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Collections

Collections let you organize eprints, reviews, endorsements, and knowledge graph nodes into curated groups. Collections are stored in your PDS and are fully portable. You control their visibility: public, unlisted, or private.

What is a collection?​

A collection is a user-owned container for grouping related items. Each item you add to a collection is wrapped as a personal graph node in your PDS, keeping your organizational choices independent of the original content.

Collections support nesting (subcollections), inter-item relationships (edges), and optional Cosmik/Semble mirroring for external integration.

Creating a collection​

  1. Click Create Collection from the dashboard or navigate to /collections/new
  2. Basics: enter a label, description, visibility (public, unlisted, or private), and optional tags
  3. Items: add eprints, authors, graph nodes, or other items by searching
  4. Edges: define relationships between items (optional)
  5. Structure: set up subcollection hierarchy (optional)
  6. Semble: enable Cosmik/Semble mirroring (optional)
  7. Review: confirm your choices and create the collection

Adding items to a collection​

An Add to Collection button appears on eprint cards, review cards, endorsement panels, and node cards throughout Chive. Clicking it opens a dialog listing your collections. Select a collection to add the item. If the item is already in a collection, a checkmark indicates that.

To start a new collection with the item pre-populated, click Create new collection at the bottom of the dialog.

Item types​

Item typeDescription
EprintResearch paper
AuthorResearcher profile
ReviewDocument-level review
EndorsementFormal endorsement
Graph nodeKnowledge graph concept

When you add an item to a subcollection, it is automatically propagated to all ancestor collections in the hierarchy.

Subcollections and hierarchy​

A subcollection belongs to a parent collection. You can nest collections to build reading lists, topic groups, or multi-level curricula.

Machine Learning Reading List
  |-- NLP Papers
  |-- Computer Vision

Adding an item to a subcollection automatically adds it to all ancestors. Removing an item from a collection removes it from ancestors and descendants that contain the same item.

Viewing collections​

The collection detail page shows:

  • Header with label, description, visibility, and owner
  • Subcollections section with a tree of child collections
  • Items list grouped by type (eprints, people, concepts, etc.)
  • Inter-item edges
  • Activity feed

When a collection has subcollections, a toggle lets you switch between:

  • All items -- items from this collection plus all subcollections
  • Direct only -- only items directly in this collection, excluding subcollection items

Managing collection items​

  • Edit an item's label or note by clicking the item card to open the detail modal
  • Remove an item by clicking the remove icon on the item card; removal propagates through the parent chain and subcollections
  • Reorder items by dragging within a type group (owner only)

Inter-item edges​

You can create relationships between items in a collection. For example, you might link "Paper A cites Paper B" or "Dataset X supports Method Y."

Edges are defined during collection creation (in the Edges step of the wizard) or added later from the collection detail page by opening an item's detail modal. Delete edges from the edge list on the detail page.

Collection dashboard​

Access from Dashboard > Collections. The dashboard shows a hierarchical list with depth-based indentation. Each row displays:

  • Collection label and description
  • Item count
  • Visibility badge (public, unlisted, or private)
  • Tags
  • Creation date

Use the Show all / Top-level only toggle to expand or collapse subcollections in the list.

Deleting a collection​

  1. Open the collection detail page
  2. Click the settings menu in the header
  3. Select Delete

Subcollections of a deleted collection are re-linked to the deleted collection's parent. Items in the deleted collection are removed (not promoted to the parent).

Visibility levels​

LevelWho can see it
PublicAnyone browsing Chive
UnlistedAnyone with the direct link
PrivateOnly you