Every point and path in Atlas has a type. Types are what make your data structured and queryable: they're the difference between "a box with some text" and "a Person who has_role Controller."
You don't need to memorize these. Navigator picks types as it builds, and you can change them later. Your AI can list them too, with lookup_ontology.
Point types
Actor: who's involved?
| Type | What it represents |
|---|
| Person | An individual. Dana Reyes, Greg Halloran. Connects to work through the Position they hold |
| Position | A role that exists whoever fills it. Controller, CFO. Performs work, is accountable and reports to other positions |
| Group | A team or department. Finance Team, Steering Committee |
| Organization | A company or legal entity. Acme Corp, a subsidiary |
| Vendor | An external provider. Connects to the System it provides, never directly to a step |
| Agent | An autonomous AI unit that does work. Uses the same paths as a Position (performs, reports_to, has_skill) |
Action: what happens?
| Type | What it represents |
|---|
| Process | A named workflow made of steps. Monthly Close, Client Onboarding |
| Step | One unit of work, named for what it does. "Reconcile Cash Receipts" |
| Decision | A choice among options. Each branch leaves on a followed_by_if path |
| Approval | A gate where someone must sign off before the work continues. "Wire Release Approval" |
| Review | Work checked for quality or correctness, without gating it. "QC Review of Loan File" |
| Handoff | Ownership of the work passes to someone else. Not a notification or a request |
Resource: what's used?
| Type | What it represents |
|---|
| System | Software or infrastructure that does work. General Ledger System, Loan Servicing Platform |
| Database | Where data lives: a SQL database, warehouse or spreadsheet-backed store. The store, not the app that writes to it |
| Data Table | A table inside a Database. Columns, primary key and schema are properties, never separate points |
| Artifact | Something the work produces or uses: a document, form or file. "Close Package", "EDI 850 Purchase Order" |
| Document | A file uploaded to the atlas (PDF, image, spreadsheet, transcript) |
| Equipment | Physical hardware. "Label Printer", "Scanner" |
| Policy | A rule that governs how work is done. "Travel Policy", "SOX Control" |
| Skill | A capability a person or agent has. "Financial Modeling", "Slack post message" |
Business model: what do you sell, and to whom?
| Type | What it represents |
|---|
| Product | An offering the business sells, physical product or service. Group product families with member_of |
| Customer | An organization or person that buys from the business |
Outcome: what's the result?
| Type | What it represents |
|---|
| Outcome | A business result or goal. "Books closed on time" |
| Metric | A measurement, with a value, a unit and a target. "Days to close", "Error rate" |
| Risk | Something that could go wrong, named by its effect. "Wire sent to wrong account" |
Accounting and treasury
| Type | What it represents |
|---|
| Account | A line in the chart of accounts. "Cash", "Accounts Payable", "Revenue" |
| Bank Account | A specific account at a bank. "Operating Account", "Payroll Account" |
Location
| Type | What it represents |
|---|
| Physical Site | A physical location. "NYC Office", "Warehouse B" |
Time
| Type | What it represents |
|---|
| Date | A date, absolute or relative. "March 15, 2026", "3 days after month-end" |
| TimeRange | A period. "Q3 2026", "FY2025" |
| Trigger | What starts the work: a schedule, event, escalation or webhook. "Month-end cycle", "New invoice received" |
Path types
Paths connect points. The type describes the connection, and some types only connect certain point types.
People and roles
| Path type | From → To | What it means |
|---|
has_role | Person → Position | "Dana holds the Controller position" |
reports_to | Position/Agent → Position | "The Controller reports to the CFO" |
member_of | Person/Position/Organization/Agent/Group → Group/Organization | "Accounting is part of Northwind Freight" |
has_skill | Person/Agent → Skill | "Dana has financial modeling skills" |
performs | Position, Person, Group or Agent → Step/Decision/Approval/Review/Handoff | "The AP Clerk performs the reconciliation" |
accountable_for | Person/Position → Process/Step/Outcome | Owns the outcome (RACI Accountable). One per item |
Organization and ownership
| Path type | From → To | What it means |
|---|
owned_by | Organization/Customer → Organization | Equity ownership. Add ownership_pct for partial stakes. Who owns a process is accountable_for |
Process flow
| Path type | From → To | What it means |
|---|
has_step | Process → Step/Decision/Approval/Review/Handoff/Process | "Monthly Close has the step 'Run payroll report'". Every step needs its own |
followed_by | Step → Step | "Reconciliation is followed by review" |
followed_by_if | Step → Step | A conditional branch. The condition property says when ("amount > $10,000") |
needs_input | Step → Artifact/Step | "Review needs the reconciliation report" |
creates_output | Step → Artifact/Outcome | "Close creates the close package" |
uses_resource | Step/Artifact/Metric → System/Equipment | "Reconciliation uses the General Ledger System". Attach to the step, not the process. An artifact uses the system it lives in; a metric, the system that tracks it |
initiates | Trigger → Process/Step/Agent/Person | "Month-end initiates the close process" |
Handoffs
| Path type | From → To | What it means |
|---|
handoff_of | Handoff → Step/Process/Artifact | What changes hands |
from_actor | Handoff → Position/Group/Person | Who hands it off |
to_actor | Handoff → Position/Group/Person | Who receives it |
Systems and data
| Path type | From → To | What it means |
|---|
provided_by | System → Vendor | "The Treasury Banking System is provided by Comerica" |
has_table | Database → Data Table | "The Orders DB has the Orders table" |
joins_to | Data Table → Data Table | "OrderLineItems joins to Orders". Child points at parent; put the join condition in the description |
Documents
| Path type | From → To | What it means |
|---|
has_attachment | Any point → Document | A supporting file attached to the point |
has_context | Agent → Document | A document the agent works from |
extracted_from | Any point → Document | The document a point was built from |
Measurement and risk
| Path type | From → To | What it means |
|---|
measured_by | Outcome/Step → Metric | "On-time close is measured by days-to-close". A step is measured_by the metric it produces |
impacts | Metric/Outcome → Metric/Outcome | "Error rate impacts days-to-close". Builds the metric tree up to the outcomes |
has_risk | Process/Step/Outcome/System → Risk | "The wire step has a risk of a wire sent to the wrong account" |
mitigates | Approval/Review/Policy/System → Risk | "Dual approval mitigates that risk" |
Accounting
| Path type | From → To | What it means |
|---|
subaccount_of | Account → Account | "4010 Product Revenue is a subaccount of Revenue". One parent per account |
Location and time
| Path type | From → To | What it means |
|---|
located_in | Actor/Equipment/Step → Physical Site | "The warehouse team is located in Building B" |
has_deadline | Step → Date | "Journal entries are due on day 3" |
happens_before | Step/Date → Step/Date | Ordering in time |
happens_after | Step/Date → Step/Date | Ordering in time |
simultaneous_with | Step/Date → Step/Date | Happens at the same time |