Every industry has its jargon. Automation is no exception. The problem is that the jargon exists partly because the concepts are genuinely technical — and partly because people use complex words to sound authoritative about simple things.

This post is an explainer for the uninitiated. My goal: by the end, you'll understand every term an automation consultant might throw at you, and you'll be able to hold your own in a conversation about how your systems work.

API — Application Programming Interface

API
also called: endpoint, integration

An API is a way for two software systems to talk to each other. It's not a physical cable or a single thing — it's more like a waiter in a restaurant. You (your system) look at the menu (the API documentation), place an order (make a request), and the waiter (the API) goes to the kitchen (Amazon's servers) and brings back your food (data).

Every time you check your phone for package tracking, an API is involved. When your inventory tool syncs with Amazon, an API is how they communicate.

Example: "We'll use Amazon's SP-API to automatically pull your order data every hour."

Webhook

Webhook
also called: push notification, event trigger

A webhook is a way for one system to automatically notify another system when something happens — without that second system having to check repeatedly.

The difference between an API and a webhook: an API is a request — "tell me X." A webhook is a push — "something happened, here is X."

Think of it like a doorbell versus a guard checking a gate. With an API, your system rings Amazon's doorbell every 5 minutes asking "did anything happen?" With a webhook, Amazon rings your doorbell the moment something happens.

Example: "When Amazon confirms a shipment, their system sends a webhook to our workflow, which triggers the customer notification."

Trigger

Trigger
also called: event, starting point

A trigger is the event that starts an automation. It's the "when X happens" in "when X happens, do Y."

Every workflow has a trigger — something has to happen first to kick things off. A new order. A shipment confirmation. A customer message. A timer reaching a specific time.

Example: "The trigger for this workflow is a new order in Seller Central."

Action

Action
also called: task, step, output

An action is what happens as a result of the trigger — the "do Y" in "when X happens, do Y." A workflow can have multiple actions in sequence.

Actions can be things like: send an email, update a spreadsheet, add a tag to a contact, generate a report, send a Slack message. Most automation platforms have hundreds of possible actions.

Example: "The trigger is a new order. The first action is to add the customer to our email list. The second action is to send them a welcome email."

Workflow

Workflow
also called: automation, process, flow, Zap

A workflow is the complete sequence: trigger + all the steps + all the actions. It's the full automation from start to finish.

A simple workflow might be: "Trigger: new order in Amazon → Action: add row to Google Sheet." A complex workflow might have 30 steps, multiple conditions, and several branching paths.

Example: "The order processing workflow has 6 steps: it pulls the order, extracts the data, checks inventory, notifies the warehouse, sends the customer confirmation, and logs it all in a spreadsheet."

Node

Node
also called: step, module (Make/n8n terminology)

A node is a single step in a workflow. If a workflow is a recipe, each node is one ingredient or one action in the recipe.

In Make and n8n, workflows are visual — you see boxes connected by lines. Each box is a node. The lines show the data flowing from one step to the next.

Example: "That workflow has 8 nodes: Amazon trigger, data extraction, inventory check, warehouse notification, email composer, send email, spreadsheet update, error handler."

Zap

Zap
Zapier-specific terminology

A Zap is Zapier's term for a single automation — one trigger and one or more actions. It's essentially a workflow, but the word "Zap" is Zapier-specific. (Like how Google calls a search result "a result" but everyone else does too.)

Example: "I set up a Zap that watches for new Amazon orders and creates a row in our Google Sheet automatically."

SP-API

SP-API
Selling Partner API — Amazon's official API

SP-API is Amazon's official programming interface — the way external tools connect to Amazon Seller Central. It's the only legitimate way to build production-grade integrations with Amazon's seller data.

Any serious automation for e-commerce businesses uses the SP-API. Tools that don't use SP-API are either using unofficial workarounds (which Amazon can disable at any time) or have limited functionality.

Example: "We connect to your Amazon account via the SP-API, which gives us secure, authorized access to your orders, inventory, and pricing data."

What All of This Means for Your Business

You don't need to understand the technical details of how APIs and webhooks work in order to benefit from automation. But understanding the vocabulary helps you:

The one question to ask any automation consultant: "What triggers this workflow, and what happens if something goes wrong at each step?" If they can't answer both clearly, keep looking.

If any of this is still unclear, or if there's a term you encountered that wasn't covered here — reply to this post or reach out directly. This stuff shouldn't be mysterious.

Want to see what this looks like in your business?

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Continue reading: How to Automate Your Amazon Business in 2025: The Complete Workflow Guide — the practical implementation guide that follows from understanding these concepts.