Mental Model

Familiar → onde Translation

Familiar Concept	How onde Does It	Why It Matters
Vault / Hidden DB	.onde/journal/ (ops.md + head.bin)	Plain text log. Git-mergeable. Rebuildable. No binary lock-in.
Backlinks [[ ]]	Typed directed edges {critical: true}	Exact relations. Queryable. Not fuzzy text match.
Tags / Properties	key:: value, enums, schema validation	Validated. Auto-filled by lint. Cross-node constraints.
Daily Notes / History	Temporal index: created_at + invalidated_at	Query past graph. Rollback safe. Every fact versioned.
Plugins / Dataview	Embedded onde:: queries + CLI pipes	Live dashboards. Bidirectional edit. Zero plugin hell.
Sync / Multi-device	CRDT journal + Git	Concurrent edits merge deterministic. Zero conflict.

The 4 Paradigm Shifts

1. Markdown = cache. Not truth. Delete files? onde materialize rebuild from journal.
2. Structure = embedded. Not forced upfront. Write free-form. Add schema when chaos loom.
3. Sync = on-demand. Not always-on. Edit anytime. onde lint heal, journal, validate.
4. Time = first-class. Every fact carry lifespan. Query yesterday’s graph like it still here.

The Core Loop (How It Actually Works)

Human/Agent edit raw .md (vim, IDE, script, LLM output)
│  No daemon. No onde running. Disk = workspace.
▼
Run `onde lint`
│  Parse dirty → diff vs journal → append ops → CRDT merge
│  Auto-fix (ID, count, inverse, resolve) → validate → materialize cache
▼
Run `onde find` / `onde q`
│  Load head.bin → query graph → pipe to terminal or LLM
▼
Run `onde git commit`
│  Read uncommitted ops → generate message → stage .onde/ + changed MD → commit
▼
Loop repeat. Idempotent. Deterministic.

Why Agents Prefer This

• Exact graph math > vector fog. Typed edges + temporal truth. Zero hallucination on structure.
• Pipe-native. onde find task --status BLOCKED --format json | llm --prompt "prioritize". UNIX workflow.
• Token sovereignty. TOON dense outline = ~15 tokens/node. Pack 10x context per window.
• Bookkeeping offloaded. Agent write content. onde lint handle ID, inverse, count, timestamp, format.
• Git-native merge. ops.md append-only. Concurrent writes merge by line add. Zero conflict.

Mental Traps to Drop

• ❌ Treat .md as database. → ✅ It’s view. Journal own truth.
• ❌ Fear deleting files. → ✅ onde materialize recover from ops. MD disposable.
• ❌ Sync manually or run watcher. → ✅ onde lint heal on demand. --watch optional.
• ❌ Over-schema day one. → ✅ Start loose. onde schema extract when ready.
• ❌ Expect fuzzy backlink search. → ✅ Edges typed, directed, temporal. Query exact.

Deep Dives

Next Step: → Quick Start: 10 Minutes to Your First Graph