# Glossary
source: https://developer.mastercard.com/mastercard-developers-api/documentation/glossary/index.md

Read the glossary to learn more about the Developers API and terms that might need further explanation.

### Project Dashboard {#project-dashboard}

Mastercard Developers project dashboard offers self-serve tools that let you manage your project, manage keys/credentials for your services, and manage team members associated with the project.

### Project {#project}

To get started with any of Mastercard's APIs, you need to first create a project for that service on your Mastercard Developers account. Projects provide you the credentials you need to access the APIs. Each project can contain one or multiple services/APIs but projects can only include APIs that use the same authentication model. For example, in a single project you can only group APIs that use OAUTH10A and not MTLS. Ensure to read the product overview and use cases to understand more about the product.

### Services {#services}

Services are Mastercard products that are offered as APIs. These are APIs and SDKs available on Mastercard Developers. See [APIs](https://developer.mastercard.com/apis) to view a complete list of APIs and SDKs available on Mastercard Developers.

### Mastercard Partners {#mastercard-partners}

Mastercard Partners are customers directly consuming Mastercard services.

### Associated Partners {#associated-partners}

Associated Partners are entities or organizations that indirectly use Mastercard services, typically through a Mastercard Partner. The Mastercard Partner, which directly consumes Mastercard services, can act as reseller of Mastercard Services to these associated partners. A 1:1 mapping exists between projects and Associated Partners. When a project is created, the project is linked to a specific Associated Partner.

### Project Credential {#project-credential}

Credentials used for authentication and authorization.

### Service Credential {#service-credential}

In addition to credentials used for authentication, certain services/APIs require service-specific credentials. For example, credentials required to perform payload encryption between the client and Mastercard's services.