Key Concepts

This page introduces the ideas the rest of the documentation builds on. Each section links to the detailed page.

Tenants

Everything you create in AireGlu belongs to a tenant: endpoints, jobs, secrets, variables, connections and so on. A tenant is isolated from other tenants, and the tenant name forms part of every endpoint URL. What each user can see and do within a tenant is controlled by permissions in AireIdentity.

Endpoints

An endpoint is the core building block. It's an HTTP API, hosted by AireGlu, that runs a configured series of steps whenever it's called. Its URL is made from your tenant and the endpoint's name:

https://glu-api.aireinnovate.com/{tenant}/{endpoint-name}

Endpoints are versioned. Each time you save changes you can create a new version, and one version is marked as the default. Calls to the plain URL above run the default version, and you can add a version to the URL to call a specific one. This lets you test a new version before switching callers over. See Running an Endpoint.

How an endpoint runs

Every endpoint run goes through the same pipeline, and the endpoint editor shows it as nodes in this order:

 Caller ──▶ Authentication ──▶ Input ──▶ Task 1 ──▶ Task 2 ──▶ ... ──▶ Response

1. Authentication - checks the caller is allowed to run the endpoint (API key, IP range, OAuth bearer token and so on). If several methods are configured, all of them must pass.
2. Input - validates the request body against the endpoint's schema. Invalid input is rejected with a 400 before any task runs.
3. Tasks - run in order. Each task does one thing: call an API, map data, send an email, and so on. Each task can use the input and the results of the tasks before it.
4. Response - one of the task results becomes the HTTP response. Which one depends on the tasks used and the Stop on Task Failure setting - see How the Endpoint Response is Decided.

Working with data

Task settings are rarely fixed values. They're built from data that's only known when the endpoint runs:

• Paths insert a value from the input or from an earlier task's result, e.g. --*email*--.
• Liquid templates handle anything more complex, such as loops, conditions and reshaping, e.g. {{ input.email }}.
• Functions provide built-in utilities, e.g. --*AG:UUID()*-- or --*AG:DateTime(dd-MM-yyyy)*--.
• Filters decide whether a task runs at all.

See Working with Data.

Secrets and variables

Rather than hardcoding values into endpoints, store them once per tenant and reference them from any task:

• Secrets are for sensitive values such as passwords and API keys, and can also hold files. They can never be viewed after they're saved, not even in logs or debug data.
• Variables are for non-sensitive settings such as base URLs or email addresses. They can be scoped to give a different value to a particular endpoint or endpoint version.

Inbound authentication vs outbound connections

These are easy to confuse because some of them use the same mechanisms, such as OAuth client credentials:

	Endpoint Authentication	Connections
Direction	Inbound - who can call your endpoint	Outbound - how your endpoint calls other systems
Configured on	Each endpoint's Authentication node	Once per tenant, then selected in tasks
Example	Only accept calls with a valid AireIdentity bearer token	Get an OAuth token to call a third-party API, or send email through Office 365

Ways to trigger an endpoint

An endpoint doesn't have to be called directly over HTTP. It can also be run by:

Trigger	When it runs
Direct HTTP call	When a system or user calls the endpoint URL
Route Mapping	When a call is made to a custom URL that you've mapped to the endpoint
Job	On a schedule, like a cron job
Receiver	When an email, GovNotify SMS or MESH message arrives
Batch invocation	Once per item in a batch, asynchronously
Another endpoint	From an AireGlu Endpoint Request task

Tracing and debugging

Every run gets a transaction ID. It's shared with any endpoints, jobs or batch items that the run triggers, so a whole chain of calls can be viewed together in Metrics › Usage Data. Turn on Debug Mode for an endpoint version to also record each task's inputs and outputs.

Managing endpoints as code

Endpoint definitions can be exported, imported, and kept in your own Git Repository, which AireGlu can sync from automatically. This lets you handle your own backups and keep endpoints under version control.

AI tools

AireGlu can expose endpoints to AI assistants as tools and resources through MCP Servers. It can also host Agents (preview) that use those tools. Both are enabled per tenant.