Explanation

Explanation

Explanation pages help you deepen your understanding of platformOS. They discuss concepts, provide background, and explore the reasoning behind design decisions.

What is explanation?

Explanation content:

• Clarifies concepts: Explains ideas and terminology
• Provides context: Shows how things fit together
• Explores the "why": Discusses reasoning and trade-offs
• Broadens understanding: Gives you the bigger picture
• Is informative: Focuses on comprehension, not tasks

When to use explanation

Read explanation pages when you want to:

• Understand how something works conceptually
• Learn the reasoning behind platform features
• Explore alternatives and design decisions
• Deepen your knowledge of platformOS architecture
• Get the bigger picture of how components relate

Explanation vs. other documentation

• Not a tutorial: Won't guide you through building something
• Not a how-to: Won't show you steps to accomplish a task
• Not a reference: Won't list all technical details

Instead, explanation helps you understand concepts so you can make informed decisions in your own projects.

Available explanations by topic

Platform Fundamentals

• What is platformOS? - Overview and architecture
• Security & DRP - Security and disaster recovery

Core Concepts

Pages & Content

• Pages - How pages work in platformOS
• Layouts - Understanding layout system
• Metadata - Page metadata and SEO

Users & Authentication

• User Model - Understanding the user system
• Authentication - How authentication works
• Sessions - Session management

Data & Storage

• Records & Tables - Data modeling in platformOS
• Documents - Document storage concepts
• Properties - Custom properties system
• JSON Documents - Working with JSON

Communication

• Notifications - Notification system overview
• Integrations - Third-party integrations

Advanced Features

• Search - Full-text search capabilities
• Activity Feeds - Social features
• Embeddings - AI embeddings
• Variables - Context and variables

Development Workflow

• Development Workflow - How to work with platformOS
• Codebase Structure - Understanding the file structure
• Directory Structure - Directory conventions

Modules & Extensions

• Modules - Module system overview
• platformOS Modules - Official modules
• Module Templates - Module templating

Tools

• pos-cli - Command-line interface
• CI/CD - Continuous integration concepts

Assets & Translations

• Assets - Asset management
• Translations - Internationalization
• Identity Providers - OAuth providers
• User Uploads - File upload system

Marketplace Template

• Marketplace Template - Understanding the template
• Core Concepts - Key concepts
• Built-in Features - Available features

Not finding what you need?

• Want to build something? → Start with Tutorials
• Need to solve a problem? → Check How-to Guides
• Looking for technical specs? → See Reference

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This documentation follows the Diataxis framework for organizing technical documentation.