Levels — abstraction of knowledge
◆ Axiom
Fundamental invariant
What the project holds to be unconditionally true. Axioms cannot change without a formal ADR. They anchor the rest of the graph — every Tension and Practice traces back to at least one Axiom.
● Tension
Active contradiction
A force the project holds without resolving. Tensions are not problems to eliminate — they are productive oppositions that generate direction. Each Practice exists because a Tension demands a response.
▪ Practice
Concrete approach
How the project operationalizes a Tension. Practices are the most mutable layer — they evolve as the project learns. They map directly to artifacts, ADRs, and code.
Poles — which force drives the node
Yang
Active · building · outward
Nodes that assert, create, or push outward. Yang principles drive the definition of what a project does and what it makes available to others.
Yin
Receptive · constraining · protective
Nodes that receive, limit, or protect. Yin principles define what the project refuses, what boundaries it holds, and what it conserves.
Spiral
Dialectical · both/and · evolving
Nodes that hold both sides simultaneously and move through the tension. Spiral principles cannot be resolved into Yang or Yin — they are the engine of change itself.
Layouts — how the graph is arranged
Hierarchy
Breadth-first top-down
Axioms at the root, Tensions in the middle, Practices at the leaves. Use this to trace causality: which invariants drive which contradictions, and which contradictions demand which responses.
Force
Physics simulation (COSE)
Nodes are pulled together by edges and pushed apart by repulsion. Heavily connected nodes cluster at the center. Use this to find hubs — nodes that influence many others — and isolated areas that may be undertested or underdocumented.
Visual cues
Gold border — invariant node. Cannot be modified without creating a formal ADR.
White border — currently selected node.
Dimmed nodes — not connected to the selected node. Click the canvas to clear.
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