| Global Cluster | The centralized management and control hub of . In the platform's hub-and-spoke architecture, it provides platform-wide services such as authentication, policy management, cluster lifecycle operations, and observability. | Architecture |
| Workload Cluster | A Kubernetes-based environment managed by the global cluster. A workload cluster runs isolated application workloads and inherits governance and configuration from the central control plane. | Architecture |
| Platform-Provisioned Infrastructure | A cluster management model in which the platform provisions both machines and node operating systems, and manages the full cluster lifecycle. In this model, all nodes use an immutable operating system. | Clusters Overview |
| User-Provisioned Infrastructure | A cluster management model in which users provide pre-provisioned physical or virtual machines. The platform manages Kubernetes on those nodes, while node operating system management remains under user control. | Clusters Overview |
| Hosted Control Plane (HCP) | A deployment model in which each cluster has its own dedicated control plane, while multiple control planes are hosted as workloads on a dedicated management cluster. This model separates the control plane from worker nodes to reduce resource consumption and improve multi-cluster scalability. | About Hosted Control Plane |
| Managed Cluster | An existing cluster brought under the platform for centralized governance and operations. In ACP, managed clusters include existing standard Kubernetes clusters and selected public cloud clusters that are onboarded through import or registration workflows. | Managed Clusters Overview |
| Immutable OS | An immutable operating system used for platform-managed nodes in platform-provisioned environments. Node state is kept consistent and recoverable by treating the operating system layer as read-only and centrally managed. | Clusters Overview |
| Immutable Infrastructure | A cluster provisioning and operating model in which node configurations are baked into images and remain unchanged after deployment. Cluster upgrades and configuration changes are applied by replacing nodes with new images. | About Immutable Infrastructure |
| Project | A platform governance unit that isolates resources and personnel for a tenant or team. A project can span multiple associated clusters and acts as the management boundary for quotas, policies, and namespace ownership. | Create Project |
| Namespace | A Kubernetes namespace managed directly or indirectly by the platform. In ACP, a namespace can be created within or imported into a project so that it inherits project-level governance and visibility. | Importing Namespaces |
| Control Plane | The Kubernetes management layer that runs core cluster components such as the API server, scheduler, and controller manager. | Architecture |
| Control Plane Node | A node that runs Kubernetes control plane components used for cluster management. Use this term instead of outdated alternatives such as "master node". | Architecture |
| Worker Node | A node that runs application workloads and supporting platform components. Use this term instead of outdated alternatives such as "slave node". | Architecture |
