x0
Glossary
Short explanations of the acronyms, products, and data words you will see around x0.
Each entry has a one-line meaning and a link to a more authoritative source.
x0 itself is the slim connector between Xero (your books) and tools such as Excel (your analysis).
Full catalogue: documentation index.
Term index (A–Z)
API ·
API key ·
Ask x0 ·
Basic auth ·
Bearer ·
Cache ·
CSDL ·
Dashboard ·
Data schema ·
Dirty ·
Email forms ·
Excel add-in ·
GST ·
Gzip ·
Julian ·
OAuth ·
OData ·
Office.js ·
Power Query ·
Q-XXXX ·
Scope ·
SMTP ·
SPF ·
Tax invoice ·
Tenant ·
Incremental sync ·
TTL ·
Watermark ·
Warehouse ·
Webhook ·
Xero simulator ·
Yaak
Protocols and APIs
| Term | Meaning | More |
|---|---|---|
| API | Application Programming Interface — a machine-readable way for one system to ask another for data or actions. | MDN |
| REST | A common style of HTTP API (resources, GET/POST, JSON). Xero’s accounting API and much of x0’s JSON surface are REST-ish. | MDN |
| HTTP / HTTPS | The web’s request/response protocol. HTTPS is HTTP with TLS encryption (padlock). Always use HTTPS for API keys. | MDN HTTPS |
| JSON | JavaScript Object Notation — the usual text format for API payloads ({ "Name": "Sales" }). |
json.org |
| OData | Open Data Protocol — a standard (from Microsoft / OASIS) for querying tabular data over HTTP. Excel and Power BI speak it natively. x0’s Excel path is OData v4. | odata.md · odata.org |
| CSDL | Conceptual Schema Definition Language — the XML metadata ($metadata) that tells Excel column names and types for an OData service. |
OData CSDL |
| ODBC | Open Database Connectivity — a classic Windows/SQL driver standard so apps can talk to databases through a common API. Different from OData (HTTP tables vs SQL drivers). | Microsoft ODBC |
| OLE | Object Linking and Embedding — older Microsoft tech for embedding/linking documents and objects. You may see it in legacy Excel or Office docs; x0 does not require it. | Microsoft OLE |
| OLE DB | Microsoft data-access layer related to OLE, often mentioned next to ODBC. Again: not what x0 uses for Excel (we use OData / HTTP). | Microsoft OLE DB |
| OpenAPI / Swagger | A description format for HTTP APIs (paths, parameters, schemas). Useful for tooling; Excel still prefers OData for tables. | OpenAPI Initiative |
| SSE | Server-Sent Events — a one-way HTTP stream of updates (used on the staff ops live diagram). | MDN SSE |
| Webhook | An HTTP callback: “when something happens, POST JSON to this URL.” Xero can webhook into x0; you can webhook out to Zapier/Slack/etc. | webhooks.md · Xero webhooks |
Auth and security
| Term | Meaning | More |
|---|---|---|
| OAuth 2.0 | Industry-standard “sign in / authorise app” flow. You connect Xero once; x0 stores tokens and refreshes them. You do not paste Xero passwords into Excel. | oauth.net · Xero OAuth 2.0 |
| Bearer token | An access secret sent as Authorization: Bearer …. Excel’s recommended path for x0 keys. |
excel-desktop.md · RFC 6750 |
| Basic auth | Excel Get Data username/password. Username = token id (x0_live_<ULID>), password = secret (right of the .). |
excel-desktop.md |
| API key | A long-lived secret x0 issues (x0_live_… / x0_test_…) so Excel or scripts can call the API without OAuth in the client. Treat like a password. |
excel-addin.md · OWASP |
| Scope | A permission string limiting what a token/key can do (e.g. read accounts). Xero OAuth scopes and x0 data scopes are related ideas. | odata.md · Xero scopes |
| HMAC | Hash-based message authentication — used to verify webhook signatures so faked callbacks are rejected. | RFC 2104 |
| TLS | Transport Layer Security — the crypto under HTTPS. | MDN TLS |
| Tenant ID | Xero’s GUID for one organisation. Multi-org accounts need the right tenant on each request. | Xero tenants |
Microsoft and Excel
| Term | Meaning | More |
|---|---|---|
| Excel Desktop | The installed Windows/Mac Excel app (not Excel Online). Best place for Power Query + OData against x0. | Excel |
| Power Query | Excel/Power BI’s get-and-transform engine. Pulls data, shapes it, refreshes on demand. | Microsoft Power Query |
| M (Power Query M) | The formula language behind Power Query (OData.Feed, let / in). |
M language |
| OData.Feed | Power Query function that consumes an OData service root or entity. | OData.Feed |
| Get Data → From Web | Excel UI path to call an HTTP URL; with Advanced you can add a Bearer header (recommended for x0). | From Web |
