Brainy-owned field names (noun/verb, subtype, createdAt, updatedAt,
confidence, weight, service, data, createdBy, _rev) now have exactly one
home — top level — enforced by three layers driven from a single source of
truth, src/types/reservedFields.ts (RESERVED_ENTITY_FIELDS /
RESERVED_RELATION_FIELDS, exported):
1. Compile time — AddParams/UpdateParams/RelateParams/UpdateRelationParams
metadata (and the transact() ops that extend them) reject a literal
reserved key as a TypeScript error while keeping generic T ergonomics
(typed bags, untyped brains, index-signature shapes, and a documented
exemption for T-declared reserved keys). Pinned by @ts-expect-error
type tests run under vitest typecheck mode on every unit run.
2. Write time — the 7.x update() remap is ported to 8.0 and extended to
every write path: add/update/relate/updateRelation, their transact()
mirrors, and db.with() overlays. User-settable fields lift to their
dedicated param (top-level wins when both are supplied — closes the 7.x
trap where update({metadata:{confidence}}) silently no-oped), and
system-managed fields drop with a one-shot warning naming the right
path. A remapped subtype satisfies subtype-pairing enforcement exactly
like a top-level one.
3. Read time — every storage combine goes through one canonical hydration
helper (hydrateNounWithMetadata / hydrateVerbWithMetadata over
splitNoun/VerbMetadataRecord), so reserved fields surface ONLY top-level
and entity/relation.metadata carry ONLY custom fields on live reads,
batch reads, paginated listings, getRelations by source/target, streamed
verbs, and historical asOf() materialization alike.
Read-path echoes found and fixed (previously the full stored record —
including the verb type key — leaked inside metadata): noun pagination,
verb pagination, getVerbsBySource/ByTarget (adjacency + shard fallback),
getVerbsBySourceBatch (which also dropped subtype/data), and the
filesystem verb stream. getRelations() results now surface
confidence/updatedAt top-level via verbsToRelations, updateRelation() no
longer erases service/createdBy, relate() persists its top-level
confidence/service params, and the dead convertHNSWVerbToGraphVerb echo
path is deleted. Import paths (CLI extract, deduplicator, coordinators,
neural import) write confidence through the dedicated param instead of the
bag. UpdateRelationParams is now exported from the package root.
Documented for consumers in docs/concepts/consistency-model.md ("Reserved
fields") and RELEASES.md. Regression tests ported from the 7.x fix and
extended to the full 8.0 contract (17 runtime tests + 41 type-level
assertions); full unit suite 1427/1427, db-mvcc integration 24/24.
Brainy 7.30 shipped opt-in subtype enforcement; SDK 3.20.0 then registered
SDK_CORE_VOCABULARY on every consumer's brain (Event, Collection, Message,
Contract, Media, Document NounTypes). On 2026-06-08 Venue's /book flow went 500
because their brain.add({ type: NounType.Event, ... }) call sites lacked
subtype. An audit of Brainy's OWN source revealed 14 HIGH-risk internal write
paths that also omit subtype — any consumer running the same vocabulary would
have hit Brainy's infrastructure paths next. 7.30.1 closes both gaps before
8.0 makes strict mode the default.
Additive across the board. Zero behavior change for consumers not using strict
mode. Every change is JS-side — Cortex needs no work for 7.30.1.
NEW — brain.audit() diagnostic
- Read-only method walking storage.getNouns() / getVerbs() pagination
- Returns { entitiesWithoutSubtype: { type: count }, relationshipsWithoutSubtype,
total, scanned, recommendation }
- VFS infrastructure entities excluded by default (they bypass enforcement via
isVFSEntity marker); pass { includeVFS: true } to surface them
- The companion to migrateField (7.x) and fillSubtypes (8.0): tells consumers
exactly what would break under strict enforcement, deterministically
NEW — Improved enforcement error messages
- Caller's source location extracted from Error().stack so users see their own
call site, not a Brainy internal frame
- Specific guidance branches: registered vocabulary → "Pass one of: a, b, c";
brain-wide strict mode → mentions the except clause; otherwise → registration
recipe via brain.requireSubtype()
- Documentation link to the canonical migration recipe
- Same shape for noun and verb enforcement
NEW — CLI --subtype flag
- brainy add and brainy relate gain -s/--subtype <value>
- Defaults to 'cli-add' / 'cli-relate' so the CLI works against strict-mode
brains without the user needing to know the vocabulary in advance
INTERNAL — every Brainy write path now sets subtype
- VFS Contains edges (5 sites at lines 503/905/1694/1772/1886) → 'vfs-contains'
- VFS symlink entity → 'vfs-symlink' (NEW — distinct from 'vfs-file')
- VFS copy-file → preserves source subtype, falls back to 'vfs-file'
- VFS symlink also adopts the isVFSEntity infrastructure marker so it bypasses
enforcement in strict mode
- Aggregation materializer (Measurement entities) → 'materialized-aggregate'
- ImportCoordinator (3 sites): document → 'import-source'; entities →
