If you're new to BolloPrint (or to 3D printing in general), this glossary will help you understand the vocabulary you'll see throughout the app. You don't need to memorize it, but come back here whenever you run into a term you don't recognize.
Catalog terms
| Term | Meaning |
|---|
| Design | The base 3D file (STL) with its dimensions and estimated print times. It's the "technical recipe" of a piece. It has no price. |
| Piece | The actual manufacturable unit: a Design + a specific material + colors + finish. It has a cost (what it costs you to produce it), but no sale price. |
| Variant | The SKU you sell to the customer. It has a price, a margin and is made up of one or more Pieces. It's what appears on the order. |
| Product | The commercial container: it groups related Variants and has a name, images and description for the catalog. |
💡 Quick summary
Design → defines how it's printed · Piece → what you manufacture · Variant → what you sell · Product → what the catalog shows
Order terms
| Term | Meaning |
|---|
| Order | A request from a customer. It can contain one or more lines. |
| Order line | Each individual item within an order: a catalog Variant or a custom line, with its description and price typed by hand. |
| Quote | An offer to a customer before the order exists, with its lines, its price and its validity date. It has its own numbering and its states are Draft → Sent → Accepted / Rejected. When accepted, it creates the order. See Quotes. |
| Order status | The current stage of the order: Created → In Production → Ready to ship → Shipped → Completed (see the Orders section). |
Role terms
| Term | Meaning |
|---|
| Owner | The top administrator of the workshop. Can do everything, including changing the subscription. |
| Admin | Administrator with full access except the subscription. |
| Worker | Operational access: orders, customers, production. Can't touch settings. |
| Viewer (read-only) | Can only view. Ideal for external people who need to look things up without modifying them. |
Printer terms
| Term | Meaning |
|---|
| Local agent | A small program you install on a computer in the workshop to connect your printers over your own network, without going through the manufacturer's cloud. |
| AMS | The Bambu Lab unit that loads several spools and switches from one to another on its own. On the printer's page, each spool is a circle in its colour with a ring showing what's left. |
| Issue | A warning or an error reported by the printer itself, with its severity: Critical, Serious, Warning or Info. |
| Thumbnail | The image of the piece your slicer generates: what should come out. It isn't the camera, which shows what is coming out. |
| Read-only | A printer whose status we can see but which we can't send commands to (pause, resume or cancel). |
Common technical terms
| Term | Meaning |
|---|
| API token | A secret key that lets you connect BolloPrint with other tools (Make, Zapier, your own scripts). |
| Kanban | The visual production board, with columns for each status (Created, In Production, Ready to ship…). |
| SKU | Unique identifier code for a Variant in the catalog. |
| Margin | The difference between the sale price and the production cost, expressed as a percentage. |