Technical Glossary
Mechanism-first definitions for commands, architecture patterns, and key concepts across Docker, Kubernetes, Gen AI, and Agentic AI.
Isolated user-space process tree bounded by Linux namespaces and cgroups sharing the host kernel.
Immutable read-only tarball bundle containing root filesystem layers, binary dependencies, and OCI runtime metadata.
Linux kernel mechanism metering and limiting hardware resource allocations (CPU, memory, disk I/O) for process groups.
Open Container Initiative specification defining container image tarball structures, manifests, and layer blobs.
HTTP API service storing and serving versioned OCI image manifests and content-addressable layer blobs.
Smallest deployable unit in Kubernetes, grouping co-located containers sharing network namespaces and storage volumes.
Worker machine (physical or VM) running kubelet, container runtime, and kube-proxy in a Kubernetes cluster.
Declarative controller managing stateless Pod replicas, progressive rollouts, and automatic rollbacks.
Abstract network endpoint presenting a stable virtual IP and DNS name across a dynamic pool of Pods.
API object managing external HTTP/HTTPS routing rules to cluster-internal Services.
Continuous control loop pattern comparing actual cluster state against declared target state in etcd.
API object binding non-confidential key-value configuration data to Pod container environment variables or volume mounts.
API object storing base64-encoded confidential credentials, certificates, or keys separately from image code.
Workload controller managing stateful applications requiring unique network IDs and ordered volume provisioning.
CLI command declaratively updating cluster resources using 3-way strategic merge patches against etcd.
CLI command querying and displaying summary tables of specified Kubernetes API resources.
CLI command establishing interactive shell sessions inside a specific container in a cluster Pod.
Package manager for Kubernetes bundling YAML templates and default value overrides into versioned Charts.
Primary node agent ensuring containers described in PodSpecs are instantiated and healthy on worker hosts.