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AtomSpace is Hyperon's universal knowledge substrate — a typed, content-addressed metagraph that co-locates symbols, tensors, truth values, motives, and edit operations, so that distinct cognitive processes can interoperate over one shared memory and control plane. This card provides technical depth beyond the concise {{About Hyperon+AtomSpace|view:link;title:AtomSpace index card}}. One thing to know up front: “AtomSpace” is not a single piece of software but a concept implemented across four layers (classical C++, the Rust Hyperon Space, the distributed DAS, and the high-performance MORK kernel) — the Implementations section below sorts out which is which.
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Papers: Goertzel (2025), Hyperon Whitepaper §2.1–2.2; Vepstas (2023), Graphs, Metagraphs, RAM, CPU v2.1.1 (also TODS 2024 submission); Vepstas, Sheaves series (sheaf docs)
Status: Current. The AtomSpace concept is implemented across a four-layer taxonomy: Layer 1 Classical AtomSpace (opencog/atomspace, mature C++/Scheme/Python, v5.0+) maintained independently by Linas Vepstas; Layer 2 Hyperon Space (trueagi-io/hyperon-experimental, Rust reimplementation with deep Python integration); Layer 3 DAS (distributed AtomSpace, see {{Knowledge Representations+DAS (Distributed AtomSpace)+DAS Deep Dive|view:link;title:DAS Deep Dive}}); Layer 4 MORK (high-performance triemap kernel, see {{Knowledge Representations+MORK (MeTTa Optimized Reduction Kernel)+MORK Deep Dive|view:link;title:MORK Deep Dive}}). The abstract Space API enabling multiple backend implementations is operational. See the {{About Hyperon+AtomSpace+AtomSpace Deep Dive+Implementations|view:link;title:Implementations}} subcard below for the per-layer detail.
Related cards: {{Knowledge Representations+MORK (MeTTa Optimized Reduction Kernel)+MORK Deep Dive|view:link;title:MORK Deep Dive}} (high-performance backend), {{Knowledge Representations+DAS (Distributed AtomSpace)+DAS Deep Dive|view:link;title:DAS Deep Dive}} (distributed backend), {{Knowledge Representations+PathMap|view:link;title:PathMap}} (foundational trie substrate), {{Implementation Families+AtomSpace Backend Integration|view:link;title:AtomSpace Backend Integration}} (synthesis / Phase-3-and-Phase-4 integration plan), {{Hyperon AI Algorithms+PLN (Probabilistic Logic Networks)+PLN Deep Dive|view:link;title:PLN Deep Dive}} (reasoning over AtomSpace), {{MeTTa Programming Language+MeTTa Programming Language Deep Dive|view:link;title:MeTTa Deep Dive}} (execution language), {{About Hyperon+OpenCog Legacy+History|view:link;title:History}} (historical evolution)
Core Concept and Data Model
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Values and Space API
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Implementations
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Status and Resources
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{{+Design Evolution and Performance|view:link;title:History and design lineage →}}
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AtomSpace is Hyperon's universal knowledge substrate — a typed, content-addressed metagraph that co-locates symbols, tensors, truth values, motives, and edit operations, so that distinct cognitive processes can interoperate over one shared memory and control plane. This card provides technical depth beyond the concise {{About Hyperon+AtomSpace|view:link;title:AtomSpace index card}}. One thing to know up front: “AtomSpace” is not a single piece of software but a concept implemented across four layers (classical C++, the Rust Hyperon Space, the distributed DAS, and the high-performance MORK kernel) — the Implementations section below sorts out which is which.
Contributors: {{+contributor|content;item:link}}
Status: Current. The AtomSpace concept is implemented across a four-layer taxonomy: Layer 1 Classical AtomSpace (opencog/atomspace, mature C++/Scheme/Python, v5.0+) maintained independently by Linas Vepstas; Layer 2 Hyperon Space (trueagi-io/hyperon-experimental, Rust reimplementation with deep Python integration); Layer 3 DAS (distributed AtomSpace, see {{Knowledge Representations+DAS (Distributed AtomSpace)+DAS Deep Dive|view:link;title:DAS Deep Dive}}); Layer 4 MORK (high-performance triemap kernel, see {{Knowledge Representations+MORK (MeTTa Optimized Reduction Kernel)+MORK Deep Dive|view:link;title:MORK Deep Dive}}). The abstract Space API enabling multiple backend implementations is operational. See the {{About Hyperon+AtomSpace+AtomSpace Deep Dive+Implementations|view:link;title:Implementations}} subcard below for the per-layer detail.
Related cards: {{Knowledge Representations+MORK (MeTTa Optimized Reduction Kernel)+MORK Deep Dive|view:link;title:MORK Deep Dive}} (high-performance backend), {{Knowledge Representations+DAS (Distributed AtomSpace)+DAS Deep Dive|view:link;title:DAS Deep Dive}} (distributed backend), {{Knowledge Representations+PathMap|view:link;title:PathMap}} (foundational trie substrate), {{Implementation Families+AtomSpace Backend Integration|view:link;title:AtomSpace Backend Integration}} (synthesis / Phase-3-and-Phase-4 integration plan), {{Hyperon AI Algorithms+PLN (Probabilistic Logic Networks)+PLN Deep Dive|view:link;title:PLN Deep Dive}} (reasoning over AtomSpace), {{MeTTa Programming Language+MeTTa Programming Language Deep Dive|view:link;title:MeTTa Deep Dive}} (execution language), {{About Hyperon+OpenCog Legacy+History|view:link;title:History}} (historical evolution)
Core Concept and Data Model
{{+Core Concept and Data Model|content}}
Values and Space API
{{+Values and Space API|content}}
Implementations
{{+Implementations|content}}
Status and Resources
{{+Status and Resources|content}}
{{+Design Evolution and Performance|view:link;title:History and design lineage →}}
{{+tags|titled;title:Tags}}
{{+discussion|titled;title:Discussion}}