glossarist-js

JavaScript SDK for reading and writing Glossarist GCR packages — manages terminology concepts with rich domain models, bidirectional YAML serialization, validation, cross-reference resolution, RDF serializers, and SHACL validation.

Current version: v0.4.5 — full model parity with glossarist-ruby, synced to concept-model v3.1.0.

Install

npm install glossarist

Requires Node.js 20+.

Usage

Read a GCR package

import { loadGcr } from 'glossarist';

const pkg = await loadGcr(fs.readFileSync('my-dataset.gcr'));
const meta = await pkg.metadata();

await pkg.eachConcept((concept) => {
  console.log(concept.id, concept.primaryDesignation('eng'));
});

Read from a directory

import { readConcepts, readRegister } from 'glossarist';

const concepts = readConcepts('./geolexica-v2/');
const register = readRegister('./geolexica-v2/');

Write a GCR package

import { createGcr, ManagedConceptCollection, conceptParser } from 'glossarist';

const concept = conceptParser.parse(`
  termid: "3.1.1.1"
  eng:
    terms:
      - type: expression
        designation: entity
    definition:
      - content: A concrete or abstract thing.
`);

const buf = await createGcr([concept], { shortname: 'test' });
fs.writeFileSync('out.gcr', buf);

What's new in 0.4

Version	Highlights
0.4.5	NonVerbal entity emitters + concept-model drift test
0.4.4	Concept-model synced to v3.1.0; RDF + transforms kept out of the main entry (browser-safe)
0.4.3	RDF serializers (Turtle, N-Triples, JSON-LD) + SHACL validator (WS C)
0.4.2–0.4.0	Type cleanup, js-yaml 5.x, Node 24 CI, eslint 10.x
0.3.8	DesignationRelationship model, mention syntax with URN + designation forms, out-of-line citations
0.3.7	Annotations, validation and search improvements
0.3.6	ISO 19135 relationship types added to RELATIONSHIP_TYPES enum
0.3.5	Register and Section models with hierarchical section support
0.3.4	Scoped examples in DetailedDefinition, walkTexts text-walking
0.3.3	Non-verbal entities: Figure, Table, Formula + V3 bibliography

RDF serialization & SHACL validation

v0.4.3 adds a complete RDF pipeline. Every concept can be serialized to Turtle, N-Triples, or JSON-LD, and a SHACL validator runs the canonical glossarist.shacl.ttl shapes against the resulting graph.

import { ConceptCollection, RdfSerializer, ShaclValidator } from 'glossarist/rdf';

const ttl = await RdfSerializer.serialize(collection, { format: 'turtle' });
const report = await ShaclValidator.validate(ttl, { format: 'turtle' });

if (!report.conforms) {
  for (const result of report.results) {
    console.warn(result.path, result.message);
  }
}

RDF and transforms live in dedicated subpath exports so the main entry stays browser-safe — no Node-only dependencies leaked into the bundle.

Mention syntax

Concept text supports inline mentions for sources, figures, and designations:

import { parseMention } from 'glossarist';

parseMention('{{cite:iso-704}}');       // → { kind: 'cite', id: 'iso-704' }
parseMention('{{fig:quantity-diagram}}'); // → { kind: 'fig', id: 'quantity-diagram' }
parseMention('{{urn:iso:...:1.1}}');    // → { kind: 'urn', id: 'urn:iso:...:1.1', text: undefined }

The ID always comes first; display text, when present, comes last.

Dataset model (v3)

import { Register, Section, Figure, Table, Formula } from 'glossarist/models';

const section = new Section({
  id: '1.2',
  names: { eng: 'Quantities', fra: 'Grandeurs' },
  children: [{ id: '1.2.1', names: { eng: 'General' } }],
});

const figure = new Figure({
  id: 'quantity-classification',
  caