# PDR 003: Let readers explore the connected content graph

- HTML version: https://robbiepalmer.me/projects/personal-knowledge-graph/pdrs/003-explorable-content-graph
- Project: Personal Knowledge Graph
- Status: Accepted
- Opened: 2026-02-07
- Decided: 2026-02-07

## Context

The site already connected projects, articles, decisions, technologies, roles,
and tags. Those relationships powered backlinks and filters, but a reader could
not see the graph as a whole. The author also lacked a quick way to spot dense
clusters, central records, and isolated content.

## Decision

Publish an interactive view of the real content graph. Let readers filter node
types, inspect connections, search for content, and follow a node to its page.
Use the same repository relationships that power the rest of the site rather
than maintaining a separate diagram.

Keep positions deterministic enough that filtering and revisiting the graph do
not produce a completely different map on each load. The visualization is a
discovery tool, not a claim that visual proximity has semantic meaning beyond
the rendered relationships.

## Consequences

Readers gain another path into the content, and the author can see missing or
weakly connected records. The view also demonstrates that the site's graph is
a working data model rather than a label applied to a set of pages.

An interactive graph adds client code and can become visually dense. A
graphics-only renderer also excludes readers who cannot use WebGL or a pointer.
That limitation later required a separate accessibility decision.

## Evaluation

The graph should expose the same nodes and links as the repository, keep
navigation stable enough to use, and send every selected node to a canonical
content page. Revisit the feature if it becomes a decorative animation that
does not help readers discover content or help the author find gaps.

## Migration note

This record extracts the user-facing graph explorer from ADR 038 and preserves
the original 2026-02-07 decision. ADR 038 retains the renderer, layout, and
interaction architecture. The HTML index and keyboard-accessible discovery
path were added later and are recorded separately in PDR 006.

## Related records

- Project: [Personal Knowledge Graph](https://robbiepalmer.me/projects/personal-knowledge-graph.md)
- Implemented by ADR: [ADR 038: Content Graph Explorer Rendering](https://robbiepalmer.me/projects/personal-knowledge-graph/adrs/038-content-graph.md)

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