Tools find the current version by following the chain of npx:supersedes links forward from any version, staying with nanopublications signed by the same key, and stopping at the last one that has not itself been superseded or retracted. Nanopub Query provides this as a service, so every tool resolves versions the same way.

For things governed by a space, an alternative rule applies alongside: the current version is the newest one published by a member of that space, whatever key signed it. That is what allows a community to carry a definition forward after its original author has left.