> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.paypathiq.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Glossary

> Plain-English definitions of the words you will see in the PayPathIQ API docs.

Terms are in alphabetical order. Each one links to the page that explains it in full.

| Term | What it means |
| - | - |
| **API key** | The secret you send in the `Authorization: Bearer` header. Each key belongs to one Integration and one environment. Sandbox keys start with `ppiq_test_` and production keys with `ppiq_live_`. See [Authentication](/authentication). |
| **Balance snapshot** | An ordered list of Source balances you send for up to 100 Receivables. See [Source balance snapshots](/concepts#source-balance-snapshots). |
| **Batch** | Up to 100 records you queue in one request and PayPathIQ processes later. See [Asynchronous batches](/concepts#asynchronous-batches). |
| **Change feed** | A durable list of the changes PayPathIQ has committed for your Integration and Client. Use it to find what changed after an outage. See [Change feed](/change-feed). |
| **Client** | The business whose receivables are being recovered. Its `clientCode` appears in every API URL. An **Organization** is the PayPathIQ tenant that uses PayPathIQ; the two can be the same business. See [Mapping your terminology](/concepts#mapping-your-terminology). |
| **Complete book** | Your declaration that you have sent the Source's whole book of Receivables. See [Complete books and missing records](/concepts#complete-books-and-missing-records). |
| **Contact** | A person and channel, such as an email address or phone number, nested under a Customer. A Contact carries no liability. See [Updating Contacts](/concepts#updating-contacts). |
| **Credit note, adjustment, write-off** | Immutable records of a non-cash change to a Receivable's balance. See [Non-cash financial changes](/concepts#non-cash-financial-changes). |
| **Customer** | The person or business that owes the Client. See [Core model](/concepts#core-model). |
| **Cursor** | The opaque value you send to the change feed to continue from where you stopped. See [Change feed](/change-feed). |
| **External ID** | The stable, non-sensitive ID you choose for a record. It is 1 to 128 characters from `A-Z`, `a-z`, `0-9`, `_` and `-`, and it goes in the URL. See [Safe retries](/idempotency). |
| **Feed mode** | How a connection supplies financial changes: as a series of events (`transaction`) or as balances only (`snapshot_only`). It decides what a balance snapshot means. See [Source balance snapshots](/concepts#source-balance-snapshots). |
| **Hosted payment request** | A request for a PayPathIQ-hosted payment page for one Customer and a fixed set of Receivables. See [Hosted payment requests](/concepts#hosted-payment-requests). |
| **Integration** | The connection through which your source system supplies records for an approved Client and Portfolio. See [Ownership of supplied data](/concepts#ownership-of-supplied-data). |
| **JSON Merge Patch** | The `PATCH` format (RFC 7396). Omitted fields stay as they are, and `null` removes a nullable field. See [Updates](/concepts#updates). |
| **Lifecycle command** | An explicit `POST` to pause, clear a pause, close or reopen a Receivable. See [Core model](/concepts#core-model). |
| **Payment observation** | An immutable record of a payment, refund or reversal received outside PayPathIQ. It reports a payment; it does not make one. See [Report a payment](/report-a-payment). |
| **Portfolio** | A stable book of receivables for one Client. A key is granted access to an approved Client and Portfolio. See [Authentication](/authentication#scopes). |
| **Problem details** | The `application/problem+json` error body (RFC 9457). See [Errors and retries](/errors-and-retries). |
| **Profile** | The kind of obligation a connection is approved for: `credit_union.v1` (loans) or `property_management.v1` (service charges). See [Credit-union](/credit-union) and [Property management](/property-management). |
| **Receivable** | One independently identifiable posted obligation, with its liable Customers, due date, financial type and source revision. See [Core model](/concepts#core-model). |
| **Recoverable amount** | The posted source balance of a Receivable, in EUR with two decimals. Importing it never grants recovery permission. See [Posted source balance](/concepts#posted-source-balance). |
| **Recovery instruction** | A scoped, revisioned instruction that authorizes recovery for one Receivable. See [Recovery entry](/concepts#recovery-entry). |
| **Request ID** | The `X-Request-Id` header on every response. Quote it when you ask for support. See [Errors and retries](/errors-and-retries#request-ids-and-support). |
| **Safety assertion** | A fact you report that can restrict collection or contact. See [Safety assertions](/concepts#safety-assertions). |
| **Sandbox** | The test environment at `https://api.sandbox.paypathiq.com`. Use synthetic data only. See [Environments](/environments). |
| **Scope** | A permission on a key, such as `customers:write`. See [Scopes](/authentication#scopes). |
| **Source freshness** | Whether your accepted evidence is recent enough for PayPathIQ to act on. See [Source freshness](/concepts#source-freshness). |
| **Source reference** | A non-sensitive reference to the record in your own system, such as `receivable-ref-123`. |
| **Source revision** | The number that orders the versions of a Receivable you send. A changed Receivable must carry a higher number than the last one accepted. See [Safe retries](/idempotency#source-revision). |
| **Webhook** | A signed, minimal notification that something changed. See [Webhooks](/webhooks). |


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