# FAQ

> Answers to common questions about Black Ice.

**Category:** Reference | **Tab:** getting-started

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Answers to the most common questions about Black Ice.

## General

**What is Black Ice?**
Black Ice is a semantic governance platform that helps teams govern how product terminology is defined, translated, and adapted across markets. It generates a structured bundle of markdown files — your ontology, translation rules, and market profiles — that AI localization pipelines consume directly.

**Is Black Ice a translation tool?**
No. Black Ice manages the semantic layer — the governed terminology, market context, and Culture DNA — that your AI pipeline needs to generate accurate, brand-consistent target content. The pipeline localizes automatically from that foundation.

**What happens to the translator?**
The role evolves. Translators become market owners — they architect the meaning, validate the terminology, and define the Culture DNA for their markets. The AI pipeline handles content generation. The market owner governs the rules it runs on and QAs the output.

**Do I need technical knowledge to use Black Ice?**
No. Black Ice is designed for terminology managers, localization PMs, and product teams. The interface is visual and no coding is required.

## Data & Import

**Can I import existing terminology?**
Yes. Black Ice supports CSV and Excel import with column mapping, duplicate detection, and conflict resolution.

**What export formats are available?**
You can export your ontology as CSV, JSON, or a structured ontology format. Column selection is configurable for CSV exports.

**Can I connect Black Ice to my TMS?**
Builder plan users can sync their ontology to a GitHub repository, which can trigger CI/CD pipelines to push data to any TMS with API access.

## Languages & Markets

**What languages are supported?**
Black Ice supports any language. You define your own locales with language codes, native names, and text direction (LTR/RTL).

**How many markets can I manage?**
Free plan: up to 3 markets. Pro: up to 20. Builder: unlimited.

**What is market availability?**
Market availability is a per-term status that tracks whether a source or target term is live, planned, unapproved, or not available in its locale. Each term has its own availability setting, giving you granular control over rollout readiness.

## Collaboration

**How do I invite team members?**
Go to **Settings → Team Management** and send an invite by email. Team members can be assigned roles: Admin, Editor, or Viewer.

**How do approvals work?**
You select terms and send them for review via a shareable link. The reviewer (who doesn't need a Black Ice account) can approve or reject each term with comments. All decisions are recorded in the approval history.

**Can multiple people edit the same workspace?**
Yes. Team members with Editor or Admin roles can create and modify concepts, terms, and relationships simultaneously.

## Security & Privacy

**Where is my data stored?**
All data is stored in a secure cloud database with row-level security policies. Only authenticated users with the correct workspace permissions can access your data.

**Can I delete my account and data?**
Yes. Go to **Settings → Account** to delete your account. This permanently removes all your data.