Glossary
Identity and Access
Organization
An organization is the top-level billing and access boundary in Litebase. It can contain multiple workspaces, and is managed by one or more users. Billing, usage, and identity are consolidated at this level.
Workspace
A workspace is an isolated environment under an organization. It contains namespaces, streams, and storage. API keys, usage metering, and access control are scoped to workspaces.
API Key
An API key is a secret token used to authenticate and authorize access to Litebase APIs. Each key is scoped to a single workspace. API keys should be kept private and never exposed in client-side applications or source control.
Namespace
Namespace
A namespace is a logical partition within a workspace. All storage and stream operations target a specific namespace. Namespaces are used for multi-tenancy, data isolation, and logical grouping. Clients must explicitly specify a namespace in all API calls.
Storage
Storage
Storage is Litebase’s versioned, immutable key-value store. Every write creates a new immutable record associated with a key and a global transaction ID. Writes never overwrite existing data. Storage is optimized for point reads, audit trails, time-travel, and deterministic snapshots.
Key
A key uniquely identifies a record within a namespace. Keys may use hierarchical naming (e.g. user/1234/profile) for logical grouping. Each write to a key appends a new immutable record.
Value
A value is the data associated with a key. It must be valid JSON — object, array, string, number, boolean, or null. Values are immutable once written and stored durably.
Record
A record consists of a key, a JSON value, and metadata including timestamp and transaction ID. Records are immutable and append-only. You can retrieve the latest value or historical versions using scan or read APIs.
Transaction ID (Tx)
A transaction ID is a globally ordered identifier assigned to each write operation and stream event. It guarantees consistent ordering for reads, scans, watches, and replay. Transaction IDs are strictly increasing and time-correlated.
Scan
The scan API lists all key/value records under a common key prefix. Scans support pagination, ordering, and filtering. This is useful for listing datasets, grouping related records, or building indexes.
Watch
The watch API lets clients subscribe to changes on one or more keys or entire namespaces. Clients receive low-latency change notifications, enabling reactive applications and streaming pipelines.
Stream
Stream
A stream is an append-only, time-ordered log of events within a namespace. Events are immutable and transactional. Streams support publish/subscribe, event replay, and consistent change propagation.
Event
An event is an individual entry in a stream. Events carry a payload, timestamp, and transaction ID. They are strictly ordered and stored immutably for audit and replay.
Publisher
A publisher writes events to a stream. Publishers can batch events and commit them atomically. Events are written with durability and ordering guarantees.
Subscriber
A subscriber reads events from a stream. Subscriptions may start from the latest event, a specific timestamp, or a transaction ID. Subscribers receive events in exact order with no duplicates.
Infrastructure
Object Storage
Litebase stores all records and stream segments in durable cloud object storage systems such as Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, or MinIO. This design provides scalability, durability, and cost-efficiency.
Indexing
Litebase maintains internal indexes on keys, timestamps, and transaction IDs. These indexes support fast point lookups, range scans, and ordered replay operations.
Durability
All data in Litebase is written in append-only format and replicated in object storage. This ensures consistency, crash safety, and full recoverability.
Replay
Streams and storage operations support replay from any transaction ID or timestamp. Replay enables deterministic recovery, audit tracing, reprocessing, and time-travel debugging.