--- title: Vibe coding & developer glossary: API to webhook, plain English | Vibecodr description: A plain-English glossary for vibecoders: Vibecodr house words plus the standard developer terms — API, webhook, deployment, environment variable, CORS, and more — each tied to how it works on Vibecodr. canonical: https://vibecodr.space/glossary --- # Glossary ## The words you run into while building, defined plainly. A plain-English glossary for vibecoders: the Vibecodr house words AND the standard developer terms you will run into the first time you ship something real. No CS degree required. Two shelves. The handful of words that are specific to building here, defined in full over in the Lingo. And the everyday developer vocabulary — API, webhook, deployment, environment variable, CORS — each defined in a line and tied to how it actually shows up on Vibecodr. ## Start here ### Vibe: The runnable app people open and play with in the browser. The interactive part of a project — a page, toy, game, tool, or experiment anyone can press play on and remix. It runs client-side, inside a sandbox. ### Pulse: The backend helper you add when a project earns one. Server-side logic for the work that should not live in public browser code: secrets, storage, scheduled jobs, and calls out to other services. You add one only when the project actually needs it. ### Combo: A project that uses both a Vibe and a Pulse together. The front end people open, plus a backend doing trusted work behind it. When both are present, that is a Combo. ### BUMP IT: Ship the next version on the same link, identity, and history. Publishes a fresh cut without splitting it into a duplicate: the public URL and embeds keep working, and older versions stay for rollback. ### Capsule: The editable workspace that holds your project files. The home for the code and assets behind a project, before and between publishes — the editable source, not the frozen public copy. ### Remix: Forking someone else's vibe into your own copy, lineage visible. You get your own version to build on while the link back to the original stays in view. Evolution in the open instead of a quiet copy-paste. ### Studio: The browser workspace where you build, preview, and publish. Paste or upload code, watch it run, tune it, and ship it — no local setup required. ### Params: The knobs a vibe exposes so people can tweak it without editing code. Change a few values, press play again, and watch the thing respond. ### Vibe coding: Building software by describing what you want and shaping what comes back. Paste, upload, or generate code — often with an AI — then run, share, and remix it until it is right, instead of hand-writing every line up front. ### Vibecoder: Anyone who builds and ships apps by vibe coding. Sometimes a seasoned engineer, sometimes someone who started talking to an AI last week. On Vibecodr, everyone who publishes a vibe is one. ## How it works in practice ### API: A defined way for one program to ask another for data or an action. Application Programming Interface. When your vibe fetches weather data or calls your own Pulse, it is using an API. ### Endpoint: A single URL an API exposes for one specific job. A Pulse can expose HTTP endpoints that your vibe — or another service — calls. ### Frontend: The part of an app that runs in the browser, that people see and click. On Vibecodr, your vibe is the frontend. ### Backend: The part that runs on a server, out of public view, holding logic, data, and secrets. On Vibecodr, a Pulse is your backend. ### Framework: A pre-built structure that gives an app its shape so you do not start from zero. React, Vue, and Svelte are frameworks — paste one into Studio and it runs. ### Library: Reusable code you pull in to do one job well instead of writing it yourself. A charting or date-handling library, for example, added as a dependency. ### Runtime: The environment that actually executes your code. Vibecodr runs each vibe in a sandboxed browser runtime; a Pulse runs in a server runtime at the edge. ### Dependency: Outside code your project relies on, usually installed from a registry like npm. Vibecodr resolves and builds your dependencies when you import a repo. ### Environment variable: A named value read at runtime instead of hard-coded into the source. A Pulse reads config and secrets this way — never your public vibe code. ### Secret: A private credential that proves your app is allowed to use a service. Store API keys in a Pulse's secrets, never in a vibe, where anyone can read the source. ### Webhook: A message another service sends your app the moment something happens. Instead of you polling for changes, a Pulse can receive webhooks from Stripe, GitHub, and others. ### Deployment: Publishing code so it runs live somewhere other people can reach it. Publishing a vibe is a deployment — Vibecodr handles the servers and the URL. ### Build: Turning source code into the optimized files a browser or server actually runs. Vibecodr builds imported repos for you before they run. ### Version control: A system that tracks every change so you can review history or roll back. Git is the common one; you can import a Git repo straight into a capsule. ### Repository: A project's full code and history in one place, usually on GitHub. Import a public repo and Vibecodr turns it into a runnable capsule. ### Sandbox: An isolated space where untrusted code runs without touching the rest of the system. Every vibe runs in a sandbox, so opening one is safe by default. ### CORS: A browser rule for which other origins your frontend is allowed to call. Cross-Origin Resource Sharing. A Pulse can set CORS headers so your vibe is allowed to call it. ### CDN: A network of servers that delivers your files fast from a location near each visitor. Content Delivery Network. Vibecodr serves published work over one. ### DNS: The system that turns a domain name into the address of the server behind it. Point a custom domain at a Pulse by setting DNS records. ### Database: Structured storage your app reads and writes — users, posts, scores. A Pulse can use platform-managed storage instead of you running a database. ### Cron job: Code set to run automatically on a clock — hourly, daily, on a schedule. A Pulse can run on a schedule with no server to babysit. ### Authentication: Confirming who a user is before letting them in. Often shortened to 'auth'; a Pulse can gate actions behind it. ### OAuth: A standard that lets users grant limited access to another account without sharing a password. 'Sign in with GitHub' is OAuth. ### JSON: A simple text format for structured data that most APIs speak. JavaScript Object Notation — what a Pulse usually sends and receives. ### HTTP / HTTPS: The protocol browsers and servers use to talk; HTTPS is the encrypted version. Vibecodr serves everything over HTTPS. ### SSR vs CSR: Server-side rendering builds the page on the server; client-side builds it in the browser. Vibes are client-side by default; a Pulse can render or serve data server-side. ### Client-side storage: Data a vibe saves in the visitor's own browser, like localStorage. Isolated per sandbox origin and gone if the visitor clears it — reach for a Pulse when storage must be durable or shared. ## Keep exploring - [House words in full: The Lingo](https://vibecodr.space/lingo/index.md) - [How it actually works: Docs](https://vibecodr.space/docs/index.md) - [See the whole loop: How it works](https://vibecodr.space/how-it-works/index.md) - [What people build: Use cases](https://vibecodr.space/use-cases/index.md) ## FAQ ### Do I need to know all of these to start? No. Open the Studio, paste an idea, and you will pick up the words the first time you trip over one. This page is here for that moment: search the term, get a plain answer, keep building. ### What is the difference between this and the Lingo? The Lingo is the deep dive on Vibecodr's own house words — Vibe, Remix, BUMP IT, Studio — in our voice. This glossary is the wider reference: those house words in brief, plus the standard developer terms anyone building software runs into. ### Why define standard terms like API and webhook? Because a lot of vibecoders are shipping real apps without a traditional CS background. When 'environment variable' or 'CORS' shows up, you should get a straight answer tied to what it means here — not a textbook detour. ### Are these the exact terms Vibecodr uses? The house words are. The standard terms are defined the way the wider industry uses them, with a line on how each one shows up on Vibecodr so the jump from concept to product stays short. ### Where do I go when a one-line definition is not enough? The Lingo for the house words, and the docs for exact runtime behavior, file layout, and worked examples. ## Closing note Words are just handles for ideas. The faster 'webhook' or 'Pulse' stops being a wall and starts being a tool you reach for, the faster you ship — that is all this page is for.