#Quickstart

Get a WWKG node running and query it in under five minutes.

#1. Install a node

A node is a local WWKG instance with its own identity and default workspace.

sudo wwkg install --node-only

This installs a host daemon on the default port (4242), generates a cryptographic identity, and creates a default workspace.

To install additional nodes, use the --nodes flag:

sudo wwkg install --node-only --nodes 2

#2. Start the server

wwkg node serve

By default, the server listens on all network interfaces (0.0.0.0:4242). This means other people and other nodes on the network can connect to it — which is safe and recommended, since all workspace data is end-to-end encrypted.

If you prefer to restrict access to your own machine only, bind to localhost:

wwkg node serve --host 127.0.0.1

The server accepts both HTTP requests and connections from other WWKG nodes on the same port.

For quick experiments, you can run in ephemeral mode:

wwkg node serve --ephemeral

Ephemeral mode keeps all data in memory instead of writing it to disk. Data is lost when the server stops. Because everything must fit in RAM, this mode is best suited for small datasets and short-lived experiments.

#3. Load sample data

Create a file called people.ttl:

@prefix : <http://example.org/> .

:Alice  :name "Alice" ;
        :knows :Bob .

:Bob    :name "Bob" ;
        :knows :Alice .

Load it into the server:

wwkg load people.ttl

The load command also accepts a directory. It recursively scans for RDF files (Turtle, N-Triples, RDF/XML) in all subdirectories and loads them in one go:

wwkg load ./data/

If you omit the path, it scans the current directory:

wwkg load

See the Loading Data guide for more options.

#4. Run a query

The easiest way to query is with the wwkg CLI, which uses the native protocol for the best performance. WWKG supports three query languages — SPARQL, Cypher, and GQL — all against the same data.

#SPARQL

wwkg client query "SELECT ?name WHERE { ?person <http://example.org/name> ?name }"

#Cypher

wwkg client query "MATCH (p)-[:name]->(name) RETURN name"

#GQL

wwkg client query "MATCH (p)-[:name]->(name) RETURN name" --language gql

Output (JSON by default):

{
  "results": {
    "bindings": [
      { "name": { "type": "literal", "value": "Alice" } },
      { "name": { "type": "literal", "value": "Bob" } }
    ]
  }
}

For tab-separated output:

wwkg client query "SELECT ?name WHERE { ?person <http://example.org/name> ?name }" --format tsv

You can also query via HTTP using any tool that speaks the SPARQL Protocol, such as curl:

curl -X POST http://127.0.0.1:4242/sparql \
  -H "x-wwkg-api-key: $EKG_SPARQL_AUTH_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/sparql-query" \
  -d "SELECT ?name WHERE { ?person <http://example.org/name> ?name }"

If your node is configured for JWT-based auth instead of API token auth, send Authorization: Bearer <jwt> instead of x-wwkg-api-key.

See the HTTP API reference for details.

#5. Create a branch

Branches let you make changes without affecting the main timeline:

wwkg client branch create experiment

Query against the new branch:

wwkg client query "SELECT * WHERE { ?s ?p ?o }" --branch experiment

Load data into it:

wwkg load more-data.ttl --branch experiment

List all branches:

wwkg client branch list

#Next steps

• Loading Data — formats, named graphs, directory loads
• Querying — SPARQL features, output formats, query plans
• Branching — merge workflows, delta queries
• Workspaces — encryption, membership, key management
• CLI Reference — full command reference