Glossary
This topic provides a list of terms you might come across while using the EVRYTHNG Platform and browsing this documentation.
For a more general look at the Platform, see the Platform Overview page.
Term | Definition | Read more |
|---|---|---|
Account | The first resource encountered in the Platform is an account, which is created when you sign up for a free account with EVRYTHNG. This is needed for you to login to the Dashboard and send requests to our API. All the resources (Thngs, products, applications) you create are stored and linked in your account. Each account has a unique Operator API key. | |
Action | An action is an event sent to the Platform on behalf of a user in an application on a Thng or product, at a place and time. For example, when a product is scanned or an on command is sent to a device. Actions can record the activity of users within applications. | |
Action Type | An Operator can define action types for an account. When defining these action types, you can add specific custom fields to customize these actions on the Dashboard. | |
ADI | An ADI is a permanent and globally unique cloud resource that holds information about a physical object or Thng as dynamic and static attributes. For example, an ADI can encompass a unique Thng, and all its attributes, properties, and history. | |
API Keys | A string that allows authenticated access to the Platform and its features through the REST API. There are five kinds of API keys:
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Application | An application represents a web or native client that interacts with the EVRYTHNG Platform. Developers can create multiple applications inside their projects. | |
Application User | These are the end users of your applications. Applications can create Application Users that are unique to each application. Unlike Operators, Application Users have no direct access to the EVRYTHNG API or Dashboard. | |
Batches | A batch allows creating many Thngs on the Platform. | |
Collection | A collection is a group of Thngs or a group of other collections. Collections can be created by various users, and a Thng can be in more than one collection. | |
Custom fields | Custom fields are developer-defined attributes of a resource, stored in the They can enhance the metadata of, for example, a Thng to incorporate your own vision of a Thng (for example, color, size, and so on). | |
Dashboard | The EVRYTHNG Dashboard is the web interface to your account and all resources that belong to it. You can visit it at: dashboard.evrythng.com | |
Device | A device is a web-connected Thng, such as a smart plug socket (as opposed to a Thng, which is identified with a 2D printed code). | |
Digital Twin | A digital counterpart of a physical product comprising events and attributes from and about the product. The behavior of the digital twin is customized to deliver an experience that benefits customers and brands across a wide variety of digital applications. | |
Enterprise Users | Some features are available only with an enterprise subscription. Contact us to discuss enabling them on your account. | |
Filter | Most API end-points support filtering to retrieve or edit only a subset of resources that match certain criteria. | |
Jobs | The Jobs API allows the Platform to execute asynchronous, long-running jobs creating or updating many resources. For example, applying an action to a group of Thngs. | |
Location | Locations are a pre-defined type of property for a Thng that stores snapshots of their geographic position. A location is stored as a geographic coordinate in GeoJSON format. | |
Operator | Operators interact with the Platform through the Dashboard or the REST API and supporting SDKs. They can be assigned access to create, manage, and read Thngs, products, projects applications, roles, and Application Users. An Operator can be invited to join other accounts. | |
Permissions | A set of permissions is attached to each API key. These permissions allow the API to decide if the request may proceed or not. | |
Places | Places are resources corresponding to a place in the real world. For example, a specific geographic position or an abstract place like an address. A place pinpoints an action with a product or Thng. | |
Product | A product is a class of objects and their SKU-level (Stock-Keeping Unit) information, such as the name, description, URL, images for that product, and other characteristics that all instances of that product share (size, weight, price, and so on). A Thng can be linked to a product to indicate its class-inherited characteristics. | |
Project | Every account can contain one or more projects. A project is a container for Applications and Application Users and provides an easy way to share and work with a subset of the resources that exist in an account. | |
Property | Thngs and products can have many properties, which can be strings, numbers, arrays, or objects. Unlike custom fields, changes to properties are time-stamped, which allows you to track them and view their value history. | |
Reactor | The Reactor lets the Platform react to an action or a property change using custom business logic rules. For example, a Reactor can trigger a Slack alert when a property reaches a certain threshold or update SAP when an action is performed. | |
Redirector | The Redirector allows developers to set up a redirect for scanned URL or QR code based on rules, such as time of day or location. For example, a URL (which could easily be encoded in a QR code) could redirect the user based on the day of the week. | |
Resource | A general term to refer to all the data types and objects stored on the Platform. For example, Thngs, collections, products, places, and actions are all considered resources. | |
Access Role | An access role is a permission template that can be assigned to an Application User or group of users. | |
Identifier Recognition (previously known as SCANTHNG) | Lets you identify EVRYTHNG products and Thngs directly from any web or native application. It allows a user to take a picture of an object, a QR code, or a barcode and recognize it as an EVRYTHNG product or Thng. | |
Scope | Scope defines by whom resources can be seen—in a specific account or project or by a specific Application User. What you can then do with those resources is governed by permissions of the key used to make any request. | |
Short Domain | Short domains are used for redirections. By default, | |
Short ID | Every resource has a globally unique, automatically-generated identifier (for example, In addition, for redirection purposes a shorter ID may be used (for example, These are unique for a given short domain but not in themselves globally unique. | |
Short URL | A short URL is the combination of a short domain and a short ID. This allows individual Thngs and products on the EVRYTHNG Platform to be redirected to a web application (for example, | |
Task | A task is an asynchronous operation that can be performed on a batch, such as creating or updating Thngs. | |
Thng | Thngs are unique instances of products, for example, the smart plug in your living room, the t-shirt you're wearing, or the can of soda you're drinking. A Thng acts as a "digital twin" for a physical product. | |
Pub/Sub Broker (previously known as THNGPUSH) | Besides our standard scalable REST API, we also provide a multi-protocol publish/subscribe M2M broker where applications and devices can push and receive notifications (property updates, actions created, and so on) from the Platform. | |
THNGHUB | THNGHUB is a Local Cloud Gateway to the EVRYTHNG platform. It's a lightweight, modular software application that lets you integrate non-IP protocols to the web and allows local control of connected products. | |
User | See: Application User above |
Updated 19 days ago