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Spaces and collections

kbolt organizes indexed content into spaces and collections.

Space

A space is the top-level namespace for your index.

Use spaces when you want to separate content sets such as:

  • work vs personal notes
  • product docs vs source code
  • one client project vs another

Common commands:

kbolt space add work
kbolt space list
kbolt space default work
kbolt space current

Collection

A collection is one registered directory inside a space.

Use collections when you want to index separate directories but still search them together within one space.

Common commands:

kbolt --space work collection add /path/to/api --name api
kbolt --space work collection add /path/to/runbooks --name runbooks
kbolt --space work collection list

Active space resolution

When a command needs a space, kbolt resolves it in this order:

  1. --space
  2. KBOLT_SPACE
  3. configured default space

Use kbolt space current if you are not sure which one is active.

The default path

If no default space exists, kbolt setup local creates and uses default.

That keeps the first-run path simple: one space, one or more collections, then search.

When to create another space

Create another space when:

  • you want separate indexes
  • you do not want search results mixed together
  • you want different operational scopes for update and status

Do not create new spaces just to give one directory a label. That is a collection.

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