---
title: "Introduction"
description: "A developer's guide to the Aerovy Platform."
icon: "house"
---

> **For AI agents:** the complete documentation index is at [llms.txt](/llms.txt). Append `.md` to any page URL for its markdown version.

## Mental model

The platform is built from a few core entities:

- A **Thing** is any device or asset you track: a battery, charger, meter, vehicle, etc.
- Every Thing belongs to an **Organization** and lives in a **Place** (a **Site** or a **Fleet**).
- Every Thing has a **type**: a **Thing Type Definition** that declares the **Metrics** it reports and the static **Properties** it carries. We call this the *ontology*.
- An **Integration** connects an external system and feeds data into your Things.
- Things emit **telemetry**: timestamped metric readings you send in and query back.

A typical integration follows four steps:

1. **Define Ontology**: register a Thing Type, what kind of device, and what metrics it reports
2. **Register Thing**: add an actual device of that type
3. **Ingest data**: send metrics from that Thing
4. **Query data**: read data, aggregates, and summaries

To make your first call, see the [Quickstart](/quickstart).

## Sections

<Columns cols={2}>
  <Card title="Overview" icon="diagram-project" href="/platform/overview">
    What the platform does and the API you'll work with.
  </Card>
  <Card title="Core concepts" icon="cubes" href="/platform/core-concepts">
    The domain model
  : Organizations, Sites, Fleets, and Things.
  </Card>
  <Card title="Data model" icon="sitemap" href="/platform/data-model">
    Thing Types, Metrics, and Properties
  : defining the ontology.
  </Card>
  <Card title="API fundamentals" icon="key" href="/platform/api-fundamentals">
    Authentication, base URLs, versioning, IDs, pagination, and errors.
  </Card>
  <Card title="Ingesting data" icon="arrow-up-from-bracket" href="/platform/ingesting-data">
    The end-to-end path to get telemetry into the platform.
  </Card>
  <Card title="Querying data" icon="magnifying-glass-chart" href="/platform/querying-data">
    Reading telemetry, aggregates, and summaries back out.
  </Card>
</Columns>

## Conventions

- The API is **REST over HTTPS**, returns **JSON**, and is documented in the **API Reference**.
- IDs are **typed and prefixed**: a Thing id looks like `<thingId>`, a Site like `<siteId>`.
- Everything is **multi-tenant**: your credentials scope you to one organization, and you
  can only ever see your own data.