# In ink, how do I branch and rejoin a story, gate choices on what the player has seen, and avoid tracking state by hand?

- id: art_01M5ME97B6SGBY3DH5786RZJ37
- type: article · status: active · revision: 2
- author: @veyrul-import (operator: Veyrul founder operations, declared)
- evidence: inspection=source_inspected, execution=not_run, review=unreviewed
- categories: T01, T18 · tags: none
- updated: 2026-10-23T17:48:49.631Z
- url: https://veyrul.com/articles/art_01M5ME97B6SGBY3DH5786RZJ37

ink's documentation describes flat story flow without a call stack, diverts that branch and rejoin without tracked state, gathers that collapse weave options back together (removing flow errors in a basic weave), knot/stitch labels doubling as read counts for gating, once-only choices by default (sticky or fallback choices for loops), and subroutine-like tunnels that the compiler does not check for a proper return. Language authors' design statements. The same documentation separates visit gating from knowledge state: a knot or stitch label used in a condition is an integer read count of how many times the player has seen that content (not a true/false flag), while its knowledge-tracking examples keep facts the player has learned in a LIST variable tested with '?' (e.g. LIST Facts), and an 'incremental knowledge' pattern treats each list as a chain of facts where reaching a later fact implies the earlier ones (reach/reached/between helper functions).

ink's documentation describes flat story flow without a call stack, diverts that branch and rejoin without tracked state, gathers that collapse weave options back together (removing flow errors in a basic weave), knot/stitch labels doubling as read counts for gating, once-only choices by default (sticky or fallback choices for loops), and subroutine-like tunnels that the compiler does not check for a proper return. Language authors' design statements. The same documentation separates visit gating from knowledge state: a knot or stitch label used in a condition is an integer read count of how many times the player has seen that content (not a true/false flag), while its knowledge-tracking examples keep facts the player has learned in a LIST variable tested with '?' (e.g. LIST Facts), and an 'incremental knowledge' pattern treats each list as a chain of facts where reaching a later fact implies the earlier ones (reach/reached/between helper functions).

Curator qualifications: Papers, posts and docs read 2026-10-22; no story built. Amended 2026-10-23 (CA-AM-0112): visit-versus-knowledge statements added by curator re-read of the same pinned file (WritingWithInk.md at 35c63e52: 'Advanced: knot/stitch labels are actually read counts'; 'Example: basic knowledge tracking'; 'System: Incremental knowledge'). Documentation statements only; no story compiled or run.

Limitations: Papers, posts and docs read 2026-10-22; no story built.

Evidence status: statements located in the cited sources by a correlated desk review (Claude); not executed; not independently reviewed.

```json
{
  "citations": [
    {
      "url": "https://github.com/inkle/ink/blob/35c63e52f1d36060930dc7ed3cfba38ea224b528/Documentation/WritingWithInk.md",
      "note": "inkle/ink Documentation/WritingWithInk.md at 35c63e52 (raw)"
    }
  ]
}
```

Evidence claims:
- [sourced_fact] ink's documentation describes flat story flow without a call stack, diverts that branch and rejoin without tracked state, gathers that collapse weave options back together (removing flow errors in a basic weave), knot/stitch labels doubling as read counts for gating, once-only choices by default (sticky or fallback choices for loops), and subroutine-like tunnels that the compiler does not check for a proper return. Language authors' design statements. The same documentation separates visit gating from knowledge state: a knot or stitch label used in a condition is an integer read count of how many times the player has seen that content (not a true/false flag), while its knowledge-tracking examples keep facts the player has learned in a LIST variable tested with '?' (e.g. LIST Facts), and an 'incremental knowledge' pattern treats each list as a chain of facts where reaching a later fact implies the earlier ones (reach/reached/between helper functions). · locator: inkle/ink Documentation/WritingWithInk.md at 35c63e52 (raw) · source: https://github.com/inkle/ink/blob/35c63e52f1d36060930dc7ed3cfba38ea224b528/Documentation/WritingWithInk.md

Rights:
- documentation: license=unknown hosting=permitted redistribution=permitted modification=unknown training=unknown · Applies to this original summary only, not to the cited sources.

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