Glossary
3D Secure (3DS)
A technology that requires customers to complete additional steps to verify their identity, with the aim of reducing fraud and meeting the requirements of the Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) regulation.
Applicable product: Checkout
For more information: Handling Strong Customer Authentication (SCA)
API access token
An automatically-generated, unique string that identifies you when using the Bold APIs. For endpoints that require it, the API access token must be included in the “Authorization” header of the call.
Applicable product: All
For more information: Quick Start and Build Public Integrations
access scope
Controls which the type of access an integration has to a store's data via API endpoints.
Applicable product: All
For more information: Access Scopes
action (Price Rules)
A property of a rule that defines how to adjust the prices of items in a product selection.
Applicable product: Price Rules
For more information: Rulesets and Rules
action (Checkout Plugin)
A command sent from a plugin to Bold Checkout in response to an event. Actions often result in changes to an order's application state. Part of the event-action loop.
Applicable product: Checkout
For more information: Checkout Concepts: Plugins
amendment/amendable
An order is amendable if it can be edited after the customer submits an order (calling the Process Order endpoint), but before the order is processed. Examples include Bold's Upsell application, certain fees, etc. One of these edits to an order is called an amendment.
Applicable product: Checkout
For more information: Checkout References: Plugin Events
app hook
An application hook (or app hook) is a custom event that you can use to communicate between Bold Checkout and your plugin. It allows a plugin with custom frontend components to participate in the event-action loop.
Applicable product: Checkout
For more information: Create Custom Events with App Hooks
Bold-hosted
Refers to code or an interface that is hosted by Bold Commerce.
Applicable product: Checkout
box
An entity that connects Subscription Builder to a subscription group.
Applicable product: Subscriptions (Subscription Builder)
For more information: Configuring Subscription Builder Entities
box product
An entity that identifies a product/variant to be made available to a box's time slots.
Applicable product: Subscriptions (Subscription Builder)
For more information: Configuring Subscription Builder Entities
box size
An entity that determines the pricing and product availability of a box.
Applicable product: Subscriptions (Subscription Builder)
For more information: Configuring Subscription Builder Entities
cart parameter
Metadata, defined in key and value pairs, that can be appended to a Bold Checkout order.
Applicable product: Checkout
For more information: Checkout Concepts
Checkout Backend API
As one portion of a headless checkout, the Checkout Backend API performs tasks such as initializing an order, adding an authenticated customer, and capturing payments. These calls are made from a secure server rather than from a browser, so they only require an API access token.
Applicable product: Checkout
For more information: Checkout Backend API Specification
Checkout Experience
What a shopper experiences when completing a checkout.
Applicable product: Checkout
Checkout Flow (Flow)
An optimized checkout experience designed to serve a specific set of shoppers based on a set of criteria.
Examples of criteria:
- the type of device a shopper is interacting with
- the shopper's screen size
- the items in the shopper's cart
Applicable product: Checkout
For more information: Checkout Flows
Checkout Frontend API
As one portion of a headless checkout, the Checkout Frontend API performs user-driven functions, such as adding and editing cart line items, editing billing and shipping addresses, and choosing a shipping method. Because these requests are triggered by customer actions in a browser or similar client, these requests require the use of a temporary JSON web token (JWT) to authenticate changes to an order on a customer's behalf.
Applicable product: Checkout
For more information: Checkout Frontend API Specification
condition
A property of a rule that defines the criteria for triggering a rule’s actions.
Applicable product: Price Rules
For more information: Rulesets and Rules
custom frontend
Any frontend interface not created by Bold Commerce. Requires the use of a custom backend.
Applicable product: Checkout
For more information: Create a Custom Checkout Flow
customer-targeted pricing
A type of price rule that applies a ruleset to a subset of customers.
Applicable product: Price Rules
For more information: Customer-Targeted Pricing
default zone
A catch-all zone for regions that are not explicitly placed in a geographic zone.
Applicable products: Checkout
For more information: Checkout Admin API specification
event
A predefined point of significance in the Checkout experience, such as order_submitted or order_changed. Part of the event-action loop.
Applicable product: Checkout
For more information: Checkout Concepts: Plugins
event-action loop
The primary mechanism used for communication between Bold Checkout and plugins.
A Checkout plugin listens for events, and the plugin responds with one or more actions. Bold Checkout executes the actions, which often result in changes to the order. This pattern is called the event-action loop.
