Import & Export

Collate is not a dead end for your semantics. An ontology authored in Protégé, exported from an EDM tool, or produced by a standards body can be imported as first-class glossary terms and typed relations, and exported back out in a form other tools accept. Open Import / Export from the Ontology Studio header.

Import

Accepted Formats

Syntax	Extensions	`format` value
Turtle	`.ttl`	`turtle` (default)
OWL / RDF/XML	`.rdf`, `.owl`, `.xml`	`rdfxml`
N-Triples	`.nt`	`ntriples`
JSON-LD	`.jsonld`, `.json`	`jsonld`

The modal auto-detects the syntax from the file you choose. JSON-LD can use inline contexts or the bundled Collate contexts.

What Gets Mapped

Source construct	Becomes
`skos:Concept` / `owl:Class`	Glossary term (concept)
`skos:broader` / `rdfs:subClassOf`	Parent hierarchy
`owl:ObjectProperty` edges	Governed typed relationships
`owl:DatatypeProperty` definitions	Per-concept ontology attributes
`skos:exactMatch`, `closeMatch`, `broadMatch`, `narrowMatch`, `relatedMatch`	Concept mappings
Everything else in the file	Preserved in the lossless annex (below)

Relationship types referenced by the ontology are registered if they do not already exist, that step requires admin, so a non-admin import proceeds without registering new global types rather than silently escalating privileges.

Dry Run First

Parse / dry run validates the file and produces a full preview with nothing persisted. The result reports:

Terms created and terms updated
Relations added and relationship types registered
Concept mappings added
Per-concept attributes created
Messages for anything skipped or needing review
A SHACL validation report when validation is enabled

Only after you review that do you commit. On commit, imported terms enter Draft status if the target glossary has reviewers configured, so an import lands in your normal approval flow instead of bypassing it.

The Lossless Annex

Real-world ontologies contain more than Collate’s model represents, annotation properties, provenance triples, vendor extensions, SWRL rules. Discarding them would make import a one-way door. Instead, Collate computes the difference between the source graph and what it represented natively, canonicalizes it, and stores it as an annex revision keyed by content checksum against the glossary. On export, the annex is merged back in. That is what makes the round-trip honest: what you import is what you get back, even for the parts Collate does not model itself.

API

curl -X PUT "$COLLATE_HOST/api/v1/glossaries/name/{glossaryName}/importRdf?format=turtle&dryRun=true" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: text/turtle" \
  --data-binary @my-ontology.ttl

Set dryRun=false to commit. Requires EditAll on the target glossary. Content types accepted: text/turtle, application/rdf+xml, application/n-triples, application/ld+json, text/plain.

Export

Formats

Format	Extension	What it is
OWL	`.owl`	RDF/XML, classes and object properties.
SKOS / SKOS-XL	`.ttl`	Concept scheme with labels and mappings.
JSON-LD	`.jsonld`	Linked-data context for interchange.
CSV (template)	`.csv`	Bulk round-trip for terms and relations, via the standard glossary CSV export.

Options

Include inverse relationships: emit the inverse of each typed relation as well, using each relationship type’s declared owl:inverseOf. Maps to the includeRelations API parameter.
Validate with SHACL shapes before export (admin only), run SHACL validation first and warn if the model does not conform. Violations do not block the export; you get the report and decide. Run SHACL report downloads the full sh:ValidationReport as Turtle.

A live, syntax-highlighted preview of the serialized output is rendered beside the options, showing exactly what you are about to download before you download it. Selecting All glossaries exports each model and merges the results into one document.

What Is Exported

The export is built from the database-primary model, not the triple store, so it works with RDF disabled. It includes:

The glossary as an owl:Ontology / skos:ConceptScheme with its base IRI and prefixes
Concepts with labels, definitions, and IRIs
Hierarchy
Typed relationships, with each relationship type declared as an owl:ObjectProperty carrying its characteristics and owl:inverseOf
Ontology attributes as owl:DatatypeProperty declarations
Authored OWL axioms
Concept mappings as skos:*Match / owl:sameAs
The lossless annex

API

# Turtle (default)
curl "$COLLATE_HOST/api/v1/glossaries/{id}/exportOntology" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"

# RDF/XML without inverse relations
curl "$COLLATE_HOST/api/v1/glossaries/{id}/exportOntology?format=rdfxml&includeRelations=false" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"

Requires ViewAll on the glossary. format accepts turtle, rdfxml, ntriples, jsonld.

Exporting the Graph, Not the Model

The formats above export one ontology model. To export a slice of the knowledge graph, an entity and its neighborhood, including instance data, use GET /api/v1/rdf/graph/explore/export (Turtle or JSON-LD, admin only), or GET /api/v1/rdf/ontology for the canonical OpenMetadata ontology itself.

Ontology Library

Pre-verified packs that install without an import step.

Reasoning & Validation

What SHACL validation checks.

Ontology & Knowledge Graph

Import & Export an Ontology | Collate

Import & Export

Import

Accepted Formats

What Gets Mapped

Dry Run First

The Lossless Annex

API

Export

Formats

Options

What Is Exported

API

Exporting the Graph, Not the Model

Next

Ontology Library

Reasoning & Validation

​Import & Export

​Import

​Accepted Formats

​What Gets Mapped

​Dry Run First

​The Lossless Annex

​API

​Export

​Formats

​Options

​What Is Exported

​API

​Exporting the Graph, Not the Model

​Next

Ontology Library

Reasoning & Validation

Import & Export

Import

Accepted Formats

What Gets Mapped

Dry Run First

The Lossless Annex

API

Export

Formats

Options

What Is Exported

API

Exporting the Graph, Not the Model

Next