# Interop.io & io.Connect Glossary

**URL:** <https://community.interop.io/t/interop-io-io-connect-glossary/385>\
**Category:** io.Connect Desktop\
**Tags:** tech-blog\
**Created:** [November 24, 2025, 3:19pm UTC](https://community.interop.io/t/interop-io-io-connect-glossary/385 "2025-11-24T15:19:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
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**Author:** ![toni.petrov](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/community.interop.io/toni.petrov/32/17_2.png) [@toni.petrov](https://community.interop.io/u/toni.petrov)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2025, 3:19pm UTC](https://community.interop.io/t/interop-io-io-connect-glossary/385/1 "2025-11-24T15:19:39Z")

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If you are new to io.Connect and the interop.io ecosystem you may wonder what some of the acronyms and nicknames you see are. I tried to put together a glossary to help:

## Acronyms & shorthand

- **IOCD** - shorthand for **io.Connect Desktop**.

- **IOCB** - shorthand for **io.Connect Browser**.

- **ENV‑REG** - The “environment‑region” folder name in user paths (e.g., `UserData/DEMO-INTEROP.IO`). You’ll see it in examples like `.../UserData/<ENV>-<REG>/apps`.

- **BBG** - Bloomberg adapter namespace (e.g., `T42.BBG.*`); shows up in method names if you use the Bloomberg integration.

- **FDC3** - an open interoperability standard for **financial services** , building apps for the trading/analysis desktop. It’s created and governed in FINOS and promoted across the industry as a common way for apps to discover each other

- **GD** - Legacy shorthand for _Glue Desktop / Glue42 Desktop_ (today: **io.Connect Desktop** ). Can still appear in method namespaces (`T42.GD.*`), query params (`?gd`), or some repo names. **Glue42** was the previous name of the product that evolved into **io.Connect Desktop** after the merge with **Finsemble** , that formed **interop.io** in 2023.

- **T42** - Legacy namespace/prefix you can see in method names, logs, etc. It comes from the name **Tick42** (the company behind **Glue42** ) that merged with **Finsemble.**

- **FSBL (Finsemble)** - The other company that merged into **interop.io**. **Finsemble** was (and is) also the name of the company’s desktop interop platform.

## Platform building blocks

- **Interop‑enable an app** - To “interop-enable” an app means wiring it to io.Connect so that the latter can launch/manage it and the app can talk to others. Give it the client library (auto-inject via `system.json → windows.autoInjectAPI` or import) and initialize to get the `io` object. This enables apps to discover each other, share context, and hand off tasks without brittle one-offs or copy/paste, so workflows move smoothly across windows.

- **App Stores** - Where app definitions come from. Can be local folders, REST, or **io.Manager**. IOCD loads all defined stores on startup.

- **io.Connect Gateway** - The message bus that carries inter‑app and app↔platform messages (WebSockets by default).

- **App Definition** - A JSON file that describes an app (name, type like `window`/`exe`/`node`, URL or path, sizing, etc.). Place it under the user apps folder to make the app launchable from IOCD.

- **Launchpad / Launcher** - The built‑in UI navigation sidebar that lists apps and lets users start them.

- **Application Adapters** - Prebuilt integrations (Excel, Outlook, Bloomberg, Salesforce, etc.) that expose those apps’ actions to your interop‑enabled apps.

- **IODesktop()** - The JavaScript factory function you call to initialize the io.Connect API inside an app. Returns the `io` object.

- **Polyfill (Finsemble)** - a **compatibility layer in the Finsemble Seed** that lets Finsemble projects run on **io.Connect Desktop (IOCD)**

If there’s anything I’ve missed, please post below so we can add it.

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_[View the full topic](https://community.interop.io/t/interop-io-io-connect-glossary/385)._