The Across context is the set of configured modules that make up the application. There is a single configured Across context in an Across application.
You can configure the Across context using the @EnableAcrossContext annotation. When you use @AcrossApplication, this is already done behind the scenes. @AcrossApplication sets up a Spring Boot application with a single Across context.
The Across context represents a Spring ApplicationContext that is also the parent ApplicationContext of every module that belongs to the Across context. Usually the Across context itself has a parent ApplicationContext, for example the EmbeddedWebApplicationContext of a Spring Boot application.
When referring to the Across application, we refer to the entire ApplicationContext hierarchy, including the Across context and all its optional parents. When referring to the Across context, we refer only to the ApplicationContext hierarchy of the individual Across modules and their direct parent.
For simplicity’s sake however, you can consider them the same.