Glossary for Beginners

Quick reference for key terms in Ignis documentation.

Core Framework Terms

Term	Description
Application	Main entry point extending BaseApplication. Registers all components.
Controller	Handles HTTP/gRPC requests, defines API endpoints. REST controllers extend BaseRestController, gRPC controllers extend BaseGrpcController. Uses @controller, @get, @post decorators
Service	Contains business logic between controllers and repositories
Repository	Database operations for one entity (find, create, updateById, etc.)
DataSource	Database connection configuration (host, port, credentials)
Model/Entity	Defines data structure and relationships using Drizzle schema
Component	Reusable plugin that bundles related functionality
DI Container	Central registry that stores and resolves dependencies. The Application class acts as the container.

// Application registers everything
export class Application extends BaseApplication {
  preConfigure() {
    this.dataSource(PostgresDataSource);
    this.repository(TodoRepository);
    this.controller(TodoController);
  }
}

// Controller handles HTTP
const TodoRoutes = {
  GET_ALL: {
    method: HTTP.Methods.GET,
    path: '/',
    responses: jsonResponse({ schema: z.array(z.object({ id: z.string() })) }),
  },
} as const;

@controller({ path: '/todos' })
export class TodoController extends BaseRestController {
  @get({ configs: TodoRoutes.GET_ALL })
  async getAll(c: TRouteContext) {
    const todos = await this.repository.find({});
    return c.json(todos, HTTP.ResultCodes.RS_2.Ok);
  }
}

// Repository handles database
@repository({ model: Todo, dataSource: PostgresDataSource })
export class TodoRepository extends DefaultCRUDRepository<typeof Todo.schema> {}

Related: Application | Controllers | Services | Repositories

TypeScript & Pattern Terms

Decorators

Annotations starting with @ that add behavior to classes/methods.

Decorator	Purpose
@controller	Marks class as controller. Supports transport field ('rest' default, 'grpc')
@model	Marks class as model/entity
@repository	Marks class as repository
@datasource	Marks class as datasource
@inject	Requests dependency from container
@get, @post, @patch, @delete	HTTP route handlers

Dependency Injection (DI)

Classes receive dependencies from an external container instead of creating them internally. Benefits: testable, flexible, maintainable.

// ❌ Without DI - creates own dependencies
class TodoController {
  private repository = new TodoRepository(new PostgresDataSource());
}

// ✅ With DI - receives from container
class TodoController {
  constructor(
    @inject({ key: 'repositories.TodoRepository' })
    private repository: TodoRepository
  ) {}
}

Container & Binding

Container stores all dependencies. Binding registers classes/values under keys.

// Register in Application
this.repository(TodoRepository);  // Key: 'repositories.TodoRepository'
this.bind({ key: 'config.apiKey' }).toValue('sk_live_xxx');

// Resolve via @inject
@inject({ key: 'repositories.TodoRepository' }) private repository: TodoRepository;

Generic Types

TypeScript feature for reusable components: <T> or <SomeType>.

class DefaultCRUDRepository<TSchema> { find(): TSchema[] { ... } }
class TodoRepository extends DefaultCRUDRepository<typeof Todo.schema> {}

Related: Dependency Injection Guide

Database Terms

Term	Description
ORM	Tool to work with databases using code instead of raw SQL. Ignis uses Drizzle ORM.
Drizzle ORM	Type-safe ORM library. Docs
Schema	Table structure definition using Drizzle syntax
Migration	Script that creates/modifies tables. Version control for database structure.
Connector	Database driver that executes queries (via dataSource.connector)
Relations	Connections between tables (hasMany, belongsTo, hasOne)

// Schema definition
export const todoTable = pgTable('Todo', {
  id: text('id').primaryKey(),
  title: text('title').notNull(),
  completed: boolean('completed').default(false),
});

// Relations
export const userRelations = createRelations({
  source: userTable,
  relations: [{ type: 'hasMany', model: () => Post, foreignKey: 'authorId' }],
});

// Query with relations
await userRepo.find({ filter: { include: [{ relation: 'posts' }] } });

# Migrations
bun run drizzle-kit generate  # Generate from schema changes
bun run migrate:dev           # Apply to database

Query & Filter Terms

Filter Object

Specifies what data to retrieve: where, limit, order, include.

await repository.find({
  filter: {
    where: { status: 'active', age: { gte: 18 } },
    order: ['createdAt DESC'],
    limit: 10,
    include: [{ relation: 'author' }],
  }
});

Operators

Operator	Meaning	Example
eq	Equal	{ status: { eq: 'active' } }
neq	Not equal	{ status: { neq: 'deleted' } }
gt, gte	Greater than (or equal)	{ age: { gte: 18 } }
lt, lte	Less than (or equal)	{ price: { lt: 100 } }
like, ilike	Pattern match	{ name: { like: '%john%' } }
in, nin	In list / not in list	{ id: { in: [1, 2, 3] } }
between	Range	{ age: { between: [18, 65] } }

Related: Filter System | Repositories

HTTP & API Terms

REST API Methods

Method	URL	Action
GET	/todos	List all
GET	/todos/:id	Get one
POST	/todos	Create
PATCH	/todos/:id	Update
DELETE	/todos/:id	Delete

const TodoRoutes = {
  GET_ALL: { method: HTTP.Methods.GET, path: '/', responses: jsonResponse({ schema: z.array(z.any()) }) },
  GET_BY_ID: { method: HTTP.Methods.GET, path: '/:id', request: { params: z.object({ id: z.string() }) }, responses: jsonResponse({ schema: z.any() }) },
  CREATE: { method: HTTP.Methods.POST, path: '/', request: { body: jsonContent({ schema: z.any() }) }, responses: jsonResponse({ schema: z.any() }) },
} as const;

@controller({ path: '/todos' })
class TodoController extends BaseRestController {
  @get({ configs: TodoRoutes.GET_ALL })
  async getAll(c: TRouteContext) { ... }

  @get({ configs: TodoRoutes.GET_BY_ID })
  async getById(c: TRouteContext) {
    const { id } = c.req.valid<{ id: string }>('param');
    ...
  }

  @post({ configs: TodoRoutes.CREATE })
  async create(c: TRouteContext) {
    const data = c.req.valid('json');
    ...
  }
}

Term	Description
Endpoint	URL path that API responds to (e.g., GET /todos)
Route Parameter	Variable in URL marked with : (e.g., :id)
Request Body	JSON data sent with POST/PATCH requests
OpenAPI/Swagger	Auto-generated API docs at /doc/explorer (default path via SwaggerComponent)

Environment & Configuration

Environment variables store configuration outside code (in .env files). Ignis uses APP_ENV_ prefix to avoid system conflicts.

# .env file
APP_ENV_POSTGRES_HOST=localhost
APP_ENV_POSTGRES_PASSWORD=secret123
APP_ENV_SERVER_PORT=3000

const host = process.env.APP_ENV_POSTGRES_HOST;

Related: Environment Variables Reference

See Also

5-Minute Quickstart | Building a CRUD API | Repositories