Graph DB — Vertex and Edge Type Dictionary

Running data dictionary for the typed knowledge graph we’re prototyping on DuckDB. Maintained incrementally — add new types as they emerge from real query needs.

Vertex types (nodes)

Type	Purpose	Examples
`Document`	Vault entries (source of most edges)	any `06-reference/*.md` file
`Person`	Person who wrote source material	Ben Thompson, João Moura, Jaya Gupta, Joe Reis, Ben Wilson
`Publication`	Newsletter or outlet	Stratechery, Every, Semi-Structured, Practical Data Modeling
`Topic`	Concept/area the doc is about	”harness thesis”, “data quality”, “state ownership”, “BEAM methodology”
`Framework`	Named framework we reference or build	MAC, BEAM, Scope×Basis, Seven Powers, Entangled Software
`Project`	RDCO work stream	MG Progress, Sanity Check, autoinv, MAC content series, Graph DB eval
`Sponsor`	Entity sponsoring content	Anthropic, OpenAI, Box, Estuary
`Organization`	Company/institution	phData, MG, Mammoth Growth, Anthropic, Foundation Capital
`Skill`	RDCO skill file	`process-newsletter`, `audit-model`, `postgrid`, `morning-prep`
`Cluster`	Thematic grouping of docs	”harness-thesis dissent”, “data quality sources”, “moat debate”
`Decision`	Significant decision doc	phData vs MG, Mode A vs Mode B, SQL guardrail adoption
`Source`	Original external document	book PDFs, podcast transcripts, X articles

Edge types (typed relations)

Semantic relations between documents

Edge	Direction	Semantics
`validates`	A → B	A provides evidence supporting B’s claim
`contradicts`	A → B	A disputes B’s central thesis
`disputes-claim-in`	A → B	A disputes a specific claim in B (not whole doc)
`refines`	A → B	A sharpens B’s framework without contradicting
`extends`	A → B	A builds on B, takes further
`synthesizes`	A → (B, C, D…)	A combines multiple sources into a view
`echoes`	A → B	A independently reaches B’s conclusion
`applies-framework-from`	A → B	A uses the framework defined in B
`cites`	A → B	A explicitly references B
`mentions-in-passing`	A → B	Weaker than cites

Personship and identity

Edge	Direction	Semantics
`authored-by`	Document → Person	—
`published-in`	Document → Publication	—
`sponsored-by`	Document → Sponsor	Disclosed sponsorship
`affiliated-with`	Person → Organization	—
`role-of`	Person → Role (CEO, founder, analyst)	—

Topical

Edge	Direction	Semantics
`about-topic`	Document → Topic	Primary subject
`mentions-entity`	Document → Entity	Named entity reference
`part-of-series`	Document → Series	e.g., ADWD ch1 → “Agile Data Warehouse Design” book
`part-of-cluster`	Document → Cluster	e.g., Moura → “harness-thesis dissent”

Strategic / operational

Edge	Direction	Semantics
`supports-position`	Document → RDCO position	Evidence for a strategic stance
`informs-decision`	Document → Decision	Input that shaped a decision outcome
`test-case-for`	Case study → Framework	Concrete example of framework application
`example-of`	Document → Pattern/Concept	Illustration of a pattern

Provenance

Edge	Direction	Semantics
`generated-by-skill`	Document → Skill	Which skill produced this vault entry
`derived-from-source`	Document → Source	Which external doc this note is assessing
`produced-by-project`	Document → Project	Which RDCO project created this artifact

Edge metadata (properties on edges)

Every edge should carry:

created_at (when the edge was asserted)
confidence (high / medium / low)
source (how we know — manual assertion, inferred from cross-check, extracted from wikilink)
evidence_quote (optional, for validates/contradicts)

Query catalog (what this graph must answer)

These are the queries that justify the graph over QMD-only retrieval:

Cascading contradictions — multi-hop contradiction chains
Dissent cluster aggregation — which authors appear in ≥N dissent docs
Source authority ranking — validates/contradicts edges received per author
Framework adoption trajectory — which docs apply which framework, over time
Positioning evidence compilation — docs that support-position a given stance
Derivation path — shortest path between two conceptually linked docs
Gap detection in a cluster — subtopics with insufficient sources
Person citation network — inbound + outbound citation traversal
Skill improvement provenance — findings → improvements → skill changes (two-hop)
Decision-evidence audit — all docs that informed a given decision

Prototype scope (first 3 queries to prove out)

Positioning evidence compilation (query #5) — “Find all vault entries that support the state-ownership architecture”
Dissent cluster aggregation (query #2) — “Which authors appear in ≥3 dissent docs?”
Decision-evidence audit (query #10) — “What evidence informed the phData vs MG decision?”

These three cover the most immediate operational use cases.

Versioning

This dictionary is iterative. When a query surfaces a need for a new edge type, add it here with the date. When an edge type turns out to be redundant or never-used after 2+ months, deprecate it here.

Date	Change	Reason
2026-04-14	Initial dictionary	Founder asked for running data dictionary during graph DB eval scoping
2026-04-14	Renamed `Author` → `Person`	Author is a role relative to a doc. Person is the entity. Covers non-authors too (colleagues, clients, friend-of-founder contacts like the brother-in-law or vertical-farm friend). The `authored-by` edge still exists and connects Document → Person.