Words, in plain English

The words you'll meet while you build, each in a sentence or two. Come back here whenever one trips you up.

If Claude uses a word that isn't here, ask it:

What does [word] mean, in plain English?

The parts of an app

Front end. The part of the app people see and click: pages, buttons, text. It runs in their web browser.

Back end. The part that works out of sight: it saves data, checks passwords and decides what each person is allowed to see. When your app needs one, Claude can set up a back end on your computer through NodeGX.

Database. Where an app keeps its records so they're still there tomorrow: users, bookings, messages. Think of a spreadsheet with strict rules.

Logic (or workflow). The steps an app follows when something happens. For example: when someone clicks Save, check the form, save the record, then show "Saved".

Log-in (or auth). Checking who someone is, usually with an email and a password, so the app knows what to show them. "Auth" is short for authentication.

Stack. The set of tools an app is built from. NodeGX decides this for you.

Building in NodeGX

Node. One building block in NodeGX: a piece of text, a button, a step of logic or a piece of data. An app is made of nodes joined together.

Wire. A line joining two nodes. It passes something from one to the other: a value, or a signal that something just happened.

Component. A piece you build once and use in many places, like a card or a menu. Change it once and every copy changes.

Page. One screen of your app with its own address, like the home page or a settings page.

Template. A ready-made app you can open in NodeGX and change. You'll find them in the Templates tab of the start screen.

Preview. Your app running inside the NodeGX editor, so you can click through it as someone using it would. The switch at the top of the editor moves between Design and Preview.

Style name (or design token). A name for a style, like "primary colour" or "small gap", used instead of the colour or size itself. Change the style once and everything that uses it changes.

Scope. What the app will do, and what it deliberately won't. Agreeing it before you build keeps the first version small. See Plan before you build.

Brief. A short document in your project saying what the app is, who it's for and what it won't do. Claude writes it with you when you plan the app, and can read it again whenever it opens the project.

Mockup. A picture of a screen before it's built, so you can change your mind before anything is made. See See it before it's built.

Claude and NodeGX together

Connector (or MCP). An add-on that gives Claude extra tools. The NodeGX connector lets Claude open, build and check your NodeGX projects. MCP is the name of the standard these connectors use.

Conversation. One chat with Claude, from your first message to when you start a new one. Claude does its best work in a short one. See One job per conversation.

Putting it online

Hosting (or the cloud). Paying a company to run your app on their computers, so it's on all the time and anyone can reach it. "The cloud" just means computers in a data centre.

Server (or VM). A computer that runs your app for other people. A VM, or virtual machine, is a slice of a big computer in a data centre that you rent by the month.

Deploy. Putting your app online: copying it from your computer to a server or host so other people can use it.

Domain. Your app's address on the web, like myapp.com. You rent it by the year.

GitHub. A website that keeps a copy of your project online, with every earlier version. Hosts can take your app from there, and an account is free. See GitHub basics.

Repository (or repo). Your project as GitHub keeps it: all its files, plus the history of every change.

More words for developers

API. The way one program asks another for something. When a page loads your records from the back end, it makes an API call.

Localhost. "This computer." An address like http://localhost:3000 only works on your own machine, not for anyone else.

Terminal. A window where you type commands instead of clicking. Claude Code can also run in one.

Commit. A saved snapshot of your project, with a note saying what changed. A repository is a chain of commits.

Context window. How much Claude can hold in mind at once in a conversation. Long conversations fill it up.

Tokens. The units Claude measures text in, roughly three-quarters of a word each. Nothing to do with design tokens.

Quick reference

• Front end is what people see. Back end and database are what they don't.
• In NodeGX, an app is nodes joined by wires, grouped into components and pages.
• Style names keep the look consistent and easy to change.
• Deploy means putting it online; a domain is its address.
• Don't know a word? Ask Claude for it in plain English.