Using Vythos

Update a rule

You don't edit rules in Vythos. You edit the document, and the rule follows.

Every rule tells you exactly how, in its own row: open a rule and the line under the text says what to do for that document's source.

Google Drive and Notion

Edit the file. Change the wording in the Google Doc, the Sheet, or the Notion page. Within about ten minutes the rule shows a new version, and the old version is kept.

Or upload a new version of the same file. For a PDF or a Word file in Drive, right-click the file → File information → Manage versions → Upload new version. That keeps the same file, so the rule follows it. Saving the new document as a separate file does not.

A new file is not an update

Rate Card 2026.pdf sitting next to Rate Card 2025.pdf is a different document, and Vythos will not transfer a rule to it on its own — a "v2" in a folder is as often a draft as a replacement. Add the new file with Add rule and tick that it replaces the old one.

Uploaded files

Upload the file again under the same name, from Sources → Local Files. The new text becomes the next version of the rule.

Only the person who added the rule updates it this way. A colleague uploading a file that happens to have the same name is uploading their file; it doesn't touch your rule.

What counts as a change

Vythos compares the words. So:

• Reworded, re-figured, sections added or removed → new version.
• Renamed or moved the file → nothing changes; the rule follows the file itself, not its name or folder.
• Opened, commented on, re-saved with no edits → nothing. Vythos notices the file was touched, reads it, sees the same words, and leaves the rule alone.

How long it takes

About ten minutes, and never more than that in normal operation — Vythos checks each rule's document on that cycle. The checks are light, and nothing is re-read unless the document has actually changed, so this costs your Drive or Notion account almost nothing.

If you want to see it happen, change a number and watch the rule's version badge.

What happens to the values

The new values come from the new text. If everything you had confirmed is still stated in the document, the rule stays confirmed. If a confirmed value changed, the rule's values go back to unconfirmed — a new reading nobody has checked — until you confirm them again. See Values.

What happens to work already in progress

Nothing breaks. When an AI tool asked for context, Vythos recorded which version of each rule it handed over, and a draft is checked against that version. Your writer is never told off for following the rule they were given.

If the rule stops following

If Vythos can't read the document any more — deleted, binned, access withdrawn — the rule keeps working with the text it last read and shows an orange note explaining why. See When a file can't be read.

Rules with no document behind them

Every rule you add points at a document. A workspace that has been running since before rules were document-backed may still hold one that doesn't — it has no source link and no update line on its row, and nothing will ever change it. To put it back under a document, add that document with Add rule and tick that it replaces the old rule.