API & Authentication
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| API Key | A flx_-prefixed token for authenticating API requests. Hashed with SHA-256 — never stored in plain text. Scoped to an organization. |
| JWT Token | A JSON Web Token issued by Clerk for session-based authentication. Used by the Flixu web app and Clerk-integrated applications. |
| Scopes | Permission sets assigned to API keys: translate (translation endpoints), read (reference/usage data), write (asset management). |
| Organization | The billing and access boundary. All credits, assets, and translations belong to an organization (identified by org_id). |
Translation
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Source Language | The original language of the text to be translated. Specified as an ISO 639-1 code (e.g., en, de). |
| Target Language | The language to translate into. |
| Translation Memory (TM) | A database of previously approved translation pairs. When a new text closely matches a TM entry, the stored translation is reused — saving cost and ensuring consistency. |
| Glossary | A curated list of term pairs (source target) that must be used exactly as defined. Ensures critical terminology like brand names, product features, or legal terms are never mistranslated. |
| Brand Voice | A profile defining tone, style, formality, and writing rules for translations. Ensures all translated content sounds like your brand. |
| Quality Score | A 0–100 score assigned to each translation, measuring accuracy, fluency, and cultural appropriateness. Scores above 85 indicate high confidence. |
| Cultural Adaptation | The process of adapting content beyond literal translation — localizing numbers, dates, currencies, measurement units, and cultural references per locale. |
Billing
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Credit | The unit of billing. 1 credit ≈ 1 output character translated. CJK and RTL scripts may have weight multipliers. |
| Allowance | Monthly credit quota included in your plan. Resets each billing cycle. |
| Top-Up Credits | Additional credits purchased separately. Never expire and are consumed in FIFO order after your monthly allowance. |
| Pre-flight Check | An automatic credit check that runs before every translation. If insufficient credits are available, the request fails with 402 without consuming resources. |
File Formats
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| XLIFF | XML Localization Interchange File Format — the industry standard for exchanging translations between tools. |
| PO/POT | GNU Gettext Portable Object files — used by WordPress, Django, and PHP applications. |
| ARB | Application Resource Bundle — Flutter’s native localization format. |
| ICU Message Format | A standard for handling plurals, gender, and complex message patterns across locales. |
| Interpolation | Dynamic values inserted into translated strings at runtime (e.g., {name}, %s, {{count}}). Flixu preserves these across translations. |
Infrastructure
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Rate Limit | Maximum number of API requests per minute, determined by your plan. Tracked via X-RateLimit-* response headers. |
| Request ID | A UUID assigned to every API request. Available in meta.request_id (success) or error.request_id (error). Include in support requests. |
| Response Envelope | The standardized JSON wrapper: { data: {...}, meta: { request_id, credits_used, processing_time_ms } }. |