diff --git a/docs/conf.py b/docs/conf.py
index c759b4137d..abe40c72da 100755
--- a/docs/conf.py
+++ b/docs/conf.py
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@
     *[p.stem for p in (HERE / "extensions").glob("*.py")],
     "sphinx_copybutton",
     "sphinx_gallery.load_style",
+    "sphinx_tabs.tabs",
 ]
 
 # nbsphinx specific settings
diff --git a/docs/user_guide/developer.rst b/docs/user_guide/developer.rst
index f0a502d9b0..d98b77f1bc 100644
--- a/docs/user_guide/developer.rst
+++ b/docs/user_guide/developer.rst
@@ -19,3 +19,43 @@ Model development tutorials
    notebooks/module_user_guide
    notebooks/model_user_guide
 
+
+Glossary
+--------
+
+.. tabs::
+
+    .. tab:: Model
+
+        A Model class inherits :class:`~scvi.model.base.BaseModelClass` and is the user-facing object for interacting with a module.
+        The model has a `train` method that learns the parameters of the module, and also contains methods
+        for users to retrieve information from the module, like the latent representation of cells in a VAE.
+        Conventionally, the post-inference model methods should not store data into the AnnData object, but
+        instead return "standard" Python objects, like numpy arrays or pandas dataframes.
+
+    .. tab:: Module
+
+        A module is the lower-level object that defines a generative model and inference scheme. A module will
+        either inherit :class:`~scvi.module.base.BaseModuleClass` or :class:`~scvi.module.base.PyroBaseModuleClass`.
+        Consequently, a module can either be implemented with PyTorch alone, or Pyro. In the PyTorch only case, the
+        generative process and inference scheme are implemented respectively in the `generative` and `inference` methods,
+        while the `loss` method computes the loss, e.g, ELBO in the case of variational inference.
+
+.. tabs::
+
+    .. tab:: TrainingPlan
+
+
+        The training plan is a PyTorch Lightning Module that is initialized with a scvi-tools module object.
+        It configures the optimizers, defines the training step and validation step, and computes metrics to be
+        recorded during training. The training step and validation step are functions that take data, run it through
+        the model and return the loss, which will then be used to optimize the model parameters in the Trainer.
+        Overall, custom training plans can be used to develop complex inference schemes on top of modules.
+
+
+    .. tab:: Trainer
+
+        The :class:`~scvi.train.Trainer` is a lightweight wrapper of the PyTorch Lightning Trainer. It takes as input
+        the training plan, a training data loader, and a validation dataloader. It performs the actual training loop, in
+        which parameters are optimized, as well as the validation loop to monitor metrics. It automatically handles moving
+        data to the correct device (CPU/GPU).
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 1ac6b6a8c7..576b2808da 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ scikit-misc = {version = ">=0.1.3", optional = true}
 sphinx = {version = ">=3.4", optional = true}
 sphinx-autodoc-typehints = {version = "*", optional = true}
 sphinx-gallery = {version = ">0.6", optional = true}
+sphinx-tabs = {version = "*", optional = true}
 sphinx_copybutton = {version = "*", optional = true}
 torch = ">=1.7.1"
 tqdm = ">=4.56.0"
@@ -82,6 +83,7 @@ docs = [
   "sphinx-autodoc-typehints",
   "sphinx_copybutton",
   "sphinx_gallery",
+  "sphinx-tabs",
 ]
 tutorials = ["scanpy", "leidenalg", "python-igraph", "loompy", "scikit-misc"]