# Concepts

> How Proxus is built and how its parts work together, from the edge gateway next to a machine to the historian, the namespace and automation.

Source: https://proxus.io/docs/concepts

The pages in this section explain Proxus rather than tell you what to click. Read them when you want to know
why a screen asks for something, where a value is at a given moment, or which tool fits a job. The how-to
guides link here for background.

## The building blocks in one picture

A machine is read by an **edge gateway**. The gateway publishes every value in the **Unified Namespace**, sends
it to the **outbound targets** you chose, and passes it to the **hub**, which keeps its history and shows it.
**Pipelines**, **rules** and **functions** act on the values on their way.

## Pages in this section

The [glossary](https://proxus.io/docs/reference/glossary) defines every term in a sentence or two.