Registry metadata

Each ontology in the registry is described by one file, ontology/{id}.md, in the website repository. The file has YAML front matter holding the metadata, followed by a Markdown body holding a longer description. This is the same arrangement the OBO Foundry uses.

The front matter is validated against the JSON Schema in util/schema/registry_schema.json on every pull request. From these files the build generates:

• the registry page and one page per ontology,
• machine-readable registries at registry/ontologies.yml and registry/ontologies.jsonld,
• the .htaccess redirects for w3id.org/lof.

Fields

Field	Required	Meaning
id	yes	Lower-case identifier; must match the file name.
preferred_prefix	yes	Upper-case prefix for term IRIs.
title	yes	Full title.
description	yes	One-sentence description.
domain	yes	The part of legal reality covered.
jurisdictions	yes	Jurisdictions or traditions in scope, or general (LOF-P-010).
status	yes	draft, candidate, accepted, or deprecated.
activity_status	yes	active, inactive, or orphaned.
repository	yes	GitHub repository URL.
tracker	yes	Issue tracker URL.
license	yes	label and url.
contact	yes	label, email, and github (LOF-P-017).
homepage	no	Defaults to the repository.
branch	no	Release branch; defaults to main.
dependencies	no	List of ids: registry ids or bfo, ro, iao, cco.
usages	no	List of description and optional url (LOF-P-016).
publications	no	List of id (DOI or URL) and title.
review	no	date and issue URL of the review that set the status.
replaced_by	no	For deprecated ontologies, the successor's id.

Status

status	Meaning
draft	Registered and under development. The prefix is reserved.
candidate	Submitted for review against the principles.
accepted	Reviewed and found to satisfy the principles.
deprecated	Superseded or no longer maintained. Identifiers remain resolvable.

activity_status	Meaning
active	Maintainers are responsive and releases are current.
inactive	No release or issue activity for 12 months.
orphaned	Maintainers have withdrawn; new maintainers sought.

Discussion