How to Read This Tutorial
This tutorial is structured progressively, with each section building on the previous ones.
Tutorial Structure
- Hello, World! gets you from zero to a working decision graph in about five minutes.
- Real-World Workflows shows how deciduous actually gets used with Claude Code, including realistic terminal sessions.
- Viewing the Graph covers the three ways to explore your decisions: TUI, web viewer, and CLI.
- Sharing with Others explains the multi-user sync system for teams.
- Advanced Topics covers branch grouping, commit linking, and other power features.
- Plumbing Reference documents every command in detail.
You can read straight through, or jump to the section you need. The Hello, World! section is recommended for everyone to establish the basics.
Conventions
Terminal Commands
Commands you type are shown with a $ prefix:
$ deciduous add goal "Add user authentication" -c 90 Created node #1: goal "Add user authentication"
Lines without the $ are output from the command.
Claude Code Sessions
When showing Claude Code sessions, I use a terminal-style box:
The > indicates your input to Claude. The rest is Claude's response and actions.
Screenshots
Screenshots are indicated with placeholders:
These placeholders mark where actual screenshots should be added.
Info Boxes
Blue boxes contain additional information or context.
Yellow boxes indicate important warnings or gotchas.
Green boxes contain helpful tips and best practices.
Keyboard Shortcuts
Keyboard shortcuts are shown in boxes: j k Enter
Node Types
Node types are color-coded throughout:
- goal — High-level objectives
- decision — Choice points
- option — Approaches considered
- action — Implementation steps
- outcome — Results
- observation — Discoveries and insights
Prerequisites
This tutorial assumes you:
- Are comfortable with the command line
- Have Rust installed (for
cargo install) - Optionally use Claude Code or another AI coding assistant
No prior knowledge of decision graphs or graph databases is needed.
Getting Help
If you get stuck:
- Run
deciduous --helpfor command documentation - Check the Plumbing Reference for detailed command info
- Open an issue on GitHub