User Guide
An introduction to HASH
What is HASH?
HASH is a new kind of database. Operating in the background, HASH continuously extracts and integrates data from the outside world. This information is assembled into a private knowledge graph, called a "web", and can be used in a number of different ways.
How can webs be used?
New AI tools, including large language models such as ChatGPT, work best with "semantic" data. This sort of information is typically stored in a "knowledge graph", which is what we call a "web" in HASH. Prior to HASH, knowledge graphs were hard to bootstrap and maintain. HASH solves this problem, quickly and easily building webs containing information whose quality and provenance are assured.
This makes HASH suitable for real-world use extracting data and powering AI models in domains where data accuracy, integrity and trustworthiness are paramount (for example: in error-sensitive applications, when making potentially high-cost/high-risk decisions, and when operating within regulated industries).
Once information is in your web, HASH lets you:
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view and explore data visually as a graph, or through tables→
construct dashboards and custom views of data, helping you analyze aggregate information→
query data with natural language, and chat with your web to get answers to questions→
see how information changes over time, viewing the "history" of entities→
identify where information in a web came from, viewing the original source and/or claimants→
export information in a variety of formats, and sync it with other apps or databases→
share specific information of their choosing with others
Data in a HASH web can also be utilized by other applications, including LLMs, for whom HASH webs provide a strongly consistent world/domain model, enabling efficient retrieval-augmented generation (RAG).
How do webs get built?
Filling a web with detailed, useful and trustworthy information is easy with HASH, in contrast to traditional knowledge graphs and AI assistants.
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Automated research (AI): provide topics, questions or tasks for AI workers to autonomously research on your behalf→
Passive growth (AI): HASH's browser extension can automatically extract data you care about from the webpages you visit, and apps/service you use, automatically and in the background→
By hand: manually add information by hand using our powerful, easy-to-use interface→
From existing sources: integrate information from services, apps and databases you already use with one-click and easy importers
Keeping your web well-maintained and accurate is also effortlessly easy with HASH, with AI automations that support:
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Detecting and merging duplicate entities→
Identifying potentially outdated information, and seeking more up-to-date values→
Checking and cross-referencing information
How can I use HASH?
You'll need to create a free account. You'll probably also want to install the browser extension. These steps and others are covered in the Geting Started guide.
As for what you might use HASH for, this is covered in the upcoming Use Cases section of the user guide, next.
Alternative: self-hosting HASH
An alternative to using the hosted version of HASH is to self-host your own instance of HASH. This requires a degree of technical knowldege and is only recommended for advanced users.
If you're trying HASH out, or using it for the first time, we recommend following the instructions above, rather than self-hosting HASH. However, should you be techically minded, and comfortable hosting your own web services (or interested in contributing to the HASH codebase), you can follow the HASH developer docs quickstart guide to self-hosting HASH.
Because HASH is open-source, whichever version of HASH you choose now, there's no risk of lock-in, and you can decide or switch between using the hosted and self-hosted versions at any time.
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