# Glossary

config uri

  In most cases this is simply an absolute or relative path to a config file on the system. However, it can also be a RFC 1738-style string pointing at a remote service or a specific parser without relying on the file extension. For example, `my-ini://foo.ini` may point to a loader named `my-ini` that can parse the relative `foo.ini` file.

loader

  An object conforming to the `plaster.ILoader` interface. A loader is responsible for locating and parsing the underlying configuration format for the given config uri.

loader protocol

  A loader may implement zero or more custom named protocols. An example would be the `wsgi` protocol which requires that a loader implement certain methods like `wsgi_app = get_wsgi_app(name=None, defaults=None)`.