methodist_traverse
Multi-hop traversal from a claim over typed relation edges of ONE class. Default walks the epistemic §7 edges transitively (every relation value in the §7 enum — support/extend/qualify/refute/background/shared_evidence/same_as/addresses/causes); relation_class="engineering" walks the dependency graph (depends_on/satisfies). ★ An empty reached carries empty_reason — not_a_claim_id | anchor_not_found | subtype_not_in_class | other_direction_only | class_mismatch | no_edges — because "nothing here" and "you looked in the wrong place" are different findings and used to come back identical. ★ Those are the values a record carries; the graph stores them as ENG_DEPENDS_ON/ENG_SATISFIES edges, which you never write. This sentence used to name the epistemic set by its RECORD values and the engineering set by its EDGE LABELS, so a reader applying the visible pattern produced ENG_depends_on — a third thing, rejected by the validator (which accepts exactly depends_on and satisfies). direction="out" = forward (dependencies / cited); "in" = reverse (impact set — who depends on this). ★ This direction is the TRAVERSAL direction of the read and has NOTHING to do with the direction FIELD on a relation record — different thing, same name. Do not copy in/out into a record. For engineering it also returns cycle_detected (start claim in a dependency cycle). Class label-spaces are disjoint — a §7 walk never crosses into engineering edges and vice versa. ★ A0-3b: every reached node carries is_superseded. The walk goes THROUGH superseded claims deliberately — a superseded claim is a real historical link, and refusing to traverse it would silently drop CURRENT claims lying behind it. There is no latest_only here on purpose: filter the stamped result yourself if you want only current heads. ★ edges — the walked edges themselves, each with the properties it carries (relation_id, relation, direction, is_superseded, link_strength = the verifier's, grounding = the author's, correction) — only the keys present; an edge written before 2026-09-16 carries relation_id alone, so read its record by id for the rest. edge_summary counts how many edges carry link_strength / grounding, so a PSnd over the edge set knows its denominator.
Input Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| run_id | No | Optional. The active methodist run_id (as returned by the methodist diagnose / get_current_dose door). Pass it whenever you call this tool while working inside a run, so the call is attributed to that run for the §8 usage crosscheck — attribution is run-anchored, so it stays correct even if your access token refreshes mid-run. Must be YOUR run: a run_id owned by a different principal, or a non-existent run_id, is rejected. | |
| from_id | Yes | ||
| subtype | No | narrow to one edge subtype, e.g. depends_on / satisfies / support | |
| max_hops | No | transitive depth, default 3, max 6 | |
| direction | No | 'out' = forward (dependencies); 'in' = reverse (impact set). TRAVERSAL direction of this read — NOT the `direction` field of a relation record, which is a different thing with the same name. | |
| relation_class | No | edge class to traverse — default epistemic (§7) |