@gram 2
doc portal-reference-relations-guide
t Relations and references
d Directional record links, REL records and unresolved external targets.
view document
::rich
# 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
SRC verification
t Verification report
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-rich
t Current rich document specification
ref https://github.com/clab-one/thegram-format/blob/main/spec/rich-document.md
SRC format-history6
t Current History/6 specification
ref https://github.com/clab-one/thegram-format/blob/main/spec/source-history-render.md

@gram-history 6
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@@ 38 1 0
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t .gram language specification

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t Current History/6 specification
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::body
@@ 41 3 0
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@rev 4 2026-10-12T23:17:37.948Z portal-reference-finalize agent=developer-doc-generator req=portal-reference-relations-guide-r3-fc866aa45323c2eb2bac7d67 dig=e453509b503ca819 kind=SourceImported 51c252c3f14a4866b8dac170572d274cf109157bb066c85d18c3edf220cc14f2
@@ 26 0 1
source verification