The terms below appear across the app and this help center. Each entry links to the article that explains it in full. For how the pieces fit together, read the article How Trace.Space is organized.
Access control. The dialog under an item's ... menu where org admins set a user group's access level on that item. See Roles and permissions reference.
Access level. What a user group may do with an item: Deny, View only (also labeled Readonly), Edit, Manage, or Inherit from the parent. Levels are inherited down the tree. See User groups and access control.
Agentic processes. The panel on the dashboard's My feed tab that lists your background processes. See Background processes.
AI reviewer. An option when creating a review that has the Space Agent read every item and post suggestions before the participants start. See Reviews.
AI suggested traces. Items that Trace.Space proposes as trace targets because their text is similar, shown under the Traced to list. See AI Suggested traces.
Analysis. A saved, multi-step traceability query: each step is an item filter and the connectors between steps are trace types. Marked Beta. See Analysis view.
API client. A client ID and secret that let a script or agent call the REST API with the permissions of the member who created it. See API clients.
Attribute. A named field on an item, such as Status or Description. There are eight kinds: Text, Number, True/False, Dropdown, User list, Parameter, Date and Test steps. See Item types.
Background process. A long-running task, such as an export, an import, an AI chat reply or the AI reviewer, that keeps running when you leave the page. See Background processes.
Baseline. A snapshot of a set of items, each pinned at a chosen version. A baseline is Editable, Frozen (locked) or Archived (hidden). See Creating Baselines.
Comment. A thread attached to an item or to a passage of its text, with @-mentions and an open or resolved state. See Commenting.
Compare. Showing the differences between two versions of one baseline, or between two versions of one item. See Comparing baselines and Item history and versions.
Dashboard. The organization's home page with the My feed, Analytics and Trace Rules tabs, plus custom dashboards built from saved-filter panels. See Dashboard.
Document view. The view that shows an item and its descendants one under the other, like a document, with text editable in place. See View modes.
Downstream and upstream. The two ends of a directed trace. The trace type's downstream verb reads from source to target (for example verifies) and the upstream verb reads back (is verified by). See Trace types and traceability rules.
Dropdown. An attribute kind whose value is one or more options from a shared list, also called a picklist. Dropdowns are defined once and reused across item types. See Item types.
EARS and INCOSE. The two families of requirement-writing rules that quality checks apply: the Easy Approach to Requirements Syntax and the INCOSE guide to writing requirements. See Quality checks.
Execution result. The outcome recorded for a test step or test case in a test run: Passed, Failed, Blocked or Skipped. See Test management.
Expanded text. A toggle in the settings menu that shows full item titles in every sidebar tree instead of truncating them. See Appearance settings.
Feedback. A participant's verdict on an item in a review: Approved, Needs work or Rejected, with an optional or required comment. See Reviews.
Filter by variant. The funnel icon in the header of the Items tree that selects a variant. See Variants.
Graph view. The view that draws items as nodes and traces as edges, with a filter for trace types and an option to draw missing traces. See View modes.
Heading attribute. The Text attribute marked Set as item heading; its value is the item's title in the tree and the document. Exactly one per item type. In the API it is the title field.
Identifier. The 2 to 8 character prefix set on an item type, such as REQ, that starts the short ID of every item of that type. See Item types.
Invalid trace. A trace that matches none of the item type's traceability rules while the type does not allow traces outside its rules. See Traceability.
Item. The unit of content in Trace.Space: a requirement, a test case, a section, a folder. Items have a type, attributes, a short ID, a version history and a place in the tree. See Creating and editing items.
Item type. The definition an item is created from: name, icon, identifier, attributes, AI instructions, quality check settings and traceability rules. See Item types.
Magic link. A one-time sign-in link sent to your email address as an alternative to a password or SSO. See Email authentication using Magic Link.
Main field. The API's name for an attribute that is shown in the document view (Show in document View switched on).
Matrix. See Traceability matrix.
MCP server. The Model Context Protocol endpoint that lets AI tools such as Claude, Cursor and VS Code read and change your organization's items. See MCP server setup.
Member. Anyone who has joined an organization. See Managing users.
