---
url: https://docs.hostly.ninja/concepts.md
---
# Hostly Concepts

This section explains the central terms, relationships, and long-lived product rules in Hostly.

The concept pages are the **canonical domain foundation** of the documentation. Guides, tutorials, reference pages, and support articles can link to them. The concept pages themselves do not require a specific guide or entry path.

## The Hostly model

```text
Account
├── Workspace
|   ├── workspace domain
|   ├── members and permissions
|   ├── plan, resource usage, and limits
|   ├── Services
|       ├── deployment
|       ├── Docker image
|       ├── service name
|       ├── service domain (public services only)
|       ├── container port (optional)
|       ├── environment variables
|       ├── secrets
|       ├── files
|       ├── logs
|       ├── SSL
|       ├── high availability
|       └── optional volume
└── another workspace
    └── own services, domain, plan, and billing
```

## Core relationships

* An account can contain multiple workspaces
* Each workspace is an independent administration, plan, and billing area
* A workspace has a globally unique workspace domain fragment
* A workspace can contain multiple services if its assigned plan allows it
* A service is created by deploying an already built Docker image
* Each service has a service name that is unique within its workspace and cannot be changed
* A service is either public, with a Hostly subdomain or custom domain, or internal without public domain
* Services of a workspace reach each other at `<service-name>:<port>`, services of other workspaces cannot
* Usage, limits, and monetization are assigned to the workspace, not to the account or individual users

## Concept pages

* [Account and Workspace](./account-and-workspace.md)
* [What is a Service?](./service.md)
* [Hostly Registry](./hostly-registry.md)
* [Hostly Domains and Domain Fragments](./domains-and-domain-fragments.md)
* [Dashboard Basics](./dashboard-basics.md)
* [Resource Usage and Limits](./resources-and-limits.md)
* [Service Status and Lifecycle](./service-status-and-lifecycle.md)