Focus: narrative
A narrative directive asks architxt to answer a question or explore a topic in plain prose. It is the most common output type in Reflect and the simplest to turn into a curated page.
When to use a narrative focus
Use narrative when you want:
- A summary of entities, relationships, or documents.
- A walkthrough of a process or argument.
- An explanation in paragraphs with headings and lists.
- Content that is easy to edit, reorder, and save as Markdown.
What a narrative envelope looks like
A narrative envelope is a document-style result. It is composed of sections that map directly to curated-page sections:
| Element | Typical content |
|---|---|
| Title | The question or topic the narrative answers. |
| Headings | Logical sections such as “Overview”, “Key entities”, “Implications”. |
| Paragraphs | Prose paragraphs that cite or describe the underlying data. |
| Lists | Bulleted or numbered lists for grouped facts. |
Narrative output is plain text first. Diagrams, tables, and graphs are produced by other directive focuses and can be combined with narrative on a curated page.
Preview mode
In a Preview tab a narrative envelope is shown through the narrative viewer. The viewer renders headings, paragraphs, and lists and adds section-level controls.
| Control | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Index | Adds paragraph/section numbers for easy citation. |
| Plain | Strips formatting to show bare text. |
| Copy | Copies the whole narrative or an individual section. |
| Save as Markdown | Exports the rendered narrative as .md. |
Narrative previews have no diagram source tab or table grid because the content is already text.
Curated-page editing
When you copy a narrative section into a curated page, it becomes an editable text section. You can:
- Edit the prose directly in the section editor.
- Split or merge paragraphs.
- Reorder sections relative to diagrams, tables, and graphs.
- Soft-delete and restore sections until you save.
A narrative section remembers its source envelope. If the underlying query or mental model changes, you may want to re-copy the section rather than editing it by hand.
Consistency tips
To get predictable narrative results:
- Be explicit in the query about tone and depth: “summarise in three paragraphs” or “list the five most important points”.
- Use directives to constrain the answer when the bank contains many entities.
- Break large questions into smaller queries and combine the answers on a curated page.
Relationship to other pages
- Directives explains how directives shape Reflect output.
- Mental models describes the plain/derived/contextual model pipeline that feeds narratives.
- Preview and curated pages covers the broader tab model this focus type fits into.
Summary
The narrative focus is prose-first output from Reflect. It renders as a structured document in the Preview tab and maps cleanly to editable sections in curated pages.