Applicable product: Checkout
For more information: Checkout Concepts: Plugins
flow identifier
A unique string (in the flow_id field) used to label a specific checkout flow and used to distinguish it from other checkout flows.
Applicable product: Checkout
For more information: Checkout Flows
flow logic
The process of programmatically selecting a specific checkout flow for a shopper based on a set of met criteria.
Applicable product: Checkout
For more information: Checkout Flows
flow metrics
The measurable statistics tied to a specific checkout flow.
Applicable product: Checkout
For more information: Checkout Flows
frontend
Any interface that a user will interact with that collects the information required by the backend to process an order. For instance a frontend could be:
- An online form a shopper fills out.
- The interface an employee uses during an in-store purchase.
- The voice prompts used when placing an order with a virtual assistant.
Applicable product: All
frontend template
An interface that is created and optimized by Bold Commerce. They are ready to use out-of-the-box but can also be used as a starting point for a custom frontend.
Applicable product: Checkout
headless
A software architecture that enables developers to decouple the frontend (i.e. the “head”) and backend of an application.
Applicable product: Checkout
For more information: Checkout Concepts
headless checkout
An offering that enables a merchant to completely customize the look and feel of the Checkout experience, while maintaining the features and functionality of Bold Checkout. For example, the headless Bold Checkout enables a merchant to create “heads” in a variety of channels, including desktop, mobile, in-store kiosks, and more. The merchant can create custom, branded checkout experiences that are all enabled by Bold Checkout.
Applicable product: Checkout
For more information: Headless architecture
idempotency key
An arbitrary, alphanumeric string used to identify a unique set of data (i.e. a subscription, an order, or a webhook). Bold APIs use idempotency keys to give each entity or process a unique ID. If an API receives multiple requests with the same idempotency key, the API will always pick up where it left off.
Applicable product: Checkout, Subscriptions
For more information: Create Subscriptions
integration
Software that is built to work with or communicate with other software (in this case, Bold Checkout, Subscriptions, or Price Rules). See also private integration and public integration.
Applicable product: All
For more information: Types of Integrations
OAuth 2.0
An authorization framework that enables integrations to securely access a store's data as it exists in Bold's system and the platforms we integrate with. Public integrations may use OAuth 2.0 to obtain API access tokens. More information about OAuth can be found in The OAuth 2.0 Authorization Framework.
Applicable product: All
For more information: Building Public Integrations
override
A mechanism that enables developers to bypass standard Bold functionality in favor of custom functionality or rules.
Applicable product: Checkout
For more information: Checkout Overrides
Payment Isolation Gateway Interface (PIGI)
The interface that a customer uses to input their payment information and add the payment method to an order. PIGI isolates customer payment information from everything else that happens during a checkout experience. This separation increases the security of the customer’s payment information by preventing any third party scripts from having access to information shoppers input into the payment fields.
Applicable product: Checkout
For more information: Checkout Concepts: PIGI
platform
The software that provides an interface for merchants to sell their goods and services, and for shoppers to purchase those goods and services. Platforms usually offer a form of product management, customer authentication, order management, and other management features.
Bold provides out-of-the-box support for several platforms, including BigCommerce, commercetools, and Shopify.
All fields in the API specifications that refer to a platform_id refer to an ID for the given resource that is generated by the platform.
Applicable product: All
platform connector
A server that Bold uses to connect between any platform and the Bold APIs in order to interact with your customer, order, and product information.
Applicable product: All
For more information: Platform Connector: Concepts
platform connector destinations
The locations on your platform connector server that you make accessible to Bold. To register platform connector destinations, use the Create Destination endpoint.
Applicable product: All
For more information: Provide platform connector destinations to Bold
platform connector specifications
The OpenAPI specifications, created by Bold, that provide implementation details for platform connectors. Bold calls the endpoints defined in this specification to contact your platform connector.
Applicable product: All
For more information:
platform event notifications
An OpenAPI specification that defines the ways to notify Bold of changes to the customers, orders, and products on your store. For use with a platform connector.
Applicable product: All
For more information:
plugin
A custom application that extends the capability of Bold Checkout. Merchants, partners, and other third-party developers can all create plugins.
Bold Checkout has various methods of interacting with plugins, typically through the event-action loop.
Applicable product: Checkout
For more information: Checkout Concepts: Plugins
private integration
An integration manually installed on a store. It is not listed in the Integration Marketplace, and these integrations only require an API access token obtained through the Bold Account Center.
