Applications, policies, artifacts, deployments, and jobs

These words are not interchangeable. Using the exact resource makes operations and support safer.

Resource	Lifetime	Identity and purpose
Organization	Long-lived	Isolation, team, plan, Service Credit, and ownership boundary.
Application	Long-lived	Owns desired configuration, artifacts, deployments, evidence, and lifecycle.
Manifest	Mutable source document	Strict V4 customer-authored intent.
Effective policy	Immutable version	Server-normalized V4 execution contract.
Artifact version	Immutable	Exact bundle plus CID/digest and accepted provenance.
Deployment	One attempt/generation	Liskov record of realizing an effective policy.
Job	Time-boxed	Acurast network registration with schedule and processor.
Runtime instance	One process boot	Signed identity for a boot within one job.

Application ID and UID

applicationId is a readable slug in the manifest. An Application UID is the server-issued immutable identity. The UID survives display-name changes and protects canonical records from slug reuse or ambiguity. Use it in support and evidence whenever available.

applicationUid may pin an existing Application during authoring; if present, it must match the target. It is not a value to invent.

Three digests

• authoredDigest identifies the exact canonical manifest content.
• releaseIntentDigest identifies normalized release and builder authority.
• policyDigest identifies the immutable effective policy after server-owned facts are resolved.

Each answers a different question. A matching artifact digest does not imply a matching policy digest.

Successor relationships

A policy update creates a new immutable policy. Renewal or update creates a new deployment/job generation. A process restart creates a new runtime instance. The Application joins their history without pretending they are one mutable object.

When reading status or logs, keep at least Application UID, policy digest, deployment ID, job ID, and runtime-instance ID available. See Deployments, jobs, and timelines for the operational view.