Glossary
A plain-English guide to the words you'll see all over MOD. If you've never written code or run a "workflow" before, start here — every term below assumes zero technical background and links to related ideas.
If a term you saw isn't here, ask the assistant (the robot icon in the top-right of every page) and we'll add it.
Tenant
Your team's account in MOD. Everything you upload, every workflow you build, every user you invite — all of it lives inside your tenant. A tenant is private to your team: another customer using the same MOD installation can't see your files, runs, or settings.
If you're a one-person team that's still a tenant — yours, with one user (you).
When the docs say "for this tenant", it just means "for your team's account".
User
One person logged into the tenant. Users belong to a tenant. You can invite teammates from Settings → Users; each invited person gets their own login but they all share the tenant's files, workflows, and billing.
The first user to sign up for a tenant is the tenant admin — they can change billing, invite people, and adjust settings. Other users can do everything else.
Related: Tenant, Permissions
Workflow
A recipe for processing files. A workflow is a list of steps you want MOD to do — say, "take this image, blur it, then convert it to PNG, then put the result in this folder."
You build workflows visually by connecting boxes (called nodes) on a canvas. You can save a workflow and run it again with different files later. Workflows are the main thing you'll be doing on MOD.
If you've used something like Photoshop's batch automation or Zapier's "zaps", a workflow is the MOD equivalent — but for any file processing task, not just images or simple integrations.
Related: Node, Workflow Run, Workflow Wizard
Node
One step in a workflow. A node is a single box on the workflow canvas that does one thing — resize an image, extract audio from a video, run an AI model, send the result by email, anything.
Three kinds of nodes you'll see most often:
- Input nodes (blue) — they bring files INTO the workflow
- Processing nodes (purple) — they DO something to the files
- Output nodes (green) — they SAVE or SEND the result somewhere
You connect nodes with lines (called "edges") to control the order of operations. The output of one node feeds into the input of the next.
There are 200+ prebuilt nodes covering image, video, audio, 3D, AI, and data tasks. You can also build your own — see Node Wizard.
Related: Workflow, Node Wizard, Marketplace
Workflow Run
One execution of a workflow. Every time you click "Run" on a workflow, that's a Workflow Run. Each run gets its own page in the Process Queue where you can watch it work in real time, see how long each node took, and download the results.
If you run the same workflow ten times on ten different files, you'll have ten Workflow Runs. Each one is independent — if one fails, the others keep going.
Related: Workflow, Process Queue, Worker
Worker
The computer that actually does the work. A worker is the machine that runs your workflow's nodes. When you click "Run" in the Workflow Builder, MOD doesn't process anything on your laptop — it sends the job to a worker, which is a separate machine (usually a beefy one with a GPU) that does the heavy lifting and reports the result back.
A worker does three things: it picks up tasks from MOD, runs each node inside its own container, and returns the output. By default your jobs run on the platform's shared worker pool, so you don't need your own hardware to get started; you can also enroll tenant-owned workers for dedicated capacity. Workers self-enroll with an enrollment token (see Worker Setup) and are listed on the Workers page in the Dashboard.
Related: Workflow Run, GPU
Workflow Wizard
A chat-style assistant that builds workflows for you. Instead of dragging boxes onto the canvas yourself, you tell the Workflow Wizard what you want in plain English — "take a stack of product photos, generate transparent-background versions, and save them as PNGs" — and it builds the workflow for you. You can edit the result just like a hand-built workflow.
Best for: starting a new workflow when you're not sure which nodes to use.
Find it: in the Workflow Builder, click Functions → Workflow Wizard.
Related: Workflow Builder, Workflow, Node Wizard
Node Wizard
Build a custom node from a description. If none of the 200+ built-in nodes do what you need, the Node Wizard helps you make a new one. You describe what it should do (or point at a Docker image, script, or Dockerfile) and the wizard packages it into a node you can drag onto the canvas.
This is more advanced than the Workflow Wizard — you'll often want a developer involved.
Find it: in the Workflow Builder, click Functions → New Node Wizard.
Process Queue
Live status of every workflow that's running. Open the Process Queue (Functions → Process Queue in the Workflow Builder) to see what's running right now, what's waiting, and what's finished. Click into any run to watch its nodes progress in real time.
This is also where you cancel a runaway run, retry a failed one, or download finished results.
