Three app screens in front of a locked wall, with a database peeking over the top
Archive for Dummies, explained like you're 12 · 1 of 9

Every app is secretly a database.

Notion, Salesforce, NetSuite, QuickBooks, Google Sheets, even Claude. Behind the screen, every one of them keeps your stuff in a database.

You decide what your business runs on.

Your ontology is the map of your business: every kind of thing you work with and how it all connects. You shape it together with your AI, and it stays yours to keep, move or change.

A client building, a house, an invoice, a contract folder and an order, linked together on one base

You shape it, with your AI.

Describe a change in plain words and your assistant prepares it, or make it yourself. You see exactly what will change, and nothing happens until you say yes.

Add a new kind of thing, a new detail or a new link in minutes, without waiting on a vendor or a consultant.

A workbench where a structure is being reshaped

Defined by you, connected your way.

Clients, properties, invoices and contracts each become a kind of thing with the details you care about. A property links to its owner, an invoice to its client, a contract to its files.

It follows how your business works, not how some app decided it should.

A grid of linked records rising out of a storage cylinder

Your data, in the open.

Everything sits in a standard, open database, never in a format only one app understands. Your whole setup can be pulled as plain files and kept with your own records.

Any tool, team or assistant you choose can read it.

A platform with a database, a server and an antenna

Take it anywhere, anytime.

Copy everything whenever you like, move it to another provider or your own servers, or run Archive yourself. It is open source, so you never need our permission.

You stay because it works for you, not because leaving is hard.

A database being wheeled out through an open door

Your AI works for you.

ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Grok all follow the same map and the same rules you set. They never see more than you allow, and you can switch between them whenever you want.

A central building of records connected to assistants around it

Everything built in.

The pieces you would otherwise build yourself, ready from day one.

Search everywhere

  • One search across everything you can see
  • Finds words as you type, ignoring case and accents
  • Every new kind of thing is searchable right away

Board and calendar

  • Group records on a board, say by status
  • Place them on a calendar by date
  • Remove a board anytime; your records stay put

Terraform, too

  • Your engineers can manage the ontology with Terraform
  • Only real changes show up, never false alarms
  • Access keys and permissions live right alongside it

Details that tidy themselves.

Archive cleans up whatever comes in, so the same phone number or price looks the same wherever it came from.

DetailKeepsYou can type, for example
EmailAn email address, tidied up[email protected]
PhoneA phone number in one standard format(415) 555-0132
MoneyAn amount and its currency$1,234.50
AddressStreet, city, state, ZIP code and countryA mailing address
NameThe full name and its partsAnn Lee
Date and timeThe exact moment, with its time zone2026-10-27 09:30
QuantityA measurement and the unit it came in5 km
LocationLatitude and longitude37.77, -122.42
Bank and tax numbersChecked so a mistyped digit is caughtSpaces and dashes are fine
Card, Social Security and passport numbersLocked away and shown maskedRevealed only to people you allow
Web addressesLinks and domains, tidied upExample.com/
Book and product codesISBNs and barcodes in one standard formOld and new ISBNs, and store barcodes
Durations and repeatsHow long something takes, and how often it repeatsStandard calendar formats
Country, state and languageStandard codes everyone recognizesUS, US-CA, en-US

Questions.

More in the docs.

What is an ontology?

A map of your business: the kinds of things you work with, like clients, properties and invoices, what you know about each, and how they connect.

Who decides how it is set up?

You do. Your AI can suggest and prepare changes, but nothing changes until you confirm it.

Can I take my data with me?

Yes. Your records sit in a standard, open database and your setup can be pulled as plain files. Copy all of it whenever you like, with no request to us.

Can I move to my own servers?

Yes. Archive is open source. Move everything to another provider or your own servers, or run Archive yourself, and it works the same.

Am I tied to one AI?

No. ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Grok all work with the same map and the same rules, so you can switch whenever you want.

Can I delete something by accident?

No. Removing a kind of thing takes a deliberate extra step, and a renamed detail keeps everything in it.

Run your business on your terms.

Free for your first workspace. No card, no sales call.