Relations and references

@gram 2
doc portal-reference-relations-guide
t Relations and references
d Directional record links, REL records and unresolved external targets.
::body
# Relations and references

## Direction and predicates

A short relation is written inside its source record as `predicate target`; the current record is the source and the target is the destination. Basic predicates are related, supports, contradicts, depends, implements, replaces, derives, blocks, enables and part-of. Replacing means the newer/source entity points to the older/target entity.

Shorthands `> target`, `! target` and `< target` mean related, contradicts and part-of. For example, `supports export-check` says this record supports export-check; it does not create a reverse edge.

## REL records

Use a REL record when a relation itself needs identity, fields or provenance:

```text
@gram 2
doc evidence-links
t Evidence links
E export-check
t Export round-trip
REL export-support export-check supports archive-policy
confidence high
source verification
K archive-policy
t Keep a readable archive
```

REL shares the document's record-ID namespace. A short edge is identified by its source/predicate/target tuple; a REL record uses its own stable ID. Duplicate short edges are invalid.

## Target resolution

A bare target names a record in this document. Use `document-id/entity-id` for a cross-document target. Local targets must resolve; external document references are preserved even when unresolved and are not fetched automatically. A URI field is a reference, not a graph target. Relationships express knowledge; they do not grant access or trigger actions.
::end

SRC format-language
t .gram language specification
ref https://github.com/clab-one/thegram-format/blob/main/spec/language.md
SRC format-history6
t Current History/6 specification
ref https://github.com/clab-one/thegram-format/blob/main/spec/source-history-render.md