Command documentation

map

Map relationships, paths, and neighborhoods with bounded depth.

Purpose

This command is available over HTTP, MCP and the local CLI. HTTP responses use the compact public response shape with summaries, warnings and bounded tables.

MCP connection

Use endpoint https://bible.grod.es/mcp with tool bible_map. The MCP Server Card is /.well-known/mcp/server-card.json.

Parameters

Name	Required	Description
`target`	no	Starting object for graph expansion: reference, entity, topic, Strong key, source, resource, or canonical node ID. Target grammar: natural Bible reference, or prefix:value. Examples: Deut 32:8, John 1, ref:Deut 32:8, strong:H7225, entity:Paul, source:LXX, variant:<id>, resource:<id>. Map also advertises canonical graph node-id examples.
`targets`	no	Multiple starting objects for relationship/path commands. Values may be repeated or comma-separated, and accept the same natural reference or prefixed target syntax as target; see x-valid-prefixes and x-prefix-examples.
`limit`	no	Maximum graph rows per nodes, edges, paths, or overlap table. It works together with depth and max_path_length to prevent graph explosion while keeping the neighborhood useful. Default 20, max 100.
`depth`	no	Expansion depth from 0 to 10. 0 returns direct facts for the target; 1 is the default useful context; higher values include more related context and are clamped by the server --max-depth instead of failing. For map it is the graph traversal hop depth; max_path_length can independently bound path finding.
`view`	no	Map result shape, such as summary, graph, paths, overlap, or cooccurrence. It changes graph projection, not the underlying target resolution.
`kinds`	no	Graph node/edge families to include, such as refs, entities, topics, sources, resources, strongs, variants, or semantic. It trims graph expansion.
`scope`	no	Graph boundary used to keep traversal local. Scope narrows where the command searches or audits; target is what the command is about. Scope grammar: named corpus slice, natural Bible reference, or prefix:value. Examples: corpus, Torah, Pauline epistles, Acts, ref:John 7:53-8:11, source:LXX, topic:covenant.
`scope_unit`	no	Map grouping unit for scoped graph expansion. It controls whether scoped relationships are grouped around references, chapters, books, entities, topics, or sources.
`max_path_length`	no	Maximum graph path length for map path views. It overrides depth for path expansion, has minimum 1, and is clamped at runtime by the server max of 10 to prevent runaway graph traversals.
`include_semantic`	no	Include precomputed semantic-neighbor discovery where available. It is useful for exploration, but semantic similarity is not primary textual evidence.
`query_vector`	no	External precomputed semantic query vector with exactly 384 dimensions. The API does not generate embeddings; pass this only when your client already has a compatible vector.
`query_vector_id`	no	Traceability identifier for query_vector, such as the embedding model/version or client-side vector cache key.

Required option sets: [["target"],["targets"]]

Examples

HTTP

curl -s 'https://bible.grod.es/api/map?depth=3&include_semantic=true&kinds=entities&kinds=topics&kinds=refs&max_path_length=5&target=entity%3APaul&view=graph'

MCP

{
  "arguments": {
    "depth": 3,
    "include_semantic": true,
    "kinds": [
      "entities",
      "topics",
      "refs"
    ],
    "max_path_length": 5,
    "target": "entity:Paul",
    "view": "graph"
  },
  "name": "bible_map"
}

CLI

bible map --depth 3 --view graph --kinds entities,topics,refs --max-path-length 5 --include-semantic entity:Paul

Caveats for this command

Semantic options use precomputed local vectors when available. They are discovery aids, not primary textual evidence.
DSS material is fragmentary.
LXX GreekResources data is lemma-level and not a full critical apparatus.
The runtime does not call LLM or embedding APIs.