---
title: Quick Start
description: Your first RDF knowledge graph in 5 minutes
---

import { CodePlayground } from '../../../components';

# Quick Start

Build your first RDF knowledge graph in 5 minutes.

## Step 1: Create a Store

```javascript
import { createStore } from '@unrdf/core';

const store = createStore();
```

The store is an in-memory RDF triple store backed by Oxigraph WASM.

---

## Step 2: Create RDF Terms

```javascript
import { dataFactory } from '@unrdf/core';

// Named nodes (IRIs)
const alice = dataFactory.namedNode('http://example.org/alice');
const knows = dataFactory.namedNode('http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/knows');
const bob = dataFactory.namedNode('http://example.org/bob');

// Literals
const name = dataFactory.literal('Alice', 'en');
const age = dataFactory.literal(30);
```

---

## Step 3: Create and Add Quads

```javascript
const quad1 = dataFactory.quad(alice, knows, bob);
const quad2 = dataFactory.quad(
  alice,
  dataFactory.namedNode('http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/name'),
  name
);

store.add(quad1);
store.add(quad2);

console.log(`Store size: ${store.size}`); // 2
```

---

## Step 4: Query the Store

```javascript
// Find all quads with alice as subject
const results = store.match(alice, null, null);

for (const quad of results) {
  console.log(quad.predicate.value);
  console.log(quad.object.value);
}
```

---

## Interactive Example

Try it yourself! Click "Run" to execute the code:

<CodePlayground runtime="browser" package="@unrdf/core">
```javascript
import { createStore, dataFactory } from '@unrdf/core';

const store = createStore();

// Create terms
const alice = dataFactory.namedNode('http://example.org/alice');
const knows = dataFactory.namedNode('http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/knows');
const bob = dataFactory.namedNode('http://example.org/bob');

// Create and add quad
const quad = dataFactory.quad(alice, knows, bob);
store.add(quad);

console.log(`✅ Added ${store.size} quad(s) to the store`);
console.log(`Alice knows: ${quad.object.value}`);
```
</CodePlayground>

---

## Complete Example

Here's a complete working example:

```javascript
import { createStore, dataFactory } from '@unrdf/core';

// Create store
const store = createStore();

// Define vocabulary
const ex = (term) => dataFactory.namedNode(`http://example.org/${term}`);
const foaf = (term) => dataFactory.namedNode(`http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/${term}`);

// Create people
const alice = ex('alice');
const bob = ex('bob');
const charlie = ex('charlie');

// Add relationships
store.add(dataFactory.quad(alice, foaf('knows'), bob));
store.add(dataFactory.quad(alice, foaf('knows'), charlie));
store.add(dataFactory.quad(bob, foaf('knows'), charlie));

// Add names
store.add(dataFactory.quad(alice, foaf('name'), dataFactory.literal('Alice')));
store.add(dataFactory.quad(bob, foaf('name'), dataFactory.literal('Bob')));

// Query: Who does Alice know?
const aliceKnows = store.match(alice, foaf('knows'), null);

console.log('Alice knows:');
for (const quad of aliceKnows) {
  const person = quad.object;
  const nameQuads = store.match(person, foaf('name'), null);

  for (const nameQuad of nameQuads) {
    console.log(`- ${nameQuad.object.value}`);
  }
}
```

---

## Next Steps

- **[Basic Usage](/guides/basic-usage)** - Learn core patterns
- **[API Reference](/api/core)** - Explore the full API
- **[Examples](/examples)** - More interactive examples
- **[Concepts](/concepts/rdf-fundamentals)** - Understand RDF deeply

---

## Key Concepts

### Store
A triple store that holds RDF quads (subject-predicate-object-graph).

### Data Factory
Factory functions for creating RDF terms (named nodes, literals, blank nodes).

### Quad
A single RDF statement: `(subject, predicate, object, graph?)`.

### Pattern Matching
Query quads using `store.match(s?, p?, o?, g?)` where `?` means "any".

---

## Common Patterns

### Importing multiple terms

```javascript
import { createStore, dataFactory } from '@unrdf/core';
const { namedNode, literal, quad } = dataFactory;
```

### Creating vocabularies

```javascript
const vocab = (prefix) => (term) =>
  dataFactory.namedNode(`${prefix}${term}`);

const foaf = vocab('http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/');
const schema = vocab('http://schema.org/');

const person = foaf('Person');
const name = schema('name');
```

### Bulk operations

```javascript
const quads = [
  quad(s1, p1, o1),
  quad(s2, p2, o2),
  quad(s3, p3, o3),
];

quads.forEach((q) => store.add(q));
```

---

## Validation

All quads are validated at runtime using Zod:

```javascript
import { QuadSchema } from '@unrdf/core';

const result = QuadSchema.safeParse(quad);

if (!result.success) {
  console.error('Invalid quad:', result.error);
}
```

---

You're ready to build knowledge graphs! 🎉