Related: Workflow Run, Node Queue
Node Queue
Live status of every node that's being built. Different from Process Queue — Node Queue tracks new nodes that the Node Wizard is currently building (compiling, testing, registering).
Most users will rarely look at this. It's mainly useful when you've just used the Node Wizard and want to see if your new node is ready to drag onto the canvas.
Related: Node Wizard, Node
Trigger
What kicks off a workflow. Workflows don't have to be run by clicking a button. A trigger is a rule that runs a workflow automatically when something happens.
Trigger types you'll see:
- Schedule — run the workflow on a clock (e.g., every Monday at 9am, or every 30 minutes)
- Webhook — run when another system makes an HTTP request
- File Event — run when a new file lands in a folder
- Workflow Completion — run after another workflow finishes
- Log Pattern Alert — run when a log line matches a pattern
You add triggers from the Schedule button on the Workflow Builder toolbar (when you have a saved workflow loaded) — use it for cron schedules directly, or pick "Other trigger types" for the rest.
Related: Workflow, Schedule, Webhook
Schedule
A trigger that fires on a clock. Tell MOD "run this workflow every weekday at 8am" or "every 15 minutes" and it'll do it. Uses cron syntax under the hood, but the trigger dialog has plain-English presets so you usually don't have to learn cron.
Related: Trigger
Webhook
A trigger that fires when another website calls MOD. Useful if you have another tool (a form builder, an e-commerce site, a build system) that you want to send work TO MOD. The webhook gives you a URL; the other tool sends an HTTP request to that URL; MOD runs the linked workflow.
File / Data / Files Browser
Your tenant's file storage. Everything you upload to MOD ends up in the Files browser (sidebar → Data). Workflows read inputs from here and write outputs back here. Like Dropbox or Google Drive, but scoped to your tenant.
You can also point workflows at external storage (S3, FTP, etc.) when you need to.
Credit
The unit you spend on processing. Every node that runs costs some number of credits — usually based on how much work it does (image size, video length, model complexity). Credits come bundled with your plan; if you run out, you can either upgrade or top up.
Credits are not the same as dollars — they're a stable unit so the "how much will this workflow cost" math doesn't change every time hardware prices move. The price-per-credit is set by your plan.
Plan / Subscription
Your billing tier. Plans bundle credits, seats (users), storage, and compute limits. The tiers are Free, Starter, Pro, Business, and Enterprise. The full matrix (prices, credits, seats, storage) is on the Pricing page.
You can change plans any time from the Billing page.
Related: Credit, Billing, Seat
Billing
Where you manage money. The Billing page shows your current plan, your credit usage so far this month, your saved payment method, and your invoices. You can change plan, add a payment method, or download a past invoice from here.
Seat
One paid user. Your plan includes a fixed number of seats — that's how many people from your team can have a login. If you need more, you can either upgrade to a bigger plan or pay for extra seats individually.
Permissions
Who can do what. Permissions control which features a user can use inside your tenant. The defaults handle most cases — tenant admins can do everything, regular users can build and run workflows but not change billing. You can also create custom permission templates for specific roles (e.g., "QA reviewer" sees runs but can't edit workflows).
Related: User
Marketplace
Nodes shared by other MOD users. Other tenants (or the platform team) can publish nodes to the Marketplace. You browse, "install" a node into your tenant, and then drag it onto the canvas like any built-in node. Great for finding ready-made AI integrations, file-format converters, and so on.
Related: Node
Container
The "box" a node runs inside. Every node is packaged as a Docker container — a self-contained mini-computer with exactly the right tools and libraries to do its one job. You don't need to know how containers work to use MOD; the Workflow Builder hides all of that. The Node Wizard is what cares about containers.
Canvas
The whiteboard where you drag nodes. The Canvas is the big grid in the middle of the Workflow Builder. You drop nodes onto it, connect them with lines, drag them around to keep things tidy, and zoom in/out with the scroll wheel. The Canvas IS the workflow — if it's empty, your workflow is empty.
Related: Workflow Builder, Node, Edge
Edge
A line between two nodes. Edges connect the output of one node to the input of the next, telling MOD the order to run things in and what data to pass along. To make an edge, click and drag from one node's output dot to another node's input dot.
If a node has no edges coming in or going out, it's an island and won't be part of the run.