Applicable product: All
For more information: Types of Integrations
public integration
An integration that can be conveniently installed on more than one store. They can be published (listed in Bold Account Center’s Integration Marketplace) or unpublished. Partners building public integrations must create API access tokens using the OAuth 2.0 flow.
Applicable product: All
For more information: Build Public Integrations
remote state authority (RSA)
A method to allow your platform to serve as the authority on the order state throughout the checkout process. The RSA enables your platform to have complete control over certain tasks, such as editing and validating customer, address, and other information.
Only available when also using a platform connector.
Applicable product: All
For more information:
rule
A feature of Price Rules that defines the pricing actions to take when a set of conditions are satisfied.
Applicable product: Price Rules
For more information: Rulesets and Rules
ruleset
The core resource of the Price Rules API, which allows you to dynamically manage the pricing of products on an ecommerce store. Rulesets are JSON objects with a defined structure and elements.
Applicable product: Price Rules
For more information: Rulesets and Rules
selection
A collection of box products that a shopper adds to a subscription order for a selection line item on a specific date.
Applicable product: Subscriptions (Subscription Builder)
For more information: Configuring Subscription Builder Entities
selection line item
A single box product that has been (or will be) added to a subscription within a selection.
Applicable product: Subscriptions (Subscription Builder)
For more information: Configuring Subscription Builder Entities
self-hosted
Refers to code or an interface that is not hosted by Bold Commerce.
Applicable product: Checkout
shell product
A product that is programmatically added to the cart along with the other product selections, which allows Subscription Builder to differentiate a Subscription Builder order from a regular Bold Subscriptions order.
Applicable product: Subscriptions (Subscription Builder)
For more information: Configuring Subscription Builder Entities
shell subscription group
A subscription group containing only the shell product.
Applicable product: Subscriptions (Subscription Builder)
For more information: Configuring Subscription Builder Entities
shipping zone
A specific type of zone used to define areas where particular shipping carriers and rates are available.
Applicable product: Checkout
For more information: Checkout Admin API specification
Strong Customer Authentication (SCA)
A regulatory requirement set by the second Payment Services Directive (PSD2), which aims to create additional layers of security for banks and customers in Europe. Banks that facilitate transactions between a merchant and customer that are both in Europe may require two of the following three methods of authentication:
- Something the customer knows.
- Something the customer has.
- Something the customer is.
The 3D Secure (3DS) technology helps merchants adhere to the SCA requirements.
Applicable product: Checkout
For more information: Handling Strong Customer Authentication (SCA)
Subscription Builder
A Bold integration that allows you to offer selections to your customers with each subscription recurrence or make choices for them based on their preferences.
Applicable product: Subscriptions (Subscription Builder)
For more information: Subscription Builder
subscription line item
A single line item in a customer’s subscription that is associated with a box.
Applicable product: Subscriptions (Subscription Builder)
For more information: Configuring Subscription Builder Entities
tax zone
A specific type of zone used to define areas that are served by a given tax provider.
Applicable product: Checkout
For more information: Checkout Admin API specification
time slot
A collection of box products available in a time range for a box. These are typically used to denote the different options your customers can choose from for each of your delivery cycles.
Applicable product: Subscriptions (Subscription Builder)
For more information: Configuring Subscription Builder Entities
time slot option
A single box product available within a time slot.
Applicable product: Subscriptions (Subscription Builder)
For more information: Configuring Subscription Builder Entities
warehouse zone
A specific type of zone used to define areas that are served by a single shipping origin. Warehouse zones are used to determine where shipping is available and sometimes how taxes are calculated, depending on the tax provider.
Applicable product: Checkout
For more information: Checkout Admin API specification
webhook
A method for Bold to notify you when an important event occurs. Register for a webhook by providing a user-defined callback URL that Bold sends a response to when the given event occurs.
Applicable product: Checkout and Subscriptions
For more information: Register for Checkout Webhooks or Register for Subscriptions Webhooks
widget
A customizable UI component that you can add to a storefront and configure to call Bold APIs. Most commonly used in Bold Subscriptions to allow a customer to subscribe to recurring orders.
Applicable product: Subscriptions
For more information: Building Custom Widgets
zone
A geographic area made up of one or more regions. Zones come in three types: warehouse, tax, and shipping.
Applicable product: Checkout
For more information: Checkout Admin API specification