Glossarist

Open-Source Terminology Infrastructure

One Concept,
Many Languages

Build multilingual concept systems with ISO-standard rigor. One concept, many language designations, typed relationships, and multi-format export.

Explore the Model GitHub

SKOSTBXJSON-LDTurtleYAML

engentity⟶

How It Works

From Concept to Publication

A structured pipeline that takes you from domain modeling to multilingual terminology publication

1. Model

Define your concept system using the rich Glossarist domain model — 33 entity types, 52 relationship types, 7 designation types, validation shapes.

Concept Model →

2. Author

Write terminology concepts in human-readable YAML (V2 or V3 schema). ManagedConcept, LocalizedConcept, designations, sources — all in structured YAML.

YAML Schema Ref →

3. Process

Read, validate, transform, and export using the Ruby gem or JavaScript SDK. GCR packages, TBX, SKOS, Turtle, JSON-LD output.

JS SDK →orRuby Gem →

4. Publish

Deploy as an interactive multilingual concept browser, SKOS thesaurus, or TBX exchange format — ready for standards bodies and domain communities.

See Geolexica →

The Foundation

The Glossarist Concept Model

A rich, standards-aligned domain model for structured terminology — the heart of everything Glossarist does

ManagedConcept

The top-level entity. Contains a UUID, lifecycle status, domain references, and maps language codes to LocalizedConcept instances.

statusnotValid · valid · superseded · retired

localized_conceptsHash of lang → LocalizedConcept

related52 typed relationship kinds

domainsSubject area references

Concept docs →

LocalizedConcept

Per-language realization of a concept. Each language gets its own definition, terms, notes, examples, and classification.

designationsTyped term entries

definitionDetailedDefinition array

notes / examplesSupplementary content

language_codeISO 639 3-letter code

Localization →

Designations

7 designation types in a MECE hierarchy — expression, abbreviation, symbol, letter_symbol, graphical_symbol, prefix, suffix.

Designation Expression → Abbreviation Symbol → Letter · Graphical Prefix · Suffix

Designation types →

Relationships

32 typed semantic links spanning 4 ISO standards — hierarchical, partitive, associative, equivalence, mapping, spatiotemporal.

broader/narrowergeneric/partitiveexact_matchdeprecatescompare/contrast+ 27 more

All 32 types →

Sources

Provenance tracking with authoritative and lineage sources, status tracking (identical, modified, restyled, generalisation).

typeauthoritative · lineage

statusidentical · modified · restyled · +4

originCitation reference

Source model →

Formal Ontology

The concept model is formally expressed as an OWL ontology with SHACL validation shapes. Interoperates with SKOS, SKOS-XL, ISO 25964, PROV-O, and Dublin Core for linked data integration.

33Entity types

145Object & datatype properties

32Validation shapes

Browse ontology →

Developer Experience

Structured Data, Any Language

Author in YAML, process with Ruby or JavaScript, export to TBX/SKOS/Turtle/JSON-LD

V3 YAML — Human-Readable Concept Data

Write terminology concepts in structured YAML. Each file contains a ManagedConcept with all its localizations, designations, and relationships.

Schema Reference

# concepts/3.1.1.1.yaml
termid: "3.1.1.1"
termid_uuid: "uuid-..."
status: valid

eng:
  terms:
    - type: expression
      designation: "entity"
      normative_status: preferred
  definition:
    - content: "A concrete or abstract thing"
  notes:
    - "This includes objects and concepts"
  sources:
    - type: authoritative
      origin: "ISO 19107:2003"

fra:
  terms:
    - type: expression
      designation: "entité"
      normative_status: preferred
  definition:
    - content: "chose concrète ou abstraite"

glossarist-js — Node.js SDK

Read, write, validate, and manage GCR packages with bidirectional YAML serialization. Stream concepts for memory-efficient processing of large datasets.

JS SDK Docs

import { loadGcr, readConcepts } from 'glossarist';

// Read a GCR package (streaming)
const pkg = await loadGcr(
  fs.readFileSync('geolexica.gcr')
);
await pkg.eachConcept((concept) => {
  console.log(concept.id, concept.primaryDesignation('eng'));
});

// Read from directory
const concepts = readConcepts('./geolexica-v2/');

// Write GCR package
const buf = await createGcr([concept], {
  shortname: 'my-dataset'
});

glossarist-ruby — Ruby Gem

The original Glossarist library. Full CRUD for concept management, multi-format serialization, TBX/SKOS/Turtle export, and GCR package support.

Ruby Gem Docs

require 'glossarist'

# Load a concept collection
collection = Glossarist::ManagedConceptCollection.new
collection.from_yaml('./concepts/')

# Access concepts
concept = collection['3.1.1.1']
puts concept.localizations['eng'].definition
puts concept.localizations['fra'].designations

# Export to multiple formats
collection.to_tbx('output.tbx')
collection.to_skos('output.ttl')
collection.to_jsonld('output.jsonld')

Universal Interchange

Export your concept system to any standard format. Import from existing terminology datasets. Full round-trip support.

TBX-XMLISO 30042 terminology markup

SKOS/RDFW3C knowledge organization

TurtleRDF triples, human-readable

JSON-LDLinked data in JSON

YAMLNative Glossarist format

JSONLStreaming line-delimited

Compliance

Built on International Standards

Every entity in the Glossarist model maps to established terminology and knowledge organization standards

ISO 10241-1Terminology Entries

Structured terminology entries in standardized vocabularies

ISO 704Principles & Methods

Concept systems, definitions, and term formation rules

ISO 30042TBX Format

Terminology markup framework for data exchange

ISO 12620Data Categories

Term type classifications and data category registry

ISO 25964Thesauri

Hierarchical and mapping relationships for thesaurus interoperability

OWL 2Semantic Web

Formal ontology vocabulary for linked data and knowledge graphs

SHACLValidation

Shape Constraints for data validation and integrity

SKOS/XLLinked Data

Knowledge organization and reified labels for the semantic web

Ecosystem

End-to-End Tooling

Libraries and applications for every stage of terminology management

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Core

glossarist-ruby v2.10.4

Ruby gem implementing the Glossarist concept model. Read, write, validate, and manage terminology concepts with multi-language YAML serialization, GCR packages, dataset-aware sections, non-verbal entities, and TBX/SKOS/Turtle export with SHACL validation.

Docs GitHub

{ }

Core

glossarist-js v0.4.15

JavaScript SDK for Glossarist GCR packages. Read, write, validate, and manage terminology concepts with bidirectional YAML serialization, cross-reference resolution, RDF emitters for concepts/datasets/groups/vocabularies/bibliographies/provenance, and SHACL validation.

Docs GitHub

{ }

Core

glossarist-desktop v1.6.40

Desktop viewer and editor for concept registries. Manage concepts, propose changes, and review change requests from a native app on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Docs GitHub

{ }

Core

concept-browser v0.7.67

Interactive browser for terminology datasets. Multi-dataset, multilingual concept browsing with 3D relation sphere, edition series, dataset groups, sections tree, math rendering, and per-concept RDF/SHACL outputs.

Docs GitHub

In Production

Trusted by Standards Bodies

Glossarist powers multilingual terminology registries for international standards organizations

ISO/TC 211 Geolexica1,507 concepts · 15 languagesGeographic information terminology

→

ISO/TC 204 GeolexicaIntelligent transport systemsITS terminology registry

→

OSGeo Geolexica444 concepts · Open Source GeospatialFoundation terminology

→