> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://v2.dataos.info/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://v2.dataos.info/references/v1/resources/vulcan/concepts.md).

# Concepts

Understand how Vulcan is put together before you build with it.

This section covers the ideas that don't belong to any single page: how the pieces fit together, how a data product moves from an idea to a governed asset, and how Vulcan decides what to run.

## Choose a page

* [**Architecture**](/references/v1/resources/vulcan/concepts/architecture.md) - how Vulcan sits above your engine and turns models into a governed data product.
* [**Data product lifecycle**](/references/v1/resources/vulcan/concepts/data-product-lifecycle.md) - the full path from local setup to a production data product.
* [**State management**](/references/v1/resources/vulcan/concepts/state-management.md) - the PostgreSQL state store and object store cache Vulcan runs on, and the Secrets that connect them.
* [**Run and plan**](/references/v1/resources/vulcan/concepts/run-and-plan.md) - how `vulcan plan` and `vulcan run` decide what changed and what to execute.
* [**Query result caching**](/references/v1/resources/vulcan/concepts/query-result-caching.md) - when Vulcan reuses a previous query result instead of running the query again.

## Where to go next

Once you understand the concepts, move to [Models](/references/v1/resources/vulcan/models.md) to start building, or [Configurations](/references/v1/resources/vulcan/configurations.md) to set up your project.


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