> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.helix-db.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Explore the graph

> Read what a Helix Foundry load wrote as a graph: search, expand, inspect, pick a load and compare two

<div className="flex flex-wrap gap-2"><Badge color="blue" size="sm">Guide</Badge></div>

The Explorer draws what a load wrote into the ontology's database: its records and how
they connect. It reads the database with your session and never writes to it. Switch
to **Records** at the top to read the same data as tables.

<Frame caption="Load, then search the graph and read a type as records.">
  <video controls muted playsInline preload="none" poster="https://assets.helix-db.com/docs/foundry/explore/load-and-explore-poster.png" className="w-full" src="https://assets.helix-db.com/docs/foundry/explore/load-and-explore.webm" />
</Frame>

## Read the graph

The Explorer opens on a connected sample of the current load: records of its central
types, their neighbors, and the links among them. The rail on the left lists the
version's types and links with how many the load holds and how many are drawn.

<Frame>
  <img src="https://assets.helix-db.com/docs/foundry/explore/explorer-node.png" alt="The Explorer with Globex Corporation selected, its properties and relationships in the inspector" />
</Frame>

| To | Do |
| - | - |
| Jump to a record by name, id or text | Press <kbd>/</kbd> and type, then <kbd>Enter</kbd> |
| Load a record's neighbors | Double-click it, or use **Expand** in the inspector |
| Draw more of a type | Select **+** beside it in the rail, 50 records at a time |
| See every action on a record | Right-click it |
| See every shortcut | Press <kbd>?</kbd> |

Select a record to open it in the inspector on the right: its type, its properties, the
load that wrote it, and its relationships with their counts.

Records are named the way the version says: by a name property, else by their keys.
A record drawn with a dashed outline was reached outside the load you're reading; the
inspector names its load.

## Choose a load

The **Load** picker reads another load of the ontology. Links between the Explorer,
Records, a record's page and a document keep the load you chose.

**Other data** shows what no load wrote: data the database held already, or that your
own applications write. It is hidden while you read a load, and listed below the rail.

## Show Foundry's own records

Loads also write Foundry's bookkeeping beside your data: documents, their sections,
mentions and evidence, and reviews. The Explorer hides these until you select **Show
Foundry internals** under Labels. They are then listed apart and drawn grey. The choice
is kept in this browser.

## Compare two loads

Choose a second load under **Compare with**, or select **Compare with current** in
[Data loads](/foundry/ontologies/load-data#manage-loads). The two loads are drawn side by
side over **What changed**: the count of each type and link in each load. Open a type to
see the records added, removed and renamed between them, by key, and select one to find
it on its side.

<Frame>
  <img src="https://assets.helix-db.com/docs/foundry/explore/compare-diff.png" alt="What changed from one load to another: one Contract added, customers and invoices unchanged" />
</Frame>

## When a database is starting

A database created in the last few minutes may not answer yet. The Explorer says it is
starting and opens by itself once it answers.

## Next steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Records and entities" icon="table" href="/foundry/explore/records-and-entities">
    Read each type as a table, and a record's page.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Ask questions" icon="comments" href="/foundry/ask/ask-questions">
    Ask the graph questions in plain language. Coming soon.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>


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