Promotes `subtype?: string` to a top-level standard field on every entity,
alongside `type` / `confidence` / `weight`. Flat string, no hierarchy — the
consumer-chosen vocabulary for sub-classifying entities within a NounType
(Person → employee/customer, Document → invoice/contract, etc.).
Layer 1 — subtype field + rollup
- HNSWNounWithMetadata.subtype + STANDARD_ENTITY_FIELDS entry
- Entity / Result / AddParams / UpdateParams / FindParams threading
- add()/update() persist subtype on storageMetadata + entityForIndexing
- get()/find() route through the standard-field fast path
- subtypeCountsByType (Map<NounTypeIdx, Map<subtype, count>>) on
BaseStorage, mirrored after nounCountsByType with the same self-heal
rebuild and persisted to _system/subtype-statistics.json
- brain.counts.bySubtype(type, subtype?) — O(1) point + breakdown
- brain.counts.topSubtypes(type, n) — top-N by count
- brain.subtypesOf(type) — distinct subtypes seen
- find({ type, subtype }) and find({ subtype: ['a','b'] }) on the fast path
Layer 2 — trackField for other facets
- brain.trackField(name, { perType?, values? }) registers a field for
cardinality + per-NounType breakdown stats. Backed by the aggregation
engine (auto-defines __fieldCounts__<name>), backfill-on-define applies.
- brain.counts.byField(name, { type? }) returns value frequencies
- Optional vocabulary whitelist rejects off-vocabulary writes at add/update
Layer 3 — generic migrateField
- brain.migrateField({ from, to, readBoth?, batchSize?, onProgress? })
streams every entity, copies the value from one path to another, and
(unless readBoth) clears the source. Supports top-level standard fields,
metadata.X, and data.X paths. Idempotent — safe to re-run.
Docs
- New guide: docs/guides/subtypes-and-facets.md (Layer 1 + 2 + 3)
- README, DATA_MODEL, QUERY_OPERATORS, api/README, finite-type-system,
quick-start all treat subtype as a core primitive with anonymous example
vocabularies (employee/customer/invoice/milestone).
Tests
- 26 new integration tests covering write/read/update/delete round-trips,
counts rollup decrement + re-route on mutation, trackField + byField
with and without perType, vocabulary whitelist enforcement, and
migrateField for metadata.X → subtype and data.X → subtype paths
including readBoth deprecation-window semantics.
Unit suite: 1468/1468 passing. Type-check + build clean.
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| title | slug | public | category | template | order | description | next | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quick Start | getting-started/quick-start | true | getting-started | guide | 2 | Build your first knowledge graph in 60 seconds. Add entities, create relationships, and query with Triple Intelligence — vector + graph + metadata in one call. |
|
Quick Start
Get Brainy running in under a minute.
1. Install
npm install @soulcraft/brainy
2. Initialize
import { Brainy, NounType, VerbType } from '@soulcraft/brainy'
const brain = new Brainy()
await brain.init()
That's it. Brainy auto-configures storage, loads the embedding model, and builds the indexes.
3. Add Knowledge
// Text is automatically embedded into 384-dim vectors
const reactId: string = await brain.add({
data: 'React is a JavaScript library for building user interfaces',
type: NounType.Concept,
subtype: 'library', // Sub-classification within Concept
metadata: { category: 'frontend', year: 2013 }
})
const nextId: string = await brain.add({
data: 'Next.js framework for React with server-side rendering',
type: NounType.Concept,
subtype: 'framework',
metadata: { category: 'framework', year: 2016 }
})
type is one of Brainy's 42 stable NounTypes. subtype is your free-form sub-classification within that type — flat string, no hierarchy, indexed on the fast path. See Subtypes & Facets for the full guide.
4. Create Relationships
// Typed graph relationships
await brain.relate({
from: nextId,
to: reactId,
type: VerbType.BuiltOn
})
5. Query with Triple Intelligence
import type { FindResult } from '@soulcraft/brainy'
// All three search paradigms in one call
const results: FindResult[] = await brain.find({
query: 'modern frontend frameworks', // Vector similarity search
where: { year: { greaterThan: 2015 } }, // Metadata filtering
connected: { to: reactId, depth: 2 } // Graph traversal
})
console.log(results[0].data) // 'Next.js framework for React...'
console.log(results[0].score) // 0.94
What Just Happened
Every entity you add() lives in three indexes simultaneously:
| Index | What it stores | Query with |
|---|---|---|
| Vector | 384-dim embedding of data |
find({ query: '...' }) |
| Metadata | All metadata fields |
find({ where: { ... } }) |
| Graph | Typed relationships from relate() |
find({ connected: { ... } }) |
find() queries all three in parallel and fuses the results.
Natural Language Queries
Brainy understands 220+ natural language patterns:
// These all work without any configuration
await brain.find({ query: 'recent documents about machine learning' })
await brain.find({ query: 'articles created this week' })
await brain.find({ query: 'people who work at Anthropic' })
Next Steps
- Triple Intelligence — understand how the query engine works
- The Find System — advanced queries, operators, and graph traversal
- API Reference — complete method documentation
- Storage Adapters — S3, GCS, Azure, filesystem, OPFS