Positorium

Positorium is an experimental database engine for information that can conflict, vary over time, and carry source-specific certainty. It combines an immutable posit model, the Traqula query language, an append-only native store, a trusted-local HTTP service, and an in-browser WASM testbed.

The current release line is 0.1.4-beta.1. Beta means the documented language, storage, transfer, and interface versions have explicit compatibility rules; it does not mean an Internet-facing or production-ready service.

Try the browser testbed · Get started · Browse all documentation

Why Positorium?

Most databases converge on one current value. Positorium preserves evidence:

• contradictory posits remain available instead of overwriting each other;
• expressed time precision is part of the stored fact;
• assertions record who ascertained a posit, with signed certainty and time;
• snapshots and in effect queries make resolution policy explicit; and
• exact entered literals survive native storage, HTTP, SSE, and WASM results.

This is useful for exploring master data, regulated records, investigations, and other domains where evidence accumulates and is revised.

Five-minute source checkout

Install rustup, then build and start the trusted-local server from the repository root:

cargo build --release --locked
./target/release/positorium

In another terminal, resolve or create one identity:

curl --fail-with-body --silent --show-error \
  http://127.0.0.1:8080/v1/query \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  --data '{"traqula_version":1,"script":"add role name; search [{(?person, name), ...}, \"Ada\", *] return ?person or add posit [{(+person, name)}, \"Ada\", @NOW];","stream":false}'

The response should have "status":"ok" and one thing result cell. Stop the server with Ctrl-C. The default creates positorium.store and reopens it on the next start.

For release archives, checksum verification, Windows commands, persistence checks, backup, Query Studio setup, and troubleshooting, follow Getting started.

Beta boundaries

• The native server binds to 127.0.0.1 by default and has no authentication. Never expose it to an untrusted network.
• One process owns a store and executes scripts serially.
• The append-only store detects committed corruption but is not a tamper-proof audit log.
• Authentication, replication, distributed execution, and container packaging are outside the current beta.
• Independent contract versions are listed in Contracts.

Current capabilities

• Immutable Things, Roles, appearance sets, posits, and assertion envelopes
• Lossless literal tokens and precision-aware temporal relations
• Traqula joins, union, safe not exists, snapshots, typed predicates, in effect, parameters, distinctness, ordering, and limits
• Atomic durable mutation batches with deterministic replay and recovery
• Inspection, physical backup, logical export/import, and identity remapping
• Structured Rust, buffered HTTP, SSE, and WASM results
• Query Studio and authoritative Terrain structural reports

Documentation

The documentation index also links compatibility decisions, benchmarks, and maintainer specifications. The original paper, Modeling Conflicting, Unreliable, and Varying Information, provides additional background.

Development checks

The repository pins the stable Rust toolchain and runs native checks on Linux, macOS, and Windows plus a browser WASM suite.

cargo fmt --all -- --check
cargo clippy --all-targets --all-features -- -D warnings
cargo test --all-targets --all-features --no-fail-fast
cargo test --all-targets --no-default-features --no-fail-fast
node tests/terrain_client.test.js

See Extending Traqula before changing the language or synchronized editor grammar.

License

Dual-licensed under Apache 2.0 or MIT, at your option.

SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0 OR MIT