Fixed vocabulary
One word per concept.
The API uses the engineering word. The dashboard may show a friendlier label, but the underlying concept stays the same everywhere.
- Form backend
- A service that receives HTML Form Submissions so the website needs no server code of its own. Postbag also stores and routes them.
- OrganizationIn the dashboard: Workspace
- The tenant. It owns Projects, Forms, Streams, Destinations, Routes and API keys. Every tenant row carries an organization_id.
- Project
- A folder that keeps Forms understandable for people. A client, a site or a product can each be a Project. Routing is handled by Routes, not Projects.
- Form
- The thing a website posts to. Its public prefixed id appears in the stable submit URL. Settings cover origins, redirects, honeypots, rate limits, Turnstile and Schema mode.
- Submission
- One received payload. It keeps submitted data, status, spam signals, request metadata and the Schema version used to validate it.
- Form SchemaIn the dashboard: Fields
- A versioned, immutable declaration of what a Form collects. Publishing a change creates a new version.
- Schema mode
- Observe accepts data and detects Drift; enforce validates and quarantines violations; managed lets Postbag own and serve the Schema.
- StreamIn the dashboard: Stream
- A named group of Forms with one shared, versioned output shape. It lets many Forms feed the same downstream contract.
- Stream SchemaIn the dashboard: What gets delivered
- The immutable outbound contract shared by a Stream. A new version revalidates every Mapping.
- MappingIn the dashboard: Match fields
- The assignment from Form fields to Stream fields. It determines the Delivery payload; values it does not use remain on the original Submission. A Mapping is either valid or incomplete.
- Destination
- Somewhere Submissions can be sent, such as email, Telegram or a webhook. Add a secret when the receiver should verify its HMAC signature. A Destination belongs to the Organization and can be reused.
- RouteIn the dashboard: Send to
- The connection from a Form or Stream to a Destination, with mode, timing, quality rules and an enabled state.
- Delivery
- One attempt-tracked send of one Submission through one Route. It keeps its payload snapshot, status, attempts, last error and provider response.
- Digest
- For a digest Route, one Delivery that groups a period's Submissions. It is unique for that Route and period.
- DriftIn the dashboard: Change detected
- A difference between what a Form receives and its declared Schema, such as a new field, missing field or type change.
- Outbox
- The pattern that writes pending Delivery work in the same transaction as the Submission, then lets a worker drain it safely.
- Quarantine
- A stored Submission state for outcomes that should not deliver by default, including Schema violations, rejected origins and over-quota traffic.
- Agent-native
- A property of the whole product: an agent can discover, create, wire, test and manage Forms through the same public contract used by every other client.
Vocabulary boundary
A few words stay outside.
Postbag does not use endpoint as a noun for Form, or use integration, channel or hook for Destination. It does not rename a Submission as an entry or response. One concept gets one name.
Give the form job to your agent.
It can build, wire and test the form before you even sign up. Claim it when it's worth keeping.