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@@ -12,3 +12,4 @@ Background context and design decisions.
 
 - [[design]] — Hephaestus design document: vision, data model, architecture, sync, and roadmap
 - [[task-lifecycle]] — the two-axis task model (lifecycle state × attention), drop vs delete, and where each task shows up
+- [[hub-spoke-data-evolution]] — why op-based sync lets most new features skip migrations, and when a coordinated SQLite migration is actually required
diff --git a/docs/explanation/hub-spoke-data-evolution.md b/docs/explanation/hub-spoke-data-evolution.md
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@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
+---
+title: Hub + Spoke Data Evolution
+modified: 2026-06-05
+tags:
+  - explanation
+  - sync
+---
+
+# Hub + Spoke Data Evolution
+
+How the data model evolves safely when nodes run different versions across the
+hub/spoke deployment (indri is the hub; see [[set-up-sync-hub]] and
+[[host-heph-pwa]]). The short version: **sync is op-based, not schema-based**, so
+most new features need no coordinated migration — but adding a SQLite *column*
+does.
+
+## Two independent layers
+
+heph keeps two layers that evolve on different clocks:
+
+1. **The op-log (synced).** Every change is an operation — `node.create`,
+   `node.set`, `task.set`, `link.add`, `link.remove`, … — carrying an HLC, an
+   origin device, and a JSON payload. Spokes push/pull ops to/from the hub; both
+   sides run the **same** merge logic from `heph-core` (`sqlite/apply.rs`). This
+   is the only thing that crosses the wire.
+2. **The SQLite schema (local, per node).** Each node materializes ops into local
+   tables. The schema version is tracked by SQLite's `PRAGMA user_version` and
+   advanced by the ordered, append-only migration list in
+   `heph-core/src/sqlite/migrations.rs`. **No schema or migration state is ever
+   synced.** A spoke can sit on an older schema than the hub indefinitely.
+
+Because the wire format is ops — not rows — a node only has to understand the
+*ops* its peers emit, not their table layout.
+
+## What forward/backward compatibility already buys you
+
+The merge engine is deliberately lenient:
+
+- **Unknown op types are stored but not applied** (`apply.rs`) — a spoke that
+  receives a newer op type keeps it in the log (so a later upgrade can replay it)
+  but doesn't choke on it.
+- **Unknown payload fields are ignored.** Field extraction is by name
+  (`str_field` / `i64_field`), so a payload with extra keys an older node doesn't
+  recognize just drops the extras.
+- **Links are schema-free.** A link's `type` is a string column. A brand-new link
+  kind (a new `LinkType`) needs no migration — every version reads it as text and
+  applies OR-set add/remove identically.
+
+## The rule of thumb
+
+| Change | Needs coordinated migration? |
+|--------|------------------------------|
+| New `LinkType` (e.g. a new relationship between nodes) | **No** — just emit `link.add` with the new `type` string |
+| New optional/nullable scalar carried in an op payload | **No, if** every node's `apply` reads it defensively and tolerates its absence |
+| New *read-side* feature over existing data (counts, hierarchy from existing `parent` links) | **No** — pure local queries, no op or schema change |
+| New **required** SQLite column that `apply` must write on every relevant op | **Yes** — old spokes lack the column and the `UPDATE` fails |
+| Renaming/removing a column other nodes' `apply` paths reference | **Yes** |
+
+## When a migration *is* required, do it hub-first
+
+If a change genuinely needs a new column that the apply path writes:
+
+1. Ship the migration to **every** node (hub and all spokes) **before** any node
+   emits an op that depends on the new column. The migration list is
+   append-only and ordered, so rolling the new `hephd` out everywhere is the
+   gate.
+2. Keep new columns **nullable / defaulted** so an op that predates the column
+   still applies, and so a node that hasn't yet upgraded degrades to "field
+   absent" rather than erroring.
+3. Prefer encoding the new fact as a **link or an op-payload field** over a new
+   column whenever you can — that keeps the change in the no-migration column of
+   the table above.
+
+## Worked example: indented, counted projects
+
+The sidebar's subproject indentation and per-project task counts (see
+[[install-heph]] and the agenda surface in [[design]] §8.1) are a pure read-side
+feature:
+
+- **Nesting** is read from `parent` links that already exist — created by
+  `heph project add <name> --parent <parent>` — via the existing
+  `project_subtree` traversal.
+- **Counts** are a read-only `SELECT … GROUP BY` over the `tasks`/`links` tables.
+
+No new column, no new op type, no migration — it works against a hub and a spoke
+on any schema version that already understands `parent` links. That is the case
+the rule of thumb is meant to make obvious.