Glossary
Quick reference for PADAS terms you’ll see in the UI, docs, and logs. Deeper behaviour: Configuration & Runtime Engine, REST API Reference, Security.
Runtime & Architecture
Core
The PADAS engine process: routes events (StreamRouter), runs tasks and connectors, optional WAL, and serves /api/v1/*. Registry rows live under [api.persistence].config_dir (for example streams.json, tasks.json, connectors.json). Tune paths and limits in padas.toml — see Configuration & Runtime Engine.
Runtime Engine
Same as Core in practice — one process runs your pipelines; there is no separate “pipeline service” per workflow.
StreamRouter
In-process component that buffers and routes events per stream to subscribers (tasks, consumers, WAL). Shared across all pipelines on that Core.
Streams & Processing
Stream
Named channel events flow through inside Core. Sources publish in; tasks read and write; sinks read out. Optional WAL enables durability and historical reads.
WAL
On-disk write-ahead log for a stream when enabled. Trades disk (and sometimes latency) for crash recovery and replay. If WAL is off for a stream, some query paths may fail — check stream settings and Configuration & Runtime Engine.
Consumer lag
How far a consumer’s offset is behind the stream head. Large lag may push reads toward WAL; tune [core.subscriber.lag] and sink throughput.
Task
Registry object that reads from source stream(s), runs PDL, writes to sink stream(s). Start / stop control execution on the Core after deploy. See Tasks.
Processing task
Task mode: typically one PDL evaluation per inbound event on the hot path (plus window state for aggregates). Distinct from detection rule evaluation.
Detection task
Task mode: multiple saved conditions (queries/rules), evaluated for alerting-style matches.
PDL
Padas Domain Language — pipeline expressions (|-separated stages: parse, filter, eval, aggregate). Full syntax: PDL Reference.
Aggregation
Windowed summarisation (timespan, group_by, …). Emits flat result rows; processing tasks may fan out one downstream event per group when configured.
Watermark
Signal that a time window is ready to flush idle aggregates — ties to [core.task.aggregation.*] and shutdown behaviour.
Replay
Reading past events via stream consume APIs or POST /api/v1/query, bounded by retention and WAL. Operational replay datasets (saved slices for tests) live under Testing.
Connectors & Pipelines
Connector
Source or sink integration: moves data between external systems and streams. Stored in connectors.json; start / stop after deploy.
Source connector
Ingests from outside (syslog, HTTP, Kafka, …) into a stream.
Sink connector
Reads from a stream (or task output path) and delivers outward.
Connector class
Implementation type (http, syslog, kafka, …) — sets config schema and behaviour.
Pipeline
Registry workflow: one source, ordered tasks, one or more sinks. Defined under Configuration; assigned and deployed under Management. See Pipelines.
Operations & Deployment
Assign
Choose which sources, tasks, and sinks belong on a Core (or attach a pipeline to Cores). Saves intent — does not push to the engine by itself.
Deploy
Apply registry changes to the Core so running config matches what you assigned.
Deploy All
Push pending pipeline/deploy updates across the selected Cores (bulk deploy).
Assign and deploy
Save placement and deploy in one step for that Core/pipeline row.
Drift
UI/registry definition no longer matches what’s running — often needs Deploy, restart, or fixing partial file edits.
Monitoring & Testing
Monitoring
Live EPS (events per second), drops, stream/task/connector rows, Query, Monitor, and metrics for the selected Core — shows what’s happening now, not the registry editor. See Monitoring.
Testing
Capture or upload events, run PDL against them on a Core without changing production pipelines. See Testing.
Capture
Saved event slice from Monitoring (or uploads) used as input for Testing.
Security & Identity
Service account token
JSON on the Core host (service-account.token); token value is sent as Authorization: Bearer to /api/v1/*. The UI stores the same secret per row as account token. See Security.
JWT session
Browser session to padas-ui (HTTP-only cookies). Not sent to Core APIs for normal console flows — Core trusts Bearer, not UI roles.
Bearer authentication
When [api.auth].enabled, every /api/v1 route requires a valid Bearer header (including /health and /metrics).
Token rotation
Core can issue a new service-account secret (/api/v1/auth/token/refresh); update automation and UI account token rows before old tokens expire.
Lockout
Too many bad Bearer attempts from one client IP can temporarily block auth — check proxy X-Forwarded-For headers. Details: Security.
API & Runtime Control
REST API
Core’s /api/v1 HTTP surface (Axum): CRUD and lifecycle for streams, tasks, connectors, query, reload, auth. Same process as the engine — handlers use EmbeddedApiState, not forked CLI per request. See REST API Reference.
Runtime status
GET /api/v1/status (and per-resource …/status) — snapshot of health and resources for triage.
Related pages
Configuration & Runtime Engine · REST API Reference · Security · Monitoring · Testing