# Three shapes of data

> Responses an artifact collects, collections you edit, and datasets that join them across artifacts.

Kind: concept · ~3 min · Verified v0.70.0 · Next: [Versions and publishing](https://pr-765-stg.superartifacts.app/docs/versions-and-publishing.md)

```mermaid
flowchart LR
  A("Artifact responses<br/>declared by the agent's policy") --> D("Data page")
  C("Collections<br/>fields you edit in the app") --> D
  S("Datasets<br/>one series across artifacts") --> D
  D --> M1("super_data<br/>super_data_query")
  D --> M2("super_entries")
```

Super Artifacts holds data in three shapes. They differ in **who writes the rules**, and that decides everything else about them.

## Responses an artifact collects

When an artifact takes in what visitors type, its agent **declares a policy** at publish: the fields, who may read each answer back, how long to keep them, which ones are about a person. The artifact only declares. The platform enforces, because code inside an artifact is the one thing that cannot be trusted to enforce its own rules.

A policy is **additive**. A later version may add fields, but a field name keeps its type for good, because the answers already collected would no longer fit; to change one, the agent adds a new field that replaces it. An artifact with no policy collects nothing.

## Collections you edit

A **collection** is a table a person authors in the app: fields, entries, links between collections, and some fields kept encrypted. You edit the shape freely, because you know what it was meant to hold. A collection can have more kinds of field than a policy can, since nobody's prompt gets longer when one is added.

## Datasets across artifacts

A **dataset** is the name an artifact's responses are filed under. Datasets that share a **series** can be queried as one, so a question can span a survey and the one that replaced it. A series says what may be read together; it says nothing about who may read it.

## Where each reads back

All three appear on the **Data** page. An agent reads responses with `super_data` and `super_data_query`, and collection entries with `super_entries`. Sizes and counts are in [Limits](https://pr-765-stg.superartifacts.app/docs/reference/limits.md).

Next: [Limits](https://pr-765-stg.superartifacts.app/docs/reference/limits.md)