Compliance Glossary for Confluence

What happens when links form a cycle?

Production v6 keeps cyclic relationships visible and bounds their traversal. The graph walk records an edge that returns to a visited node as a cycle. It does not enqueue the node again. Direction, hop limits, result limits, and visited-node tracking prevent an endless query while preserving the relationship for review.

Last verified against production v6 · 26 September 2026

At a glance

InputActionOutputLimit
Approved cyclic edgeDetect a previously visited nodeRecorded cycle entryCandidate and rejected edges remain excluded
Forward directionUse forward adjacency linksBounded downstream resultDirection changes which links are followed
Reverse directionUse reverse adjacency linksBounded provenance resultIt does not infer an inverse relationship
Hop and result settingsStop at enforced boundsExplicit truncation stateUp to 20 hops and 1,000 results per request

How it works

  1. Open the retained graph in Enterprise evidence workspace.
  2. Select Forward impact or Reverse provenance.
  3. Review the returned nodes and links.
  4. Inspect cycle entries in the result evidence.
  5. Check hop and result truncation states.
  6. Correct any relationship that should not be circular.

Example

Requirement A derives Requirement B, while another approved edge links B back to A. Traversal records the return edge as a cycle. It keeps both requirements visible and does not revisit A indefinitely. The team can then decide whether the circular relationship is valid or a governance error.

What this does not mean

Cycle handling protects query execution. It does not decide whether a circular relationship is correct. Evidence owners remain responsible for reviewing the graph and correcting invalid links.

Related questions

Next step

Review every recorded cycle before relying on the trace for a release or investigation.

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Verification basis: production v6 code, tests, manifest, and operations guidance. Verified 26 September 2026.