title: TiDB Vocabulary
description: >-
  Domain vocabulary for TiDB and TiDB Cloud APIs covering distributed SQL
  database architecture, cloud deployment, and data service concepts.
provider: TiDB / PingCAP
created: '2026-05-03'
modified: '2026-05-03'
tags:
  - Cloud
  - Database
  - Distributed SQL
  - HTAP
  - Open Source

terms:
  - term: TiDB
    label: TiDB
    definition: >-
      An open-source distributed SQL database that supports Hybrid Transactional
      and Analytical Processing (HTAP) workloads. TiDB is MySQL-compatible and
      offers horizontal scalability, strong consistency, and high availability
      through its Raft-based consensus protocol.
    tags:
      - Database
      - Open Source

  - term: TiDB Cloud
    label: TiDB Cloud
    definition: >-
      PingCAP's fully managed Database-as-a-Service (DBaaS) offering for TiDB.
      Available in Serverless and Dedicated deployment tiers across AWS and GCP.
    tags:
      - Cloud
      - DBaaS

  - term: HTAP
    label: Hybrid Transactional and Analytical Processing
    definition: >-
      A workload paradigm combining OLTP (transactional) and OLAP (analytical)
      queries in a single database system. TiDB achieves HTAP via separate TiKV
      (row-based) and TiFlash (columnar) storage engines that stay in sync.
    tags:
      - Database Architecture

  - term: TiKV
    label: TiKV
    definition: >-
      The distributed key-value storage engine underlying TiDB. Uses the Raft
      consensus protocol for strong consistency and stores data in row format
      optimized for transactional (OLTP) workloads.
    tags:
      - Storage Engine

  - term: TiFlash
    label: TiFlash
    definition: >-
      TiDB's columnar storage extension for analytical (OLAP) queries.
      Asynchronously replicates data from TiKV and uses columnar format for
      fast aggregations and table scans.
    tags:
      - Storage Engine
      - Analytics

  - term: PD
    label: Placement Driver
    definition: >-
      The metadata management component of a TiDB cluster that stores cluster
      topology, allocates transaction IDs, and handles data rebalancing across
      TiKV nodes.
    tags:
      - Database Architecture

  - term: Serverless
    label: TiDB Serverless
    definition: >-
      TiDB Cloud's auto-scaling, pay-per-use deployment tier. Ideal for
      development, testing, and variable-traffic workloads. No cluster
      configuration required.
    tags:
      - Cloud
      - Deployment

  - term: Dedicated
    label: TiDB Dedicated
    definition: >-
      TiDB Cloud's dedicated cluster deployment tier with isolated compute and
      storage resources. Supports custom node sizes, VPC peering, and private
      endpoints.
    tags:
      - Cloud
      - Deployment

  - term: Data App
    label: Data App
    definition: >-
      A logical grouping in TiDB Cloud Data Service that contains custom API
      endpoints backed by SQL queries. Each Data App is linked to one or more
      TiDB Cloud clusters.
    tags:
      - Data Service

  - term: Chat2Query
    label: Chat2Query
    definition: >-
      TiDB Cloud's AI-powered feature that converts natural language instructions
      into SQL queries, executes them against a cluster, and returns structured
      results. Accessible via the Chat2Query Data App endpoint.
    tags:
      - AI
      - Data Service

  - term: Digest Authentication
    label: Digest Authentication
    definition: >-
      The authentication scheme used by the TiDB Cloud Management API. Clients
      provide a public key and private key; the private key signs the request
      using MD5 digest.
    tags:
      - Authentication

  - term: Raft
    label: Raft Consensus Protocol
    definition: >-
      The distributed consensus algorithm used by TiKV for data replication.
      TiKV stores data in 3-replica groups and uses Raft to ensure consistency
      and failover.
    tags:
      - Database Architecture

  - term: Region
    label: TiKV Region
    definition: >-
      A contiguous range of key-value data in TiKV, typically 96 MiB in size.
      The Placement Driver manages region distribution and rebalancing across
      TiKV nodes.
    tags:
      - Database Architecture

  - term: TiDB HTTP API
    label: TiDB HTTP API
    definition: >-
      A built-in administrative HTTP interface available on self-managed TiDB
      nodes (port 10080). Exposes endpoints for server status, schema info,
      region metadata, and monitoring data.
    tags:
      - Operations
      - Self-Managed

  - term: Import Task
    label: Import Task
    definition: >-
      A TiDB Cloud job for loading data from external sources (S3, GCS, local
      files) into a cluster. Supports CSV, SQL, and Parquet formats.
    tags:
      - Data Import

  - term: Private Endpoint
    label: Private Endpoint
    definition: >-
      A TiDB Cloud Dedicated feature enabling private network connectivity between
      a VPC and a TiDB cluster without traffic traversing the public internet.
    tags:
      - Networking
      - Security