Triples and the Knowledge Graph

Everything in Quipu is a triple: a subject, a predicate, and an object.

<koror>  <runs>  <traefik>
 subject  predicate  object

This triple says “koror runs traefik.” Three triples can encode a complete service dependency:

@prefix hw: <http://example.org/homelab/> .

hw:koror    a               hw:Host .
hw:koror    hw:runs         hw:traefik .
hw:traefik  hw:dependsOn    hw:pihole .

That’s it. No tables to design, no schema migrations. You add facts incrementally and query them with SPARQL.

IRIs: Naming Things

Every entity and predicate is identified by an IRI (Internationalized Resource Identifier) — a globally unique name like a URL:

http://example.org/homelab/koror

Prefixes keep things readable. Instead of writing the full IRI every time:

@prefix hw: <http://example.org/homelab/> .

hw:koror  hw:runs  hw:traefik .

hw:koror expands to http://example.org/homelab/koror.

Objects: References vs Literals

The object of a triple can be either:

• A reference to another entity (another IRI)
• A literal value (a string, number, boolean, or date)

hw:koror  hw:runs      hw:traefik .          # reference → another entity
hw:koror  hw:hostname  "koror.example" .          # literal → a string
hw:koror  hw:cpuCores  "4"^^xsd:integer .     # literal → a typed number

How Quipu Stores Triples

Under the hood, Quipu stores triples as EAVT facts in an immutable log:

Every fact also carries a valid-time window (valid_from, valid_to), so you can model when facts were true in the real world — not just when they were recorded. See The Temporal Model for details.

The RDF Data Model

Quipu uses the RDF data model, which means:

• Facts are interoperable with any RDF tool
• You can ingest data in Turtle, N-Triples, JSON-LD, RDF/XML, or TriG
• You query with SPARQL — the standard RDF query language
• You validate with SHACL — the standard RDF constraint language

You don’t need to know RDF theory to use Quipu. If you can read subject predicate object . you’re ready to go.

Loading Triples

From a Turtle file:

quipu knot homelab.ttl --db homelab.db

From the REST API:

curl -s localhost:3030/knot -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "turtle": "@prefix hw: <http://example.org/homelab/> .\nhw:koror a hw:Host ; hw:hostname \"koror.example\" ."
  }'

From an episode (structured agent input):

curl -s localhost:3030/episode -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "homelab-inventory",
    "nodes": [
      {"name": "koror", "type": "Host", "properties": {"hostname": "koror.example"}},
      {"name": "traefik", "type": "WebApp"}
    ],
    "edges": [
      {"source": "koror", "target": "traefik", "relation": "runs"}
    ]
  }'

What’s Next

• The Temporal Model — how time-travel works
• SPARQL from Zero — querying your triples
• SHACL Validation — enforcing structure