Palantir Ontology

Palantir Ontology for Markdown

This skill explains the ontology lens used by ontology-brain/. Read ontology.md for the local schema. Use the references in this skill for the general model.

Model

Palantir's Ontology describes a semantic layer over real-world operations. In this Markdown brain:

Decision Guides

Property, Link, or Object

• Use a property when the value has no independent identity.
• Use a typed link when the target has its own page.
• Create a new object when the thing has identity, facts, and future references.

Object Type

Use concrete nouns from the domain. Avoid generic types unless the domain itself uses them. Create a folder only when the first page exists.

Link Type

Use the smallest vocabulary that preserves meaning. Add a new link type only when the relationship recurs, reads naturally in both directions, and relates_to loses important information.

Object-Backed Relationship

When a relationship has its own metadata, such as dates, roles, status, or evidence, promote the relationship to a page and link both ends to it.

Anti-Patterns

• Storing the same fact on multiple pages.
• Copying source-owned status into several pages.
• Creating object types before any object exists.
• Linking pages only because they share a keyword.
• Using vague names where domain nouns are available.
• Hand-maintained counts that can be derived from links.

References

• references/overview.md
• references/core-concepts.md
• references/why-ontology.md
• references/ontology-structural-guidance.md
• references/ontology-best-practices.md
• references/ontology-anti-patterns.md
• references/derived-properties.md