Missing trace. A Missing row in the Traced to list, shown when a traceability rule marked Required is not yet satisfied. See Traceability.
Org admin. A member of the Organization Administrators user group. Org admins manage members, user groups, item types, trace types and organization settings. See Roles and permissions reference.
Organization. A self-contained workspace with its own items, types, members and settings. You can belong to several. See Switching Organizations.
Orphan. An item with no traces of a given kind. Find orphans with the Has traces filter in the table view or a saved filter. See Saved filters.
Parameter. A named value with a unit, defined as an attribute on one item and referenced from the text of others with $. A unitless parameter has no unit. Marked Beta. See Parameters.
Pinned version. The version of an item that a baseline, variant, review or test run holds, unaffected by later edits to the live item. See Item history and versions.
Playground. A top-level item in the sample content meant for experiments; delete it when you no longer need it. See Sample set.
Quality check. An AI check of an item's text against INCOSE and EARS rules, configured per organization and per attribute and fixable with AI. See Quality checks.
ReqIF. The Requirements Interchange Format, which Trace.Space imports and exports; a standalone ReqIF viewer is also available. See Importing documents and Exporting items.
Required participant. A review participant who must give feedback before their part of the review counts as complete; optional participants may give feedback. See Reviews.
Resources. The tab under Members that shows the item tree with the access level of every user group per item. See User groups and access control.
Review. A fixed set of item versions that participants read and give feedback on, with a due date, an optional AI reviewer and a state of Open, Closed or Archived. See Reviews.
Revision. A new round of a review created when items changed since the review started; it keeps feedback on unchanged items. See Reviews.
Saved filter. A named item filter that always shows the items matching it now, usable as a live table, a dashboard panel or an export. See Saved filters.
Short ID. An item's readable identifier, the type's identifier plus a code, for example REQ-ABCD.
Single item view. A page that shows one item on its own with the details sidebar open, instead of the whole branch. See View modes.
Space Agent. The AI assistant built into Trace.Space, opened from the AI button in the bottom-right corner. See Working with AI.
SSO. Single sign-on through your company's OIDC identity provider, configured by an org admin. See Single Sign-On (SSO).
Suspect. A trace or parameter reference flagged because the other end changed after it was created. Clear it once you have checked the change. See Traceability and Parameters.
System admin. A platform-level administrator who can open System administration to manage organizations, the email server, identity providers, system integrations and templates. See Roles and permissions reference.
Table view. The view with one row per item and one column per attribute, with sorting, filters and inline editing. See Table view.
Test case. An item whose type has a Test steps attribute. See Test management.
Test run. A set of test cases pinned at a version, with testers and execution results, in the state Not started, In progress, Ended or Archived. See Test management.
Test step. One row of a Test steps attribute, with an Action and an Expected result, and during a run an actual result and a status. See Test management.
Trace. A link between two items of a given trace type and direction. See Traceability.
Trace type. The kind of a trace, with an icon, a direction setting (Directed, Undirected or Either) and verbs. Built-in types are Parent/Child, Related and Duplicate. See Trace types and traceability rules.
Traceability matrix. A grid that crosses two sets of items and shows a trace in each cell, where you can create, reverse or retype traces. See Traceability matrix.
Traceability rule. A rule on an item type saying which trace type items of that type should have to another type, whether the trace is Required and whether a change Triggers suspect. See Trace types and traceability rules.
Undirected. A trace whose two ends are equal, read with a single verb such as is related to. See Trace types and traceability rules.
User group. A named set of members that access levels are granted to. A member can belong to several groups. See User groups and access control.
Variant. A baseline used as a lens over the live items: with a variant active, every view shows the versions pinned in it and marks its members. Any baseline can be chosen with the Filter by variant icon in the Items tree header. See Variants.
Version. The numbered state of an item after each change. Baselines, reviews and test runs pin versions; the item history lets you view, compare and revert them. See Item history and versions.
Webhook. An outbound notification that Trace.Space sends to a URL you register through the API when events happen, signed with HMAC-SHA256 and retried on failure. There is no page for webhooks in the app; see API clients for API access.