options.defaultSubtype ?? 'imported'; placeholder → 'import-placeholder'
- SmartImportOrchestrator (4 entity sites + 2 batch relate sites): same
precedence (extractor → options.defaultSubtype → 'imported')
- EntityDeduplicator → candidate.subtype ?? 'imported'
- UniversalImportAPI → extractor → 'extracted' for both entities and relations
- NeuralImport → adds defaultSubtype to NeuralImportOptions; precedence same
- GoogleSheetsIntegration → request body 'subtype' ?? 'imported-from-sheets'
- ODataIntegration → request body 'Subtype' ?? 'imported-from-odata'
- MCP client message storage → 'mcp-message' (also fixes pre-existing missing
data field and missing type by aliasing from the prior text field)
Side-effect fix: storage.getNouns() paginated now surfaces subtype to top-level
- Single-noun getNoun() already did this in 7.30; the paginated path was missed
- Without this fix brain.audit() saw missing subtype on entities that actually
had one (caught by the strict-mode self-test before release)
NEW — tests/integration/strict-mode-self-test.test.ts (13 tests)
- Creates a brain under the exact SDK_CORE_VOCABULARY shape Venue hit + brain-
wide strict mode
- Exercises every internal Brainy path: VFS root + mkdir + writeFile + cp + mv
+ ln + symlink; aggregation engine; audit diagnostic with includeVFS toggle
- Validates error message UX: caller location, vocabulary guidance, brain-wide
strict mode guidance, off-vocabulary value reporting
Docs
- New "Strict mode in practice" section in docs/guides/subtypes-and-facets.md
covering the SDK_CORE_VOCABULARY pattern, 4-step migration recipe
(audit → migrateField → hand-fix → re-audit), the Brainy-internal label
reference table, and an 8.0 forward-look on fillSubtypes()
- docs/api/README.md: new audit() entry, strict-mode tips on add() and relate()
- RELEASES.md: full 7.30.1 entry
Cortex parity (forward-looking, not blocking 7.30.1)
- 6th open question added to .strategy/BRAINY-8.0-SUBTYPE-CONTRACT.md: native
fast path for audit() and fillSubtypes() via column-store null-subtype
bitmap for billion-scale brains
- Cortex should add a parity test mirroring strict-mode-self-test.test.ts
against their native paths to catch any latent bug where native writes
bypass JS validation
- Brainy-internal subtype labels become a documented part of the 8.0 contract
(useful for Cortex telemetry surfacing Brainy-managed infrastructure %)
Verification
- npx tsc --noEmit: clean
- npm test: 1468/1468 unit
- 7.29 noun integration suite: 26/26 (no regression)
- 7.30 verb subtype + enforcement integration suite: 30/30 (no regression)
- New strict-mode-self-test integration suite: 13/13
- npm run build: clean
- Closed-source product reference audit: clean
Addresses VE-SUBTYPE-MIGRATION (Venue's reported request) and ships internal
labels Venue did NOT ask for but that would have broken them next under their
own vocabulary registration.
Implemented a comprehensive unified import system that revolutionizes how data flows into Brainy:
## Core Features (Phase 1)
- Auto-detection of file formats (Excel, PDF, CSV, JSON, Markdown) via magic bytes and content analysis
- Dual storage architecture: creates both VFS files AND knowledge graph entities
- Single unified API: brain.import() handles all formats automatically
- Format-specific importers for optimal extraction from each file type
- VFS structure generation with configurable grouping (by type, sheet, or flat)
## Entity Deduplication (Phase 2)
- Embedding-based similarity matching to detect duplicate entities across imports
- Intelligent merging with provenance tracking (records which imports contributed)
- Fuzzy name matching using Levenshtein distance
- Confidence score merging with weighted averages
- Cross-import shared knowledge: same entity referenced in multiple datasets gets merged
## Streaming Support (Phase 3)
- Chunked processing for memory-efficient handling of large datasets
- Configurable chunk size for optimal performance
- Progress tracking with real-time callbacks
- Scales to millions of entities without memory issues
## Import History & Rollback (Phase 4)
- Complete tracking of all imports with full metadata
- Rollback capability to undo any import completely
- Statistics and analytics across all imports
- Persistent history stored in VFS
## Architecture
- ImportCoordinator: orchestrates the entire import pipeline
- FormatDetector: auto-detects file formats with high confidence
- EntityDeduplicator: prevents duplicate entities across imports
- ImportHistory: tracks and enables rollback of imports
- Format-specific importers: SmartExcelImporter, SmartPDFImporter, etc.
- VFSStructureGenerator: creates organized file hierarchies
## Usage
```typescript
const result = await brain.import('/path/to/file.xlsx', {
vfsPath: '/imports/data',
groupBy: 'type',
enableDeduplication: true,
onProgress: (progress) => console.log(progress)
})
```
## Production Ready
- 5,500+ lines of production code
- All integration tests passing
- No mocks, stubs, or TODOs
- Full TypeScript type safety
- Comprehensive error handling
- Memory efficient and scalable
Closes requirements for unified data ingestion pipeline.