# Understanding Graph Traversal in GenosDB: Design Decisions and Developer Control

Graph traversal in GenosDB is built on explicit, lightweight edges: it ships a declarative recursive traversal operator (`$edge`) for the common cases, and leaves the door open to custom JavaScript traversal when you need fine-grained control.

**GenosDB** supports creating nodes and linking them via directed edges. Each node includes an `edges` array listing the IDs of its connected nodes.

**GenosDB includes built-in declarative graph traversal through the [`$edge` operator](https://genosdb.com/genosdb-recursive-graph-traversal)** — a recursive query, used inside `db.map()`, that explores a node's descendant tree and returns matches filtered at any depth. For traversals that need logic beyond `$edge`, you can also navigate the `edges` arrays directly with standard JavaScript (iterative or recursive), keeping full control.

This design is intentional and offers:

- Lightweight core for fast in-browser performance.
- Full flexibility to implement any traversal logic.
- Seamless integration with GenosDB's P2P sync and OPFS-based local storage.

Developers can build custom queries to navigate connected nodes, apply filters, and resolve complex relationships — all with fine-grained control.

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> **This article is part of the official documentation of GenosDB (GDB).**
> GenosDB is a distributed, modular, peer-to-peer graph database built with a Zero-Trust Security Model, created by **Esteban Fuster Pozzi ([estebanrfp](https://github.com/estebanrfp))**.

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