Platform
Glossary
Definitions for the core concepts used across Clerk.io.
Clerk.io has a lot of moving parts. This glossary covers the core concepts across the platform — from data objects to design templates to tracking mechanics — so you always know what you are working with.
Terms are sorted alphabetically. Each entry links to the full article where you can go deeper.
| Term | Description | Learn more |
|---|---|---|
| Accessories | A feature for declaring which items belong together, used to steer the AI toward specific complementary pairings. | Recommendations |
| Actionable Searches | A Search Analytics section surfacing Non-Converting and No Results queries with suggested fixes like adding synonyms or pinning products. | Search Analytics |
| AI Chat | Clerk.io’s conversational assistant that answers customer questions using your storefront data, product catalogue, and content. | Chat |
| AI layer | The second of four processing layers, where Clerk.io’s AI uses connections across synced data to predict result rankings for each endpoint. | Data Foundation |
| AI Modifier | A Modifier created by describing the desired data transformation in plain language; Clerk.io generates a read-only Python rule from the description. | Modifiers |
| Anonymous session | A short-lived visitor identifier derived from a hashed combination of IP address, user agent, and a rotating store salt — no cookie required. | Cookieless Solution |
| Ask Clerk.io | An in-dashboard AI agent that reads your store’s configuration and can propose changes you review and approve before they are applied. | Ask Clerk.io |
| Attribute Search Relevance | A Search Configuration section that defines which product attributes are included in the search index and how much weight each carries in ranking. | Search Configuration |
| Audience | Clerk.io’s customer segmentation product that predicts purchase intent, lifecycle stage, and value from order and behaviour data. | Audience |
| Best Alternative Products | Recommendation logic surfacing the most similar substitute products for the item a visitor is currently viewing. | Product Logics |
| Best Cross-Sell Products | Recommendation logic suggesting complementary items based on patterns of what other customers bought alongside a given product. | Product Logics |
| Best Sellers | Recommendation logic ranking products by total order volume over time. | Product Logics |
| Categories Search | The search/categories endpoint returning category matches ordered by popularity, used in Instant Search and Omnisearch results. | Search Logics |
| Category | A data object that groups products together. Categories are required by Alternatives logics and all category-based recommendation strategies. | Data Foundation |
| Clerk-influenced order | An order where at least one purchased product was clicked via a Clerk.io element during the same session. Used to measure attribution. | Measuring Impact |
| Clerk.js | Clerk.io’s frontend JavaScript library that renders elements, handles visitor tracking, and powers the UI kit for search and recommendations. | Clerk.js |
| Code Design | A Design edited directly as HTML, CSS, and Liquid rather than exclusively through the visual Design Editor. | Designs |
| Component | A reusable sub-design referenced inside a parent Design. Components cannot be selected directly as an Element’s design. | Designs |
| Content Recommendations | Recommendation logics that surface products related to a blog or article page, and content pages related to a product or category. | Content Recommendations |
| Cookieless mode | Clerk.io’s default privacy approach, which identifies visitors through anonymized session hashing rather than browser cookies. | Cookieless Solution |
| CRUD API | REST-style endpoints for creating, reading, updating, and deleting synced objects such as products, orders, and customers on demand. | API |
| Custom dictionary | A list of terms — such as brand acronyms or stylized product names — that Clerk.io treats as single tokens instead of splitting them during indexing. | Search Configuration |
| Customer | An optional data object (id or email plus attributes) that enables Audience segmentation and CDP-style features. | Data Foundation |
| Customization Settings | Per-store feature toggles in my.clerk.io for enabling or disabling capabilities like Rules, Synonyms, Redirects, and Merchandising. | Stores |
| Data feed | A JSON catalogue URL that the Clerk.io importer can consume alongside or instead of live CRUD API calls. | API |
| Data Health | A dashboard of green, yellow, and red checks that surface data quality issues likely to affect search and recommendation performance. | Data Health |
| Data layer | The first of four processing layers, containing raw product, order, and customer attributes before any AI or merchandising processing runs. | Data Foundation |
| Data sync | A scheduled or manual import of products, categories, orders, customers, and pages from the webshop or an external feed. | Data Sync |
| Debug Dashboard | The Developers > Debug tool for building and testing API requests against live store data and inspecting result diagnostics. | Stores |
| Demo Data | A sync method that loads a predefined Clerk.io dataset for testing the dashboard without connecting a live webshop. | Data Sync |
| Design | An HTML, CSS, and Liquid (or visual) template that controls how Clerk.io renders Search, Recommendations, Email, or Omnisearch results. | Designs |
| Design Editor | The visual tool in my.clerk.io for building and editing Designs without writing code directly. | Designs |
| Developer Logs | The Developers > Logs view showing real-time API requests, errors, and warnings for a store. | Stores |
| Dynamic Filters | Embed-code-level filters that resolve at request time using variables from the current storefront context. | Recommendations |
