Every piece of information in Substrate is stored as an entity — a typed object with a name, description, and connections to other entities. Choosing the right type helps your agent track work correctly and connect related information.
Entities fall into two fundamental categories:
- Work types have a lifecycle. They move from created → in progress → done. Use these for things you act on.
- Object types persist indefinitely. Use these for things you reference, produce, or track over time.
| Type | When to use it |
|---|
| task | A single action item for personal tracking — “create a task to call Sarah,” “add a task to finish the report.” The everyday unit of getting things done. |
| ticket | A formal work unit that produces a single reviewable result. Use when work has clear deliverables and review steps — suited for project work and team handoffs. |
| chore | A standalone personal task, typically recurring. Use for things that repeat on a schedule — weekly reviews, recurring reminders. |
| Type | When to use it |
|---|
| project | A container for related tickets, documents, and decisions. Use when a body of work has a defined goal and endpoint. |
| workstream | An ongoing, renewable stream of work with service-level commitments. Use for continuous responsibilities (e.g., “client support,” “content publishing”). |
| incident | An emergency response effort to restore something broken. Use when something is on fire and needs focused resolution. |
| Type | When to use it |
|---|
| pillar | A permanent, never-fully-achievable ideal that orients all your decisions. Think: “I want to be a respected authority in my field.” |
| mission | A time-bound directional bet that advances a pillar. Think: “Ship a public product by Q3.” |
| milestone | A significant checkpoint worth tracking and celebrating — when the checkpoint itself matters, not just the tickets that deliver it. |
| Type | When to use it |
|---|
| decision | A settled conclusion — what you decided, what you weighed, and why. Use when the reasoning matters as much as the outcome. |
| inquiry | An open investigation where you’re tracking a question until it’s answered. |
| idea | A possibility worth holding onto — something you might build, pursue, or explore later. |
| Type | When to use it |
|---|
| note | A freeform captured thought. The most general-purpose type. |
| document | Formal written content — a report, spec, proposal, or brief. |
| reference | An external resource you’re keeping — a link, article, video, or post captured for future use. |
| quote | A verbatim extract from someone else, attributed to its source. |
| framework | A structured mental model for understanding a domain — not written content, not provisional, but a durable lens. |
| principle | A standing rule that governs future work — settled, authoritative, and durable. |
| pain-point | A documented problem experienced by a user, customer, or market segment. |
| value-prop | A benefit claim a product makes, typically framed in response to a pain point. |
| audience | A defined segment of people a product or message targets. |
| Type | When to use it |
|---|
| person | Someone you reference — a contact, collaborator, or subject in your knowledge graph. |
| organization | A company, team, or group. |
| user | A human who operates within Substrate (typically just you). Created during onboarding. |
| Type | When to use it |
|---|
| article | A piece of written content intended for publication. |
| script | A structured outline or script for video or audio content. |
| product | A persistent thing you build, ship, and maintain. |
| build | A codebase or deployable artifact with its own repo and development lifecycle. |
| resume | A professional document produced in multiple formats, tailored per audience. |
| video | A produced video published or shared externally — the published work, not the raw file. |
| Type | When to use it |
|---|
| meeting | An intentional gathering to discuss and produce outcomes — scheduled or ad hoc. |
| Type | When to use it |
|---|
| correspondence | An email, LinkedIn message, or other external communication sent or received. |
| Type | When to use it |
|---|
| invoice | A formal payment request issued to an external party. |
| receipt | A payment confirmation or acknowledgment. |
| Type | When to use it |
|---|
| tool | An external software tool, service, or platform you use in your work. |
| Type | When to use it |
|---|
| job-opportunity | A tracked external job pursuit, from discovery through application and outcome. |
Assets are large binary files stored separately in your workspace’s assets/ folder.
| Type | When to use it |
|---|
| logo | A brand logo file — vector or raster. |
| signature | A personal signature image for documents and correspondence. |
| video-file | A raw video file (MP4, MOV, WebM). Distinct from a video entity, which represents the published work. |
| audio-file | An audio file (MP3, WAV, FLAC). |
| thumbnail | A preview or cover image for another entity. |
| photo | A photograph or image capture. |
These types are managed by Substrate and your agent — you don’t typically create them directly.
| Type | What it is |
|---|
| context-doc | A living document your agent reads at session start to stay oriented. Created during onboarding. |
| skill | A pre-configured expertise your agent uses to handle specific tasks. |
| trigger | An automation mechanism that fires actions in response to events. Not user-facing in this release. |
| agent | An AI actor that operates in your workspace. |
Start with note. You can always ask your agent to reclassify it later, or add a custom type if you track something that genuinely needs its own type.
