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Getting Started

Kristal is a deterministic, offline-correct knowledge artifact system: you build a Kristal from source data, validate it, publish/distribute it, then query it locally or through a platform.

What you can do with Kristal

  • Package a curated knowledge snapshot you can reproduce and verify
  • Run queries offline (or through a service) with predictable behavior
  • Update safely (roll forward, rollback, or downgrade) without breaking consumers
  • Federate multiple publishers (shards + federation roots) when needed

Core building blocks (mental model)

  • Exchange: the published “unit” of knowledge + metadata
  • Runtime Pack: optimized runtime representation for query/render
  • Validation Report: proof that the artifact passed declared checks
  • Trust/Authority: who is allowed to publish for a given scope (optional)

Typical workflow (end-to-end)

1) Build - Ingest source data - Produce Claim-IR / Resolved Claim-IR (implementation detail) - Produce an Exchange - Produce a Runtime Pack (optional but common)

2) Validate - Run required validations (schema + profiles) - Produce a Validation Report - Fail-closed: if integrity is declared and doesn’t verify → reject

3) Publish & Distribute - Publish artifacts (Exchange, Runtime Pack, Validation Report) - Distribute via your mechanism (repo, object store, Konnaxion, etc.)

4) Activate - Consumers fetch and activate a specific version - Keep rollback/downgrade paths available when operating at scale

5) Query - Query locally (offline) or through a service - Use declared capabilities and pagination patterns

If you’re new: do this first

  • Read What is Kristal
  • Read Artifacts → Exchange and Artifacts → Runtime Pack
  • Follow Workflows → Build & Validate and Workflows → Publish & Distribute
  • Then go to Query → Query Basics

Where to find technical details

The wiki stays high-level. For schemas/specs/examples, use the docs repository: - Core specs - JSON schemas - Examples / test vectors

Next pages

  • Quickstart
  • What is Kristal
  • Artifacts (Exchange, Runtime Pack, Validation Report)
  • Workflows (Build/Validate, Publish/Activate, Rollback)
  • Query (Basics, Pagination & Capabilities)
  • FAQ / Glossary