| Early Access | An opt-in programme for trying beta features before they reach general release. | Stores |
| Element | A configurable block that combines a Product Logic, a Design, and an embed code or injection rule to render Clerk.io content on a page. | Website Elements |
| Email Embeds | HTML snippets that pull a Clerk.io Product Logic into third-party ESP newsletters for personalised product recommendations. | |
| Email Triggers | Automated emails sent in response to behavioural events such as an abandoned session, abandoned cart, or completed order. | Email Campaigns |
| Embed code | A <span class="clerk"> snippet with data-* attributes placed in storefront HTML that Clerk.js picks up and renders. | Clerk.js |
| Empty State Logic | The Omnisearch setting that controls which products or content appear before the visitor has typed a query. | Omnisearch |
| Exact Match Behaviour | A Search Configuration option controlling how SKU or EAN-style attributes are matched — for example, single-value exact match with autocorrection disabled. | Search Configuration |
| Expected Additional Revenue | A dashboard block estimating the extra revenue attributable to Clerk.io based on influenced order volume and average order value lift. | Measuring Impact |
| Exporters | Integrations that push Audience segments to external platforms such as Klaviyo, Meta, or Google Ads for use in paid campaigns. | Ask Clerk.io |
| Facets | Attribute-based filters — such as price range, brand, or size — that let visitors narrow search or category results. | Search Facets |
| Filterable attributes | Product attributes configured in Search Settings to appear as facet filter options in search and category results. | Search Configuration |
| Forgetting (GDPR) | The process of removing personal data from a customer profile while anonymizing any retained order records to comply with GDPR right-to-erasure requests. | GDPR |
| Growth Advisor | An expert session booked through the dashboard when a store’s performance falls below benchmark thresholds shown in the Performance Comparison. | Measuring Impact |
| Hot Products | Recommendation logic surfacing products with a recent spike in purchases, often labelled as trending items. | Product Logics |
| Importance | An automatic Audience score that places each customer on a value axis based on their behaviour compared to similar customers in the store. | Audience |
| Injection | A Clerk.js feature that inserts an Element into the DOM using CSS selectors, without requiring a snippet to be added in the storefront template. | Website Elements |
| Instant Search | A live dropdown that appears while a visitor types, blending products, categories, and pages into a single real-time result set. | Search |
| Intelligent Filtering | A Merchandising feature that uses keyword or attribute filters to dynamically include only matching products in a campaign. | Merchandising |
| Knowledge Graph | Clerk.io’s internal data structure connecting products, categories, orders, and optionally customers to power AI predictions. | Cookieless Solution |
| Labels | Strings attached to API calls or embed codes to identify which surface triggered a request, used for analytics and sales attribution. | Sales Tracking |
| Life Cycle | An automatic Audience score that places each customer on a lifecycle axis — from active to slipping away to lost — based on purchase behaviour. | Audience |
| Live-Search | The search/predictive endpoint that powers auto-complete, ranking suggestions by predicted conversion likelihood. | Search Logics |
| log/click | The API endpoint that records a visitor clicking a Clerk.io-served product, used to build the attribution chain toward a sale. | Sales Tracking |
| log/sale | The API endpoint that records a completed order and links it to a Visitor ID and any prior click events for revenue attribution. | Sales Tracking |
| Merchandising | A cross-surface set of tools for influencing result rankings through campaigns, triggers, and position rules. | Merchandising |
| Merchandising campaign | A named configuration combining a schedule, one or more triggers, a product selection, and sorting or pinning rules. | Campaigns |
| Merchandising layer | The third of four processing layers, where active campaigns can boost, bury, or pin products before results are returned. | Data Foundation |
| Modifiers | Post-sync rules that transform product attributes inside Clerk.io without altering the original data feed or webshop data. | Modifiers |
| Most Sold With | Recommendation logic based on direct co-purchase pairs, without the broader prediction used by the cross-sell logic. | Product Logics |
| Newest Products | Recommendation logic ordered by the created_at date of products in the catalogue, surfacing the most recently added items. | Product Logics |
| Newsletters | Scheduled or one-off marketing emails created, sent, and tracked inside Clerk.io Email. | Email Campaigns |
| Omnisearch | A full-screen search overlay that combines live typing results, facets, categories, pages, and query suggestions in one experience. | Omnisearch |
| Order | A data object recording a purchase with id, products, and time. Orders are the primary input for AI ranking, attribution, and Audience predictions. | Data Foundation |
| Page | An optional content entity — such as a blog post or article — that can appear in search results and content recommendations. | Data Foundation |
| Page Context | A Clerk.js call that passes the ID of the currently viewed product, category, or page to improve personalization across elements on that page. | Clerk.js |
| Parcel | A delivery-tracking entity linked to an Order, containing a tracking code, carrier status, status details, and a tracking link. | Data Foundation |
| Performance Comparison | A dashboard table benchmarking a store’s conversion rate, average order value, and basket size against other Clerk.io customers. | Measuring Impact |
