Terminology

This page summarizes key terms used across the docs for consistent understanding.

Core Concepts

• BYOK (Bring Your Own Key): A model where users manage their own upstream AI provider API Keys. The system acts only as a secure proxy and does not provide paid key pools.
• Provider Key / Upstream Key (上游密钥): The original API Key obtained by users from official platforms like OpenAI, Anthropic, DeepSeek, etc., which is added to the XAI system and stored encrypted.
• XAI API Key / Virtual Key (虚拟密钥): The exclusive key assigned by the XAI system to users (format: sk-Xvs...), used to call the XAI unified API endpoint.
• Zero Markup Pricing: API call charges are deducted directly from the user's official account, with XAI charging no markup or service fees.
• End-to-End Encryption: Provider Keys are encrypted using user-specific keys via the ChaCha20-Poly1305 algorithm, with no super-admin access in the system.

Account System

• Owner (主账户): Top-level account that manages descendants and keys.
• Descendants (后代用户): Any users in the owner's subtree; see "User Hierarchy".
• DNA: Lineage path (e.g., .1.42.) used to filter user groups.
• Gear (档位): User attribute that impacts routing/drift strategies.
• Tier (层级): User attribute for pricing/permissions.

Routing & Key Management

• Level (等级): Abstraction for key pools and model routing. Users can assign different Provider Keys to different Levels.
• Key Pool (密钥池): A collection of multiple Provider Keys under the same Level, automatically rotated by the system to distribute request pressure.
• Model Mapper (模型映射): Aliasing models to targets (e.g., gpt-4=gpt-4-turbo), configurable at user-level or owner-level.
• Level Mapper (Level 映射): Map model patterns to a Level (e.g., claude*=2), routing to the corresponding key pool.
• Sleep (休眠): After errors (e.g., 429, 5xx), the key is temporarily removed from rotation and rejoins after a waiting period.
• Switch Over (故障切换): Move from one Level to another when the current Level is unavailable.

Security & Permissions

• Resources (资源白名单): Allowed API paths (e.g., /v1/chat/completions).
• AllowModels (模型白名单): List of models a sub-account is allowed to call.
• AllowIPs (IP 白名单): IP addresses or CIDR ranges allowed to call the API.
• Encryption Key (加密密钥): Each user's unique 32-character key used to encrypt that user's Provider Keys.

Billing & Rate Limiting

• Factor (因子): Coefficient used in pricing.
• Rates (费率倍率): Multiplier applied to model pricing.
• Model Limits (模型限速): Per-model limits (RPM/RPH/RPD, TPM/TPH/TPD).
• RPM/RPH/RPD: Requests per minute/hour/day.
• TPM/TPH/TPD: Tokens per minute/hour/day.
• Credit Balance (信用额度): User's prepaid card balance, used for internal billing statistics (independent of upstream official billing).

See also:

• “Access Control”
• “User Hierarchy”
• “Billing & Credits”