TerminusDB
Release notes, technical articles and design notes from the TerminusDB team: knowledge graphs, version control for data, Datalog and more.
- Posts
- 36 from 19 Sep 2021 to 8 Dec 2025
- Posting
- now and then (1 in the last year)
- Kind
- company blog
2025 1
2023 13
- February 14, 202222 min readWhy TerminusXThe journey from TerminusDB to TerminusX cloud service, simplifying versioned knowledge graphs with JSON-first document interface and improved developer experience.Read article
- February 14, 202221 min readWhat if MongoDB and Neo4j had a babyDiscover how TerminusDB combines MongoDB's JSON document paradigm with Neo4j's graph capabilities for a unified knowledge graph database.Read article
- February 14, 202222 min readSyntactic Versioning: What if Git worked with Programming Languages?Exploring the future of version control with structured storage, AST-based diffs, and how syntactic awareness could revolutionize code collaboration.Read article
- February 14, 202220 min readWhat's the Difference: JSON diff and patchHow JSON diff and patch enable distributed data collaboration for Web3, offering multi-master updates without complex protocols or locks.Read article
- February 14, 202221 min readMany Worlds: a philosophy of data collaborationA philosophical exploration of data collaboration using Kripke semantics, examining how Git, databases, CRDTs, and OTs handle distributed state.Read article
- February 15, 202220 min readIt turns out, Table Diff is NP-hard, but we tried it anywayTrying to build a diff for tables, finding out the problem is NP-hard, and what we did about it anyway.Read article
- February 28, 202219 min readWhat's in a Name: URI Generation and Unique Names for ObjectsLearn how TerminusDB simplifies URI generation with lexical, hash, random, and value hash key strategies for RDF and linked data management.Read article
- March 4, 202219 min readMergeable Records: A Data Modeling ApproachLearn how to model data with provenance and time-scoping to merge duplicate records from multiple sources using paraconsistent logic.Read article
- April 26, 202218 min readA distributed database with a collaboration modelTerminusDB is a distributed database with a collaboration model - git for data. This article looks at TerminusDB's CLI for push, pull & cloneRead article
- May 16, 202218 min readJSON as RDFHow TerminusDB stores JSON documents as an RDF graph, and how documents and the links between them map to triples.Read article
- June 14, 202217 min readTerminusDB v10.1.0: The MuleAnnouncing TerminusDB v10.1 with document diff, capture IDs, type inference, and unconstrained JSON for building distributed knowledge graphs.Read article
- June 24, 202217 min readThe Issue of Blank Nodes in RDFExploring blank nodes in RDF and why TerminusDB uses skolemization to avoid graph isomorphism challenges in linked data management.Read article
- August 12, 202216 min readThe Semantic Web is Dead – Long Live the Semantic Web!A technical and in-depth look at the semantic web and where it all went wrong and failed to deliver against the initial hype.Read article
2022 21
- October 14, 202216 min readGraphQL RDF Bridge Using Star Wars Dataset in TerminusDBI wrote this blog to showcase a GraphQL RDF bridge using a Star Wars dataset that I found. It explains what I did in TerminusDBRead article
- October 28, 202215 min readHow to implement GraphQL in fourteen daysThis blog talks about how we've implemented GraphQL in two weeks. It details the steps and tools we used to get there.Read article
- November 7, 202214 min readTerminusDB Internals Part 1 - Smaller, Faster, StrongerPart 1 of TerminusDB Internals, looks at the guts and how we've built an in-memory graph database to avoid thrashing and slow performance.Read article
- November 3, 202215 min readA Blogging Platform in TerminusDBBuilding a small blog-focused CMS with a TerminusDB schema, a React front end and GraphQL.Read article
- November 9, 202214 min readThe Solution to The Object Relational Impedance MismatchHave you run into an Object Relational Impedance Mismatch? Our CTO Gavin wrote this blog talking about his experiences overcoming it.Read article
- November 9, 202213 min readGraph Query Optimization in TerminusDBNotes on how we plan to do query optimization for GraphQL in TerminusDB, using the shape of the stored graph.Read article
- November 14, 202213 min readTerminusDB Internals Part 2 - Change is Gonna ComePart 2 of TerminusDB Internals looks at how we deal with mutating data with succinct data structures and graph storage.Read article
- November 21, 202212 min readTerminusDB Internals Part 3 - Sorting Every Sort of ThingPart 3 of TerminusDB Internals looks at how we sort data lexically and how we have overcome some of the issues that come with this approach.Read article
- January 5, 202312 min readSuccinct Data Structures and Delta Encoding for Modern DatabasesA white paper written by Matthijs van Otterdijk, Gavin Mendel-Gleason, & Kevin Feeney detailing succinct data structures & delta encoding.Read article
- February 7, 202311 min readPutting the Graph in GraphQL QueryWouldn't it be great to do graph queries via a GraphQL query? Well, that's exactly what we wanted too and here's what we did about it.Read article
- February 15, 202311 min readThe Content RevolutionA look at TerminusCMS from a technical perspective and how we're trying to address what's missing in today's document management solutions.Read article
- March 14, 202310 min readKnowledge Graph Schema Design Patterns and PrinciplesGraph schema design is very important but unfortunately, there isn't a lot of guidance, this article aims to provide some assistance.Read article
- April 24, 202310 min readSchema MigrationHow TerminusDB handles schema evolution with weakening and strengthening operations, enabling change management across branches and merges.Read article
- April 25, 20239 min readStraight Through Processing of Insurance ClaimsThis article discusses using declarative modeling to write low-code applications to provide straight through processing of insurance claims.Read article
- June 1, 20239 min readBuilding a Vector Database to Make Use of Vector EmbeddingsAn article describing how we built a vector database to make use of vector embeddings for semantic indexing & entity resolution using OpenAI.Read article
- July 10, 20238 min readSmaller Is Better: Ultra-Compact Graph Representations for a Big GraphA technical blog about how we loaded 17 billion triples into TerminusDB to deliver a queryable big graph with a low memory overhead.Read article
- October 27, 20237 min readSyntax Directed Query: Using TypeScript with GraphQL and TerminusDBUsing genql to get typed, syntax-directed GraphQL queries in TypeScript against a TerminusDB database.Read article
- November 3, 20237 min readEntity Resolution with AI: DBLP and ACM publication benchmarkMatching DBLP and ACM publication records with OpenAI embeddings, VectorLink and TerminusDB, and how well the simple approach scores on the benchmark.Read article
- November 3, 20236 min readAI Entity Resolution: Bridging Records Across Human LanguagesUsing OpenAI embeddings and the VectorLink vector index with TerminusDB to match records about the same entity, even across human languages.Read article
- November 27, 20236 min readTerminusDB from the Command Line: introducing tdb-cliAn introduction to tdb-cli, a command line client for working with local or remote TerminusDB servers.Read article
- October 27, 20238 min readType-tagging strings in RustUsing the Rust type system to tag strings with what they contain, so different kinds of identifiers can not be mixed up.Read article