gateway that composes multiple REST, GraphQL, and other sources behind a single GraphQL endpoint, applying transforms and authorization at the edge.

An asynchronous transport where publishers send messages to topics and consumers process them later, decoupling slow work such as exports from the request cycle.

A long-running worker process that reads messages from a queue topic and executes the corresponding handler, started and supervised separately from web requests.

The scheduled task system defined in crontab.xml that runs groups of jobs on a timer, typically driven by a system scheduler invoking the cron runner each minute.

A layer that stores rendered HTML for cacheable pages and serves it before the application boots, keyed by cache identity such as customer group and store.

An identifier attached to cached entries so that invalidating a tag purges every entry depending on it, for example all pages showing a given product.

Customer-specific blocks and sections delivered outside the shared page cache and refreshed in the browser via customer-data requests, keeping shared HTML cacheable.

A logical application scope such as frontend, adminhtml, webapi, or graphql that selects which configuration, routes, and layouts are loaded for a given request.

Declarative files describing page structure as containers and blocks, which the view layer merges and renders into HTML for a given handle.

A view-layer class that prepares data and renders a template, sitting between layout configuration and the presentation markup.

A JavaScript UI component declared in a RequireJS module and XML definition, binding observable data to templates for dynamic storefront sections.

The asynchronous JavaScript module loader used by the storefront to declare dependencies, resolve module paths from configuration, and load bundles on demand.

A named permission in acl.xml that gates admin actions, checked against the roles assigned to an administrator account.

A per-session secret embedded in forms and validated on submission so that requests forged by another site cannot perform state-changing actions.

Output encoding applied in templates so user-supplied text is rendered inert, preventing injected scripts from executing in another visitor's browser.

A response header restricting which script, style, and image sources a page may load, configured per store and commonly enforced in report-only mode first.

The PHP package manager used to declare module dependencies, resolve versions from repositories, and generate the autoloader and lock file for a build.

A build-time command that compiles and publishes frontend assets such as CSS, JavaScript, and images into per-locale directories served directly by the web server.

A deployment mode that suppresses on-the-fly code compilation and error display, requiring a completed build and static deploy beforehand for acceptable performance.

An isolated deployment target with its own services, configuration, and branch, arranged in a starter or pro hierarchy from integration through staging to production.

Configuration values injected per environment to override service credentials and settings without editing code, read through the deployment configuration files.

Shell commands declared in configuration files that run during the build phase to install dependencies and during deploy to apply database and configuration changes.

Adding more application server instances behind a load balancer, which requires shared session storage, shared cache, and media so any node can serve any request.

An in-memory store used for backend cache, page cache, and session storage, letting multiple application nodes share state instead of relying on local files.

A geographically distributed edge network that caches and serves static and media assets close to visitors, reducing origin load and latency.