Capability
A permission to do something to a resource. In MOD's access
control, a capability is an action — like view, download,
execute, share, or delete — that can be granted on a resource
(a file/cog, a workflow, a user, etc.). Permission levels (viewer /
editor / owner) are bundles of capabilities; advanced sharing lets
you toggle individual ones. It is not the same as a node type —
that's a separate concept.
Related: Permissions, Node
Save / Version
Snapshots of your workflow. Each time you click Save in the Workflow Builder you create a new Version of that workflow. Old versions stick around — you can roll back, compare, or run an old version on purpose. This means experimenting on a workflow is safe: if you break it, restore the previous version.
Related: Workflow, Run History
GPU
Graphics card, used for AI work. Many of the AI nodes (image generation, video upscaling, 3D reconstruction) run much faster on a GPU. If your tenant has GPU workers available, the platform will automatically send GPU-needing nodes to them. If not, those nodes may run very slowly or refuse to run.
Related: Worker
API
The way other programs talk to MOD. MOD has a REST API that mirrors most of what the dashboard does — list your workflows, run a workflow, download a result, manage users. The API is mainly for integrations: connecting MOD to a build system, a custom dashboard, or another product.
You can find your API key in Settings → API Keys. If you don't plan to integrate MOD with another tool, you can ignore this.
Related: Webhook, Integration
Integration
A connection to another service. The Settings → Integrations panel configures email delivery (SMTP — Postmark or a custom host) so MOD can send notifications, and (for platform admins) social-login providers and the email-verification toggle. Other outbound connections live elsewhere: Slack notifications are set up per-tenant in their own config, and workflows reach external systems via Webhooks and the API.
Workflow Builder
The visual canvas where you build workflows. Drag nodes from the sidebar onto the canvas, connect them with lines, click Run. This is where you spend most of your time on MOD.
The Workflow Builder lives at its own URL (workflows.your-mod-domain) and opens in a new tab from the Dashboard sidebar.
Related: Workflow, Node, Workflow Wizard
Dashboard
The home page for everything that isn't workflow-building. The Dashboard is the rest of MOD — users, billing, files, settings, analytics, marketplace. Workflows themselves live in the Workflow Builder; the Dashboard is for managing your tenant.
Assistant (Robot icon)
Chat help on every page. The robot icon in the top-right of every page opens MOD Assistant — a chat that can take you to any page, open any dialog, answer "how do I X" questions from the docs, and help troubleshoot failed runs.
If you don't know where something is, ask the Assistant first.
Related: Support Chat
Support Chat
Reach a human (or a smart bot) for help. The Support Chat is for "I'm stuck and the Assistant didn't help" cases. It can answer FAQ from the docs and, if needed, escalate to the support team.
Related: Assistant
Run History
A log of every workflow run you've done. Open a saved workflow to see its Run History — date, who triggered it, how long it took, whether it succeeded. Click any run to inspect what happened on each node.
Related: Workflow Run
Onboarding
The first-run setup wizard. When you sign up, MOD walks you through profile, billing, optional integrations, and asks what you want to build. You can skip steps and come back to them later from Settings.
Sandbox
The no-cost tier — now called the "Free" plan. The Free plan lets you try MOD with limited credits and storage; workflows run on the platform's shared worker pool. Good for evaluating the platform — for real ongoing use you'll want a paid plan (Starter and up).
Related: Plan
Cog
The internal name for a file or folder. Everything in your Data
area is stored as a "cog" — a master_folder (your "My Files"
root), an asset_folder, or a file. You never see the word in the
everyday UI, but it's why the API's file endpoints live under
/cogs (see the API Reference).
Related: File / Data / Files Browser
Manager
A regional control-plane node. In larger, multi-region deployments MOD runs one or more managers — each a self-contained stack that owns the work and data for its region. Adding a manager is an operator task (System → Managers). Most tenants never interact with managers directly.
Mesh
The network of managers. When MOD spans multiple regions, the managers form a mesh that shares work and replicates data between regions, with a tunable replication window (how much recent data could be lost if a region goes down). An operator-level concept for geographic distribution and resilience.
Related: Manager
Persistent Stack
A long-lived service MOD runs for you. Beyond one-off workflow runs, you can deploy a persistent stack — a docker-compose project (e.g. Postgres, Redis, or nginx) that stays running on a worker between jobs. Managed from the Stacks page (create, deploy, stop, tear down).
Still got questions?
Click the robot icon in the top right of any page and ask the Assistant — it knows this glossary and the rest of the docs.