| Web API (Excel credential) | Excel’s credential type that often appends ?api_key= instead of a real header. Flaky with long dotted keys — prefer Bearer. |
Web connector |
| Excel add-in | Office.js task pane (Connect x0) that signs you in, issues a token, loads a table, and emails form PDFs. | excel-addin.md |
| Word add-in | Office.js task pane for Word: mail merge letters, Avery L7160 labels, item catalogue from x0 cache. | word-addin.md |
| Mail merge | Word Mailings (or the x0 add-in) filling «MERGEFIELD» tokens from a CSV / x0 contacts. | word-addin.md |
| Avery L7160 | Common NZ A4 label sheet: 3×7 (21 labels, 63.5 × 38.1 mm). | word-addin.md |
| Office.js | Microsoft’s JavaScript API for Office add-ins (Excel / Word task pane). | excel-addin.md · word-addin.md · Office.js |
| NZ forms | A4 stationery workbook: tax invoice, PO, quote, remittance, RFQ, cash receipt, service card, asset sale, customer statement, inventory transfer, faulty return, works order. | excel-forms.md |
| Reports & Attachments workbook | Separate Excel pack for Attachments, Reports, and Reports_Table — kept out of Accounts / All-endpoints downloads because they are heavy. |
excel-workbook.md · odata.md |
| Refresh | Re-run a Power Query so Excel pulls the latest rows from x0 (which may serve cache or hit Xero). | Refresh data |
| XLSX | Modern Excel workbook file format (Office Open XML). x0 downloads snapshot workbooks as .xlsx. |
OOXML |
| XLSM | Macro-enabled Excel workbook. Accounts “include scripts” downloads stay .xlsx with VBA source in MacroSetup; save as .xlsm after importing the module. |
VBA |
| SourceType | Catalogue row for a Xero enum / pseudo-table value (Account_Class_Types, Tax_Types, …), optionally country-tagged. |
source-types.md |
| Power BI | Microsoft’s BI / dashboard product. Also consumes OData; same mental model as Excel tables. | Power BI |
| Power Automate | Microsoft’s flow/automation product (cloud workflows). x0’s Excel path does not require Power Automate Premium. | Power Automate |
| Custom connector | A packaged API definition inside Power Automate / Power Apps. Optional enterprise path; not required for desktop Excel + x0. | Custom connectors |
Data, cache, and databases
| Term | Meaning | More |
|---|---|---|
| Cache | A stored copy of data kept for speed and to reduce upstream API calls. Excel usually reads x0’s cache; “Refresh data” on the portal pulls from Xero. | data-freshness.md |
| TTL | Time To Live — how long a cache entry is considered fresh before it should be refreshed. | TTL |
| Incremental sync | Refresh that asks Xero only for rows changed since the last snapshot (If-Modified-Since), then upserts them into cache. |
data-freshness.md |
| Watermark | Latest UpdatedDateUTC we hold for a table — the cursor for the next incremental fetch. |
data-cache-and-sync.md |
| If-Modified-Since | HTTP header Xero uses for “records updated after this time” (not an OData $filter). |
Efficient data retrieval |
| Dirty (cache) | Flag meaning “upstream changed; this snapshot may be stale.” Often set by webhooks or after writes. | — |
| Write-back | x0 → Xero create/update/delete and lifecycle actions (Accounts through Payments). | contacts-invoices-write.md · items-purchase-orders-write.md · credit-notes-payments-write.md · accounts-write.md |
| ETL | Extract, Transform, Load — classic data-pipeline pattern (pull → reshape → store). x0 is a thin extract/serve layer more than a full ETL suite. | ETL |
| BI | Business Intelligence — reporting and analysis tools (Excel, Power BI, Metabase, etc.). | BI |
| SQL | Structured Query Language — how you query relational databases. | SQL |
| Postgres / PostgreSQL | A popular open-source relational database. x0 can optionally expose a read-only warehouse schema of your cached tables. | postgres.md · postgresql.org |
| Warehouse | Your private read-only SQL schema of cached Xero tables (Professional+). | postgres.md |
| Schema | A named namespace of tables inside a database (e.g. your private warehouse schema). | Postgres schemas |
| Primary key | Column(s) that uniquely identify a row (ContactID, InvoiceID, …). |
Primary key |
| Materialize | Copy/transform cached JSON into SQL tables in the warehouse. | — |
| jq | A command-line JSON processor; x0 can use jq-style transforms to reshape rows for Excel. | jqlang.org |
| Row / column / table | The spreadsheet model: entities become tables, fields become columns, records become rows. OData entity sets map to Excel tables. | — |
