| name | agentdb-traverse |
| description | K-hop traversal from a starting node in AgentDB's graph. Use to explore neighborhoods, find reachable nodes, or visualize a memory's "context". |
K-Hop Traverse
Walk outward from a node up to K hops, returning the visited subgraph.
When to use
- "Show me what's connected to X"
- Building a context window from a starting fact + everything causally linked to it
- Visualizing a memory's neighborhood for the user
- Pre-fetch for an investigator agent before running causal_explain
API
agentdb_kHopNeighbors(
startId: <node id>
k: 1..5 // hops
edgeFilter?: [<relation>, ...] // limit to specific relations
direction?: 'in' | 'out' | 'both'
maxNodes?: 100 // safety cap
)
Returns: { nodes, edges, stats: { reachable, capped } }
Patterns
| Goal | Pattern |
|---|
| Forward influence | direction: 'out', k: 3 |
| Backward dependencies | direction: 'in', k: 3 |
| Local neighborhood | direction: 'both', k: 1 |
| Causal chain only | edgeFilter: ['caused', 'supersedes'] |
| Skill composition graph | edgeFilter: ['composes', 'requires'], start: skill id |
Output sizing
K-hop fans out exponentially. With average degree d, k hops returns up to d^k nodes. AgentDB defaults maxNodes: 100 — when you hit the cap, stats.capped: true and you should rerun with smaller k or tighter edgeFilter.
Don't
- Don't traverse with
k > 4 without edgeFilter — explosive fan-out destroys the answer's signal.
- Don't render the whole subgraph to the user. Pick the top-15 by uplift and summarize the rest.
