Glossary

Definitions of terms used throughout Core CLI documentation.

A

Artifact

A file produced by a build, typically a binary, archive, or checksum file. Artifacts are stored in the dist/ directory and published during releases.

C

CGO

Go's mechanism for calling C code. Core disables CGO by default (CGO_ENABLED=0) to produce statically-linked binaries that don't depend on system libraries.

Changelog

Automatically generated list of changes between releases, created from conventional commit messages. Configure in .core/release.yaml.

Conventional Commits

A commit message format: type(scope): description. Types include feat, fix, docs, chore. Core uses this to generate changelogs.

D

Dry-run

A mode where commands show what they would do without actually doing it. core ci runs in dry-run mode by default for safety.

F

Foundation Package

A core package with no dependencies on other packages. Examples: core-php, core-devops. These form the base of the dependency tree.

FrankenPHP

A modern PHP application server used by core php dev. Combines PHP with Caddy for high-performance serving.

G

gh

The GitHub CLI tool. Required for commands that interact with GitHub: core dev issues, core dev reviews, core dev ci.

L

LinuxKit

A toolkit for building lightweight, immutable Linux distributions. Core can build LinuxKit images via core build --type linuxkit.

M

Module (Go)

A collection of Go packages with a go.mod file. Core's Go commands operate on modules.

Module (Package)

A host-uk package that depends on foundation packages. Examples: core-tenant, core-admin. Compare with Foundation Package and Product.

P

Package

An individual repository in the host-uk ecosystem. Packages are defined in repos.yaml and managed with core pkg commands.

Package Index

The repos.yaml file that lists all packages in a workspace. Contains metadata like dependencies, type, and description.

Product

A user-facing application package. Examples: core-bio, core-social. Products depend on foundation and module packages.

Publisher

A release target configured in .core/release.yaml. Types include github, docker, npm, homebrew, linuxkit.

R

Registry (Docker/npm)

A remote repository for container images or npm packages. Core can publish to registries during releases.

repos.yaml

The package index file defining all repositories in a workspace. Used by multi-repo commands like core dev work.

S

SDK

Software Development Kit. Core can generate API client SDKs from OpenAPI specs via core build sdk.

T

Target

A build target specified as os/arch, e.g., linux/amd64, darwin/arm64. Use --targets flag to specify.

W

Wails

A framework for building desktop applications with Go backends and web frontends. Core detects Wails projects and uses appropriate build commands.

Workspace (Go)

A Go 1.18+ feature for working with multiple modules simultaneously. Managed via core go work commands.

Workspace (Multi-repo)

A directory containing multiple packages from repos.yaml. Created via core setup and managed with core dev commands.

Symbols

.core/

Directory containing project configuration files:

• build.yaml - Build settings
• release.yaml - Release targets
• test.yaml - Test configuration
• linuxkit/ - LinuxKit templates

--we-are-go-for-launch

Flag to disable dry-run mode and actually publish a release. Named as a deliberate friction to prevent accidental releases.

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See Also

• Configuration - Config file reference
• Getting Started - First-time setup