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Promote a spine

Turn a proposed spine (a live, read-only projection) into a materialized spine — a real synthesis graph you can select, compare, and re-project. You do this from the dashboard; there is no MCP tool for it. For the model behind proposed spines and materialized spines — and the spine definition that holds both states — read Spines.

Proposed vs. materialized spine

A proposed spine is derived on demand and writes nothing back. A materialized spine has its own graph with an apex, dimension nodes, and spine-member edges, and it becomes an option in the Organize by selector.

You need a proposed spine first

Promotion turns an existing proposed spine into a materialized spine, so create the proposed spine before you start: define it from the Matrices dropdown (the same wizard covered in Build a matrix), then return here to promote it.

Promote a proposed spine

  1. Open the zettelkasten dashboard and select the project (or graph) that owns the spine definition.
  2. Go to Workshop → Matrix and open the Matrices dropdown.
  3. Find the proposed spine and click Promote to spine.

What promotion writes:

  • a spine skeleton — an apex node, one dimension node per materializable column, and one hub per row;
  • spine-member edges from those nodes to the member notes (stored spine-side, so your base notes stay pristine);
  • the definition's state flips to spine with a spine_ref naming its new synthesis graph.

The synthesis graph is additive: it is not registered as a project source, so it never gets clustered in as if it were ordinary notes.

Stamp dimension tags (optional)

Promotion leaves base notes untouched by default. Enable Stamp dimension tags before promoting if you also want each member's dimension tag written onto its base note.

Resync a spine

When the corpus drifts — new notes land, or you've added members by hand — bring a spine's membership up to date. In the Matrices dropdown, on the spine row, click Resync. It re-routes new or unrouted in-scope notes into the existing spine and adds any missing spine-member edges. Resync is idempotent and honors your corrections: a removed member is not re-attached, and manual adds are kept.

Watch for the resync hint

A spine row flags when new evidence has appeared in its scope — that's your cue to resync so the new notes reach the right dimensions instead of being dropped.

Demote a spine

To stop treating a spine as materialized without losing anything, click Demote on the spine row. This flips the state back to proposed but keeps the synthesis graph, its nodes, and the attach edges, so a later re-promote or resync still finds them. The definition reads as a proposed spine again.

Delete a spine

To tear a spine down entirely, click Delete spine. This deletes the synthesis graph folder — which removes every spine-member edge with it — and reverts the definition to a proposed spine. Your base notes are unaffected. Confirm the prompt to proceed.

Writes must be enabled

Promote, demote, resync, and delete are all write actions. They're unavailable on read-only federated repos, and delete additionally requires graph deletes to be enabled.

Semantically related entries from the memory graph.