---
title: Glossary
description: Short definitions for identities, addresses, connections, streams, events, and endpoint lifecycle.
---

Definitions only. For recipes, follow the linked guides.

| Term | Meaning |
| --- | --- |
| **Endpoint** | A running minip2p peer. Rust names the type `Endpoint`; TypeScript names it `Minip2p`. |
| **`Minip2p`** | The TypeScript endpoint type returned by `Minip2p.create` or `useMinip2p`. |
| **PeerId** | Authenticated public-key identity of a peer. |
| **Multiaddr** | Transport address without a peer identity (for example `/ip4/…/udp/…/quic-v1` or `/ip4/…/tcp/…`). |
| **PeerAddr** | A `Multiaddr` plus a terminal `/p2p/<peer-id>`. A complete peer address, as a Connection target names one. |
| **PeerReady** | Event after a connection's first Identify exchange; supplies advertised protocols and names the connection (`conn_id`). Fires again after a Connection replacement. `open_stream` is already allowed once connected. |
| **Connection replacement** | A newer connection taking a peer's single connection slot from an older one, reported as one `ConnectionReplaced { peer_id, old, new }`. The peer never counts as disconnected; the old connection's streams and readiness end with it. |
| **Connection attempt** | One application-level effort to reach a peer, started by `connect`. It has one Connect ID and exactly one terminal (`ConnectSettled`): connected, failed, or cancelled. Only explicit cancellation stops it; abandoning a wait does not. |
| **Connection target** | What `connect` takes: a `PeerId`, one complete `PeerAddr`, or a non-empty list of complete addresses that all name the same peer. |
| **Transport dial** | One mechanism-level dial of one peer address. A Connection attempt may run several; raw dials outside an attempt live on the swarm. |
| **Connect ID** | Correlation ID for a Connection attempt, stable across its Transport dials, relay fallback, and upgrade. |
| **Relay leg** | NAT-owned part of an attempt: relay dial, HOP CONNECT, bridge promotion, DCUtR. Does not decide the terminal. |
| **Path** | How a connection was established: `Direct` (dialed or accepted), `Punched` (by DCUtR), or `Relayed` through a named relay. Every established connection has one; a replacement connection has its own. A Relayed path may be provisional until the attempt settles. See [Traverse NAT](/docs/rust/traverse-nat). |
| **Stream** | A negotiated byte stream for one application protocol. Writes may be split or combined, so applications add their own framing. |
| **`useMinip2p`** | React hook that owns an endpoint for a component and closes it during cleanup. |
| **`queueOverflow`** | TypeScript event reporting that the application did not consume events quickly enough. Refresh queryable state before relying on event history. |
| **Sans-I/O** | Deterministic protocol/orchestration state machines; sockets and clocks live in adapters. |
| **`poll`** | One non-blocking drive step; returns currently available Endpoint events. |
| **`wait`** | The one blocking Endpoint wait; returns an Endpoint wait outcome. |
| **Endpoint event stream** | The endpoint's single, ordered source of connection, protocol, discovery, and diagnostic events. Applications wait for an outcome by matching its ID in their own loop. |
| **Endpoint wait outcome** | Why `wait` returned: `Event(EndpointEvent)`, `Deadline`, or `Interrupted`. |
| **`EndpointEvent`** | Ordered, non-exhaustive event from the Endpoint's single public stream; enabled capabilities add `Nat`, `Gossipsub`, `Discovery`, and `RelayServer` variants. |
| **State snapshot** | Getter over durable connection, peer, or transport-bound address state; not one atomic mega-snapshot and may be ahead of the event stream, never behind its own emitted transition. `bound_addresses` is bound sockets, not “accepting connections”. |
| **Available vs enabled** | A Cargo feature makes a capability available; a builder method enables it on an endpoint. See [Install](/docs/rust/install#add-an-optional-capability). |
| **Circuit address** | `/…/p2p/<relay>/p2p-circuit/p2p/<target>` reaches a peer through a Circuit Relay v2 reservation. |

For symptom-driven fixes, see [Rust troubleshooting](/docs/rust/troubleshooting) or [TypeScript troubleshooting](/docs/typescript/troubleshooting). For APIs grouped by feature, see the [feature matrix](/docs/reference/feature-matrix).