These are the terms we encourage you to learn in order to deeply understand Now. However, every occurrence of one of these terms is also linked back to this very page, so that you can always jump right to the explanation if needed.
General Terms
Deployment
A collection of files that were uploaded to Now and potentially transformed by a Build. Every Deployment can define none, one or multiple Builds.
Source Files
These are the files contained within your project before it is uploaded Now.
Build
Defined within the now.json file of a Deployment. Every Build is responsible for associating Source Files with a Builder.
Builder
Receives Source Files and generates a Build Output.
Build Output
What was generated within a Build using a Builder. It consists of either a Lambda, a Static File or multiple of each.
Lambda
A serverless code execution handler that can be invoked over the web.
Static File
A file that is not executed, but instead served as-is to the program sending the request.
Project
A structured group of deployments, categorized by the deployment name.
Company & Product
ZEIT
The company behind the product Now.
Now
The platform on which Deployments are created, served and managed.
Now CLI
The command line interface client for Now.
Now Desktop
The graphical user interface (desktop application) for Now.