Node types
A node type is a kind of thing: Concept, Thinker, Verse, Invoice. Every node in the graph belongs to one type, and the type decides which properties the node has and which relationships it can take part in.
Name
Type a name in the card’s header or at the top of the inspector. Names are free-form (“free energy principle” is fine); the database identifier is derived from them (FreeEnergyPrinciple), and the app shows the name everywhere. Renaming a type renames its table; nodes keep everything.
Two types can’t resolve to the same identifier. Naming a brand-new card the same as an existing type doesn’t make a duplicate: the new card becomes that type (see The schema designer).
Colour
Eight curated hues, picked in the inspector: iris, peach, mint, sky, rose, lime, orchid, slate. A new type takes the first hue no other type uses, then cycles. The colour is the card’s header in Shape, the bead on the Graph canvas, the dot in every list, and the lane shade in Arrange.
Visual Priority
When you click a node on the Graph canvas, its neighbours come onto the canvas. Visual Priority says, per type, when a type’s nodes come in:
| Priority | Icon | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| First | ↥ | Nodes of this type come onto the canvas as soon as a node next to them is clicked |
| Normal (default) | = | They come in when a node next to them is clicked a second time, or double-clicked |
| Ad Hoc | ✋ | A click never brings them in. Bring them in only when you want them: from the node’s badge, by type in the inspector, or from the right-click menu’s Expand › Ad Hoc |
A good use: in a graph of verses, make Chapter First, Verse Normal, and Word Ad Hoc, so clicking a verse shows its chapter at once and its words only when asked. Set it in the inspector’s switch, or by right-clicking a type in the sidebar’s legend; the legend shows a small icon beside any type that isn’t Normal. The setting is part of the shape and is kept with the project.
Properties
The card lists them in order; drag a row’s grip to reorder. See Properties for kinds, the title, defaults, enums, vector search and the boolean mark.
Delete
Delete node type at the foot of the inspector, the card’s right-click menu, or Delete with the card selected. If the type has nodes, a sheet says how many nodes and connections go with it: “Its 12 nodes and 30 connections are deleted from your graph too. This can’t be undone.” Relationship types that connected only this type go too.