Glossary
Definitions of Core terms — ledger, holds, MCC, and more.
A short alphabetical reference for the terms you will encounter while integrating Core. Each entry is a one or two sentence plain-language definition. For the full data model behind any of these, follow the link to the corresponding concept page.
This glossary is a starting point and will grow. If a term you need is missing, please open an issue on the docs repo so we can add it.
Authorization
The real-time decision Core makes when a card is presented for payment. Core checks the cardholder's balance and the active spending controls, and either approves or declines the transaction.
Brand
The reusable look Mono's hosted checkout wears for you — name, button text, accent color, logo, and voucher message. A payin template points at one through form_customization.brand_id. See Templates.
Card
A virtual or physical payment card issued by Core that spends against a ledger account. See Cards.
Fee
A charge attached to a money movement — a payout, a payin or a transfer between subaccounts. Fees with owner: tenant are what you charge your users or customers; fees with owner: mono are what Mono charges you. See Fees.
Fee policy
The pricing rule behind a fee: how much to charge for one kind of fee and whom it applies to (its target) — every account of your users or customers, a program, an account holder or a single account. The most specific policy wins. See Fee policies.
Funding account
The real bank account backing your program — where the money collected by payins is ultimately delivered, and where payout money comes from. See Settlement.
Hold
A temporary reservation of funds on a ledger account, used to guarantee that an in-flight authorization will be settleable. Holds expire if not settled. See Ledger.
Idempotency key
A unique label your system attaches to a write request so that Core treats a retry as the same operation. See Idempotency Keys.
Ledger
Core's double-entry bookkeeping system. Every movement of money produces a balanced pair of entries (debit and credit). See Ledger.
Ledger account
A logical account inside the ledger. Each end user, sub-business, or financial bucket gets its own ledger account.
MCC (Merchant Category Code)
A four-digit code identifying the type of business behind a card transaction (groceries, fuel, travel, etc.). Used by spending controls to allow or block categories.
Payin
A single received payment: money collected into a subaccount through a payment method like Bre-B. See Payins.
Payin intent
A single expected payment, declared before the funds arrive, with its own payment token and expiration window. See Intents.
Payin template
A reusable configuration tied to a subaccount that defines how payments are collected: methods, limits, allowed payers, expiration. See Templates.
Payment token
What a payer pays to. Each method issues its own kind — for Bre-B, a key (llave) or QR code issued for a template or intent. See Payment tokens.
Payout
A movement of funds out of a ledger account to an external destination (Colombian bank account, another participant, etc.). See Payouts.
Program
A group of accounts sharing one configuration: currencies, enabled features or services, payment methods and the funding account they settle with. Every account belongs to a program. See Programs.
Settlement
The final state of an authorization where the held funds are actually deducted from the ledger account. Authorizations that do not settle within the hold window are reversed.
Settlement batch
The single money movement that delivers the funds of many payins to a funding account. See Settlement.
Spending control
A rule that constrains what a card can do — daily limits, category blocks, country restrictions. See Spending Controls.
Tenant
Your company as a Mono customer. Every Core resource — programs, accounts, policies, fees — belongs to one tenant, and no tenant can see another's. See Architecture.