name: Bazel Build Vocabulary
description: Normative terms used in the Bazel ecosystem — the build tool, the Starlark
  extension language, Bzlmod external dependency system, and the Bazel Central Registry.
version: '0.1'
modified: '2026-05-25'
namespaces:
- prefix: bazel
  uri: https://bazel.build/vocab/
- prefix: schema
  uri: https://schema.org/
- prefix: spdx
  uri: http://spdx.org/rdf/terms#
concepts:
- term: Bazel
  definition: Fast, scalable, multi-language and extensible build tool open-sourced
    by Google in 2015.
- term: Bazelisk
  definition: User-facing launcher that downloads and pins a specific Bazel version
    per project via .bazelversion.
- term: Workspace
  definition: Root directory of a Bazel project, marked by a WORKSPACE, WORKSPACE.bazel,
    or MODULE.bazel file at the top.
- term: Module
  definition: A versioned Bazel project published to a registry, declared by a
    MODULE.bazel file at its root.
- term: MODULE.bazel
  definition: Starlark file at the root of a module declaring its name, version,
    bazel_dep() entries, and module extensions. Replaces WORKSPACE under Bzlmod.
- term: WORKSPACE
  definition: Legacy external-dependency declaration file. Superseded by MODULE.bazel
    in Bazel 8+ but still supported for backwards compatibility.
- term: Bzlmod
  definition: Bazel's modern external-dependency system. Resolves bazel_dep() entries
    against one or more registries, producing a reproducible MODULE.bazel.lock.
- term: Bazel Central Registry
  definition: Public, community-maintained index registry hosted at bcr.bazel.build
    and searchable at registry.bazel.build. Default registry for Bzlmod.
- term: Registry
  definition: HTTP-served collection of module metadata, MODULE.bazel manifests,
    and source.json descriptors that Bazel consults to resolve external dependencies.
- term: BUILD file
  definition: Starlark file (BUILD or BUILD.bazel) that declares a package's targets
    via rule invocations.
- term: Target
  definition: An individual buildable artifact addressable by label
    (//path/to/pkg:name).
- term: Label
  definition: Canonical reference to a target — //pkg:name within a workspace, or
    @repo//pkg:name for cross-repo references.
- term: Rule
  definition: "Starlark function (created via rule()) that defines how a class of targets is built. Examples: java_library, cc_binary, py_test."
- term: Macro
  definition: Starlark function that expands at loading time into one or more rule
    invocations.
- term: Aspect
  definition: Starlark mechanism that walks an existing dependency graph and
    attaches additional analysis (e.g. lint, coverage, IDE info) to each visited
    target.
- term: Provider
  definition: Typed bag of information one rule passes to its dependents — e.g.
    JavaInfo, CcInfo, DefaultInfo.
- term: Module Extension
  definition: Bzlmod entry point for non-trivial external-dependency logic.
    Replaces the legacy repository_rule + WORKSPACE pattern.
- term: Repository Rule
  definition: Starlark function that fetches an external repository at workspace
    load time.
- term: Toolchain
  definition: Bazel's pluggable mechanism for selecting compilers, linkers, and
    runtimes per platform.
- term: Platform
  definition: A combination of CPU, OS, and other constraints used to drive
    toolchain selection and configuration transitions.
- term: Action
  definition: A single command Bazel will execute — e.g. a compile, link, or test
    invocation. Identified by a Merkle hash of its inputs.
- term: Sandbox
  definition: Restricted filesystem/process namespace in which Bazel runs actions
    to enforce hermetic, reproducible builds.
- term: CAS
  definition: Content-Addressable Store. Backing storage for remote caching and
    remote execution; addresses blobs by their SHA-256 digest.
- term: Remote Execution
  definition: Offloading action execution to a remote build farm over the gRPC
    Remote Execution API (REAPI).
- term: REAPI
  definition: Remote Execution API. Open gRPC protocol defined at
    github.com/bazelbuild/remote-apis and implemented by BuildBuddy, EngFlow,
    Buildbarn, Buildfarm, and Google RBE.
- term: BEP
  definition: Build Event Protocol. Structured stream of build events emitted by
    Bazel.
- term: BES
  definition: Build Event Service. gRPC service that accepts BEP streams for
    storage and analysis.
- term: Buildifier
  definition: Formatter for BUILD, .bzl, and MODULE.bazel files. Part of
    bazelbuild/buildtools.
- term: Buildozer
  definition: Command-line BUILD-file editor that performs targeted edits via a
    query language. Part of bazelbuild/buildtools.
- term: Gazelle
  definition: BUILD-file generator that infers targets from source files. Default
    for Go; pluggable for other languages.
- term: bazel-skylib
  definition: Common Starlark library used by most rulesets — selects, paths,
    versions, dicts, collections.
- term: Bzlmod Lockfile
  definition: MODULE.bazel.lock file that records the exact resolved versions of
    all transitive bazel_dep() entries. Committed to source control.
- term: Yanked Version
  definition: A module version marked withdrawn by its maintainers. Bazel refuses
    to resolve a yanked version unless --allow_yanked_versions is set.
- term: Starlark
  definition: Deterministic Python-dialect DSL used in BUILD, .bzl, MODULE.bazel,
    and WORKSPACE files. Originally developed for Bazel; now an independent
    specification.
operations:
- term: bazel build
  definition: Build one or more targets and write their outputs to bazel-bin.
- term: bazel test
  definition: Build and run test targets, producing test logs in
    bazel-testlogs.
- term: bazel run
  definition: Build and execute a runnable target.
- term: bazel query
  definition: Pre-analysis query language over the loaded target graph.
- term: bazel cquery
  definition: Post-analysis configured query — includes configuration transitions.
- term: bazel aquery
  definition: Action graph query — inspects the actual commands Bazel will run.
- term: bazel mod
  definition: Bzlmod inspection commands — graph, deps, explain, show, tidy.
- term: bazel fetch
  definition: Fetch external repositories without building anything.
- term: bazel info
  definition: Print workspace and environment information.
- term: bazel coverage
  definition: Run tests and collect coverage data.
- term: bazel clean
  definition: Remove output artifacts.