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Glossary

QuickStack-specific terms and the key underlying technologies.

Application (App)​

A container workload managed by QuickStack. An app belongs to a project and can be sourced from a Git repository (built with BuildKit) or a Docker image.

Basic Authentication​

HTTP-level username/password protection implemented via a Traefik middleware. Authentication happens at the ingress level before requests reach the app container. See Basic Auth.

BuildKit​

The container image building toolkit QuickStack uses to build Docker images from Git repositories. GitHub

Cluster​

A group of servers (nodes) that work together as a single Kubernetes environment. See Cluster Nodes.

Cordon​

Kubernetes operation that marks a node as non-schedulable — new pods are not placed there, but existing ones keep running.

CPU Limit​

The maximum CPU a container can use, measured in millicores (m). 1000m = 1 full CPU core.

Deploy​

In QuickStack, clicking Deploy applies all staged configuration changes to the running container. Config edits by themselves do not update the running app. See Redeploy.

Domain​

A DNS hostname that routes public traffic to an app via Traefik. See Custom Domains.

File Mount​

A read-only file injected into a container at a specified path. Content is stored in the QuickStack database. See File Mounts.

Internal Hostname / Service Name​

The svc-<app-id> hostname used for service-to-service communication within a project. See Internal Networking.

k3s​

A lightweight Kubernetes distribution. QuickStack runs on k3s. k3s.io

Let's Encrypt​

Free TLS certificate authority. QuickStack uses Let's Encrypt to provision HTTPS certificates for custom domains and quickstack.me subdomains automatically.

Longhorn​

Distributed block storage for Kubernetes. Used as the longhorn storage class for volumes in multi-node clusters. Required when volumes must survive node failure. longhorn.io

Master Node​

The primary server in a k3s cluster that runs the Kubernetes control plane and the QuickStack application. Can also run workloads.

Memory Limit​

The maximum RAM a container can use. Exceeding this causes the container to be terminated (OOMKilled).

Memory Reservation​

Guaranteed amount of RAM Kubernetes ensures is always available to a container.

Network Policy​

A Kubernetes resource that controls ingress and egress traffic for a pod. QuickStack provides pre-configured templates. See Network Policies.

Project​

A logical grouping of apps and databases in QuickStack. All apps in a project share a network namespace and can communicate via internal hostnames.

QuickStack.me Domain​

A built-in "magic" domain that automatically resolves to your server's public IP, providing instant HTTPS without DNS configuration. See QuickStack.me.

Registry​

A Docker registry bundled with QuickStack for storing built images. Images built from Git repositories are pushed here before deployment. Docker Hub registry image

Replica​

An instance of an application running in the cluster. Multiple replicas provide horizontal scaling and availability.

S3 Target​

An S3-compatible bucket configured in QuickStack as a backup destination. See S3 Targets.

Storage Class​

A Kubernetes concept defining the type of storage. QuickStack uses:

  • local-path — fast, single-node, no replication
  • longhorn — distributed, multi-node, with replication

System Backup​

A snapshot of the QuickStack SQLite database (data.db) containing all configuration: projects, users, app definitions, secrets. See System Backups.

System Upgrade Controller​

A Kubernetes controller that manages automated k3s upgrades across cluster nodes.

TOTP​

Time-based One-Time Password. A standard algorithm used by authenticator apps (Google Authenticator, Bitwarden, etc.) to generate 6-digit codes that change every 30 seconds. Used for QuickStack 2FA.

Traefik​

The reverse proxy and load balancer that handles all inbound HTTP/HTTPS traffic and routes it to the correct containers. Also manages Let's Encrypt TLS certificate provisioning. traefik.io

Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)​

An extra security layer requiring a TOTP code from an authenticator app in addition to the password. See 2FA setup.

Volume​

Persistent storage mounted into a container. Data on a volume survives container restarts and redeployments. See Volumes.

Webhook​

A URL that triggers a QuickStack deployment when called via HTTP POST. Used for CI/CD automation. See Webhooks.

Worker Node​

A server joined to the k3s cluster that runs application workloads. It does not run the Kubernetes control plane.