Overview

You don't need to understand all of the concepts outlined on this page in order to Get Started with HASH, but being familiar with them will help you learn HASH faster. We recommend having a quick scan of this page as you start out, and returning to it later when you need more information about a particular thing. In addition to defining key terms you'll find throughout the docs, these concepts provide a broad sense as to the types of features and capabilties that are present within HASH.

Concepts

Accounts

We use the term 'account' to refer to both users and organizations (aka. "orgs") in HASH. All users and orgs have a web and an account name, such as @example. This can be used to access an account's public profile, such as hash.ai/@example.

Webs

Every user and every org has their own web. Webs contain entities (data), as well as types (which define what entities are, and provide them with meaning).

User's webs are called Personal Webs, and orgs' webs are known as Shared Webs. Users may have access to any number of shared webs, in addition to their own personal one.

Entities

Data in a web exists in the form of entities. An individual entity may have one or more entity types, which describes what sort of thing(s) an entity is, and the kinds of information (i.e. attributes) that can be associated with it. Entities without entity types cannot be created.

Attributes

Attributes are information about entities. They can either be properties (values) representing some characteristic of an entity, or links (relationships) connecting one entity to another.

Types

Depending on how you use HASH, you may never need to create your own types or really learn how they work. However, in short, there are four kinds of types in HASH.

Entities are described by (i) entity types, which define the attributes that can be associtaed with them.

Attributes come in the form of properties (values) and links (pointers to other entities):

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  Properties tell you something about the entity itself, for example its name. They are described by (ii) property types that provide semantic meaning, and specify (iii) the expected data type(s) of a property, e.g. Text or Date.

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  Links describe the relationship between entities (e.g. two people, or a person and a company). They are described by (iv) link types, and may themselves have properties that tell you something about the relationship. For example, an employment relationship may have a job title and a start date.

These four types (entity, link, property and data) are known collectively as our "type system", enable any kind of data to be represented in HASH, and they are part of what makes HASH so powerful.

Permissions

Permissions govern what users (both individually and on a group-basis) can both see and do. Permissions can be managed very granularly, allowing view, update, comment, share and other forms of access to be restricted only to authorized users.

History

History in HASH refers to three things:

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   a complete record of all the changes to an entity or type over time (change tracking)

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   the ability to inspect, access and even use older versions of an entity or type (versioning)

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   the ability to see where information and changes came from, as well as what caused them (provenance)

Pages

Pages provide a way of using your entities, in HASH. Pages are created inside of each web you belong to (i.e. your own personal web, or the shared web of any organizations you're a member of), and will appear in your left-hand sidebar inside of HASH.

There are two types of pages in HASH:

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  Documents: linear pages where blocks are arranged in columns; typically used for text-heavy pages

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  Canvases: free-form pages where blocks can be arranged spatially on an infinite canvas; useful for mindmaps, flowcharts, dashboards, and app-building

Blocks

Blocks can be inserted into pages, and provide many different kinds of functionality. For example:

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  the Paragaph block lets you type (or see) some text, depending on whether you have edit (or just view) permissions on a page

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  the Image block similarly lets you edit, insert, or simply view a picture (depending again upon your permissions)

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  the AI Image block lets you type in a prompt and actually generate an image, which is then saved and persisted on the page

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  the Minesweeper block is just good fun

A block such as a button or dropdown may also be interactive, or offer complex functionality such as access to an AI chatbot.

If you're a web developer comfortable writing code, you can build and publish your own blocks, and use them inside of HASH, by following the guide in the HASH developer docs.

Sharing

Sharing allows you to make select entities, types, or portions of your web available to others. You can also jointly manage "shared webs" with others, through organizations.

Integrations

Integrations enable HASH to act on your behalf in external applications, and sync data with your web.

Plugins

Plugins are HASH-built extensions for other applications which enable you to access HASH functionality within them.

Flows

Flows are sequences of steps which can be planned and executed on your behalf, automating previously manual work. They also serve to explicitly document processes, improving transparency and reliability.

Apps

Apps are ready-made bundles of blocks, types and pages, which can be added to a web with one click. Apps can also be created in a "no-code" manner by combining the same elements, and in the future will be publishable to a HASH App Store.

AI

HASH integrates a range of AI capabilities and interfaces to help you get more done in less time.

Inbox

Your inbox contains notifications, messages, and actions (including drafts).

Got it?

Don't worry about remembering everything. The above is just a quick-reference overview, and you'll be able to get help in-app anytime should you need it. If you need more help at any point, you can always contact us or join the community forum.

For now, continue on to get started >