Xero and accounting shape
| Term | Meaning | More |
|---|---|---|
| Xero | Cloud accounting product; source of truth for your books. | xero.com · Xero API |
| Organisation / tenant | One Xero company file. One x0 customer may connect several. | Xero tenants |
| Chart of accounts | The list of account codes (Sales, Bank, GST, …) — x0 Accounts. |
Xero Accounts |
| Contact | Customer/supplier (and related) records in Xero. | Contacts |
| Invoice / payment / bank transaction | Core sales and cash documents Xero exposes over API; x0 flattens many of these for Excel. | Accounting API |
| Tax invoice (NZ) | GST tax invoice stationery in the NZ forms workbook (15% GST + GST number). | excel-forms.md · IRD GST |
| GST | Goods and Services Tax (NZ 15%). Forms use cell F10 for the rate. | excel-forms.md · IRD GST |
| Manual journal / GL journal | Bookkeeping entries; journals can be nested (header + lines). _Table endpoints flatten lines for Excel. |
Manual journals · Journals |
| GL | General Ledger — the full set of posted accounting entries. | General ledger |
x0 product words
| Term | Meaning | More |
|---|---|---|
| x0 / x0 connector | This service: OAuth to Xero, cache, OData/API for Excel and other clients. | x0.co.nz |
| Portal | The signed-in website (dashboard, keys, guides, support). | — |
| Dashboard | Home for connections, data schema diagram, cache status, API keys, warehouse, workbook download. | data-schema.md |
| Data schema | Interactive ER diagram of OData tables on the dashboard (row counts, last refresh). Agents get the same picture as mermaid via MCP get_schema_diagram. |
data-schema.md |
| Source | An upstream system type (today: Xero). | — |
| Endpoint / entity set | A named OData table you can pull (Accounts, Invoices_Table, …). |
odata.md |
_Table suffix |
Excel-friendly flattened view (one row per line item), not the nested header document. | odata.md |
| Live vs test key | x0_live_* for production use; x0_test_* for safe experiments. Same API, different environment tag. |
excel-addin.md |
| Refresh data (portal) | Explicit pull from Xero into x0 cache (does not by itself refresh an open Excel file). | data-freshness.md |
Connection card (X0 entity) |
Small OData entity describing your connection, scopes, and docs links. | odata.md |
| Email forms | Portal tab to set From: + SMTP and see PDFs emailed from Excel. | email-forms.md |
| SMTP | Simple Mail Transfer Protocol — how x0 (or your own server) sends email. | email-forms.md · SMTP |
| SPF | Sender Policy Framework — DNS record that authorises who may send mail for your domain. Use with My SMTP, or include x0 if From: is your domain. | email-forms.md · SPF |
| Outbound email | Any message x0 sends (form PDFs, invoices, query answers, password resets). Customers see Sent forms; staff see Mission Control → Outbound email. | email-forms.md |
| Ask x0 | In-portal assistant (Standard+) for tech, pricing, and data questions; logged as Q-XXXX. | agentic-query.md |
| Q-XXXX | Support / Ask x0 id: Q- plus four Crockford characters (no I/L/O/U). Quote it in email. |
agentic-query.md · support-queries.md |
| Microsoft JSON date | Xero’s /Date(milliseconds±offset)/ — ms since 1970-01-01 UTC, not seconds. x0 stores ISO instead. |
date-transform.md |
| Julian / Excel serial | Date stored as days since 1899-12-30 (Excel). Option date_format_iso → julian on serve only. |
date-transform.md |
| Gzip | Optional compressed API responses (Accept-Encoding: gzip). Standard+. |
gzip-responses.md |
| Xero simulator | Read-only drop-in for api.xero.com / identity while developing. Public page /sim/. |
xero-simulator.md |
| test.x0.co.nz | Docker Compose install of x0 on x0-dev (:8140/:8141) for validating container deploys. |
docker-deploy.md |
| Yaak | A desktop HTTP client (like Postman) useful for testing Bearer calls. | yaak.md · yaak.app |
Platform / engineering (you may see these in docs)
| Term | Meaning | More |
|---|---|---|
| Django | Python web framework powering the portal and admin. | djangoproject.com |
| FastAPI | Python framework powering the high-throughput API / OData service. | fastapi.tiangolo.com |
| ULID | Sortable unique ID used in some key prefixes. | ulid spec |
Related
- Documentation index
- Excel desktop
- Excel add-in
- Word add-in
- NZ Excel forms
- Email form PDFs
- OData
- Data schema
- Data freshness
- Ask x0
- Yaak
- AI agents
Something missing? Use Support or the dashboard feedback box and we will add it.