| Powerstep | The intermediate step shown after a shopper adds an item to cart — typically a pop-up, side cart, or interstitial page — where cross-sell recommendations are placed. | Recommendations Best Practices |
| Preview mode | A URL flag (clerk_content_mode=preview) that makes preview-only Elements visible on the storefront without affecting live visitors. | Omnisearch |
| Privacy mode: Custom | A privacy setting where you supply your own visitor ID string, for integration with first-party identity or consent management tools. | Cookieless Solution |
| Privacy mode: Default | The standard Clerk.js cookieless mode, using anonymous session hashing for tracking without storing persistent identifiers. | Cookieless Solution |
| Privacy mode: Persistent | A privacy mode that stores a stable clerk-visitor-id in localStorage after visitor consent, enabling longer attribution windows. | Cookieless Solution |
| Privacy mode: Private | A privacy mode that collects no visitor data, disabling all visitor-dependent features and Clerk.io revenue attribution. | Cookieless Solution |
| Product | The core catalogue entity, with mandatory fields including id, name, price, categories, created_at, image, and url. | Data Foundation |
| Product layer | The fourth and final processing layer, where Clerk.io’s API assembles the result list that is returned to the shopper. | Data Foundation |
| Product Logics | Named recommendation or search strategies — such as Best Sellers or Visitor Recommendations — that back each Clerk.io Element. | Product Logics |
| Public / Private API key | A pair of credentials where the public key is used for front-end result requests and the private key is used for data management operations. | API |
| Realtime updates | Incremental syncs applied via CRUD API or platform integrations, so small catalogue changes are reflected without waiting for a full data sync. | Data Sync |
| Recommendations | On-site product suggestions powered by Clerk.io’s AI, displayed in sliders, category page grids, or content banners. | Recommendations |
| Redirects | Rules that map exact or pattern-matching queries to a destination URL, returned in the search API response instead of results. | Redirects |
| Sales tracking | The end-to-end setup that links Labels, click events (log/click), and order events (log/sale) so Clerk.io can attribute revenue to specific elements. | Sales Tracking |
| Scopes | A Merchandising Campaign setting that controls whether a campaign runs on a single store, a defined set of stores, or the entire account. | Merchandising |
| Search | Clerk.io’s AI-powered site search, covering instant search dropdowns, full search pages, and the Omnisearch overlay. | Search |
| Search Insights | The Search Analytics dashboard for monitoring search behaviour, top queries, no-results rates, and actionable improvement opportunities. | Search Analytics |
| Search Page | A full-page search results layout with deeper faceting, sorting controls, and browsing capabilities beyond the instant dropdown. | Search |
| Search Rules | Query-specific overrides that pin, include, or exclude particular result types — products, categories, pages, or suggestions — for chosen queries. | Search Rules |
| Semantic Search | A natural-language fallback that interprets shopper intent and returns relevant results even when the query does not exactly match product text. | Search |
| Sender Domain | DNS records configured in Clerk.io Email so that campaigns are delivered from the merchant’s own domain rather than a shared Clerk.io address. | Email Campaigns |
| Session | A single continuous visit to a store, used to group a visitor’s clicks and browsing activity under one Visitor ID. | Cookieless Solution |
| Sliders | Recommendation carousels embedded on product pages, category pages, homepages, or other storefront locations. | Recommendations |
| Smart Campaigns | Merchandising campaigns that combine scheduling, triggers, and rules to run automatically — no manual intervention required once configured. | Merchandising |
| Snippet | A <span class="clerk"> element with data-* attributes that Clerk.js scans on page load and converts into API calls. | Clerk.js |
| Store | An isolated Clerk.io tenant — typically one per domain — accessed via its own set of API keys and with its own data, settings, and elements. | API |
| Sub-Processor | A third-party service used by Clerk.io that stores or processes merchant data. Active sub-processors are listed per feature in the GDPR Dashboard. | GDPR |
| Subscriber | A contact record with subscribed: true that is eligible to receive Clerk.io email campaigns. | Email Subscribers |
| Subscriber List | A named opt-in list used to segment subscribers for targeted email campaigns in Clerk.io Email. | Email Subscribers |
| Synonyms | Rules that treat different words as equivalent so they return the same search results without affecting ranking logic. | Synonyms |
| Tracked vs Synced orders | The distinction between orders recorded in real time via log/sale on the storefront versus orders imported only through a data sync. | Measuring Impact |
| Trust Center | The public Clerk.io resource at trust.clerk.io covering privacy policies, subprocessors, and data management practices. | GDPR |
| Visitor / Visitor ID | The anonymous identifier that ties a shopper’s browsing session to their click history and eventual purchase for attribution purposes. | Visitor Log |
| Visitor Log | The Data > Visitors interface showing every API call made under a given Visitor ID, including inputs, outputs, labels, and metadata. | Visitor Log |
| Visitor Recommendations | Personalised product suggestions built from the current visitor’s recent browsing and click history within Clerk.io. | Product Logics |
| Website Elements | The section of my.clerk.io for configuring and managing all Search and Recommendation Elements that appear on the storefront. | Website Elements |