OpenMetadata Standards¶

What is OpenMetadata Standards?¶

OpenMetadata Standards is an open-source project that provides unified metadata standards and schemas for comprehensive metadata management across the data ecosystem. It delivers:

• 700+ JSON Schemas - Comprehensive schemas covering entities, APIs, configurations, events, and more
• RDF Ontologies - Semantic web standards for linked metadata and knowledge graphs
• SHACL Shapes - Validation constraints for ensuring data quality and compliance
• JSON-LD Contexts - Semantic contexts for interoperability with other systems

Why OpenMetadata Standards?¶

Unified Metadata Model¶

OpenMetadata Standards provides a single, cohesive model for representing metadata across your entire data stack - from databases and data warehouses to ML models and dashboards.

Interoperability¶

Built on open standards (JSON Schema, RDF, SHACL, JSON-LD), OpenMetadata enables seamless integration with existing tools and systems.

Extensibility¶

The type system and custom properties framework allows you to extend schemas to meet your specific organizational needs while maintaining compatibility.

Community-Driven¶

Developed in collaboration with the OpenMetadata community, these standards reflect real-world use cases and best practices.

Key Features¶

Entity Schemas¶

Comprehensive schemas for all metadata entities:

• Data Assets: Tables, databases, schemas, columns, topics, dashboards, pipelines
• Services: Database services, messaging services, dashboard services, ML model services
• Governance: Glossaries, tags, policies, classifications
• Teams & Users: Organizations, teams, users, roles, personas
• Observability: Data quality tests, profiling, lineage, usage metrics

Rich Type System¶

A flexible type system supporting:

• Basic types (string, number, boolean, etc.)
• Complex types (objects, arrays, unions)
• Custom properties and extensions
• Entity references and relationships

API Specifications¶

Complete API schemas for:

• RESTful CRUD operations
• Search and filtering
• Feed and activity streams
• Webhooks and notifications
• Bulk operations

Event System¶

Comprehensive event schemas for:

• Entity lifecycle events (create, update, delete)
• Change events with before/after states
• Custom application events
• Audit logging

Configuration Schemas¶

Schemas for configuring:

• Authentication and authorization
• Ingestion pipelines and connectors
• Event handlers and webhooks
• Search and indexing
• Security and encryption

RDF & Semantic Web¶

OpenMetadata Standards includes full RDF/OWL ontologies and SHACL shapes for:

• Knowledge Graph Integration - Export metadata as RDF for integration with knowledge graphs
• Linked Data - Connect metadata across systems using URIs and SPARQL
• Validation - Ensure metadata quality using SHACL constraint validation
• Provenance Tracking - Track metadata lineage using W3C PROV-O ontology

Getting Started¶

Use Cases¶

OpenMetadata Standards powers a wide range of metadata management use cases:

• Data Catalogs - Build comprehensive data catalogs with searchable metadata
• Data Governance - Implement governance policies, classifications, and access controls
• Data Lineage - Track end-to-end data lineage across pipelines and transformations
• Data Quality - Define and monitor data quality rules and tests
• Compliance - Ensure regulatory compliance with metadata policies
• Knowledge Graphs - Build semantic knowledge graphs from metadata

Schema Statistics¶

• Total Schemas: 707 JSON schemas
• Entity Types: 100+ entity schemas
• Type Definitions: 200+ reusable type definitions
• API Endpoints: 50+ API operation schemas
• Event Types: 30+ event schemas
• Configuration Options: 100+ configuration schemas

Standards Compliance¶

OpenMetadata Standards adheres to:

• JSON Schema - Draft 07 and 2020-12
• RDF/OWL - W3C RDF 1.1 and OWL 2
• SHACL - W3C SHACL for validation
• JSON-LD - JSON for Linking Data
• PROV-O - W3C Provenance Ontology

Community & Support¶

• GitHub: OpenMetadata Standards Repository
• Slack: Join the OpenMetadata Community
• Documentation: OpenMetadata Docs
• Website: OpenMetadata.org

Contributing¶

We welcome contributions from the community! See our Contributing Guide to get started.

License¶

OpenMetadata Standards is released under the Apache License 2.0. See LICENSE for details.