Glossary

Glossary

Several terms about the client are named misleadingly and will be modelled wrong by anyone reasoning from the names. These are the ones that matter most for wowlab. The full list is docs/GLOSSARY.md.

Term	What it actually is
Install	The Battle.net folder that holds .build.info. One install can hold several products (retail, Classic, a beta), each in its own flavor folder, all sharing one Data/ store.
Flavor folder	A directory name inside the install (_retail_, _classic_beta_…). It is a name that can change between beta and launch, not an identifier. wowlab discovers it and never hard-codes it.
Product code	What Battle.net and data sites key on (wow, wow_classic…). The flavor folder is what is on disk; neither is stable across a beta-to-launch move.
Build	The last component of a version (1.60.1.70058 → 70058). Game tables are valid for exactly one full version string, so wowlab never keys anything by the build number alone.
Patch	The first three components of the version.
Interface version	The integer an addon's manifest declares to say which client it supports. It is a compatibility label derived from the patch number, not an API level. A mismatch marks the addon "out of date"; it does not change what API exists.
TOC	An addon's manifest (Foo.toc): metadata and the ordered list of files to load.
SavedVariables	A Lua file per addon where it persists data. Written on logout or /reload, read on login or /reload. An offline tool always sees the previous session, and the client overwrites outside edits made while it runs.
WTF folder	Where configuration and SavedVariables live, one per flavor.
CVar	A client console variable: a named setting saved in Config.wtf or a config-cache.wtf. Scope is machine, account or character.
Account folder	WTF/Account/<name>/. It is personal data, so anything committed to the project has it replaced.
Second name (Forever)	Forever characters have a player-chosen first and second name. The second name is not a realm. See Forever Beta Notes.
GUID	The client's string id for a unit. Only its NPC or object id is game data; the other fields record where and when that copy of the unit spawned, so they are scrubbed from any committed log.
Secret value	A number addon code may display but not compute with. It is not encrypted.
Spec vs loadout	A character's spec changes between activities and is not stable state. A loadout is one complete set of talent selections; a character has many and switches between them, so a loadout is a property of a moment, not of the character.
C_Traits	The modern client API for talent trees (configs, trees, nodes, entries, ranks). Forever uses it too.
Item level / bonus IDs	An item's power depends on its bonus ids, not just its item id. The same base item with different bonus ids is a materially different item, and item level is read from the client, never derived.
Combat log	The text file the client appends to under Logs/ while /combatlog is on.
DB2	The game's database-table format. wowlab reads tables for your exact version from wago.tools.
Write gate	wowlab's single path for changing your install. See Safety and Guarantees.
Snapshot	An immutable, content-addressed copy of your WTF/, Interface/ and Fonts/ state. See Snapshots and Undo.
Wave	A group of tickets the owner picks to build next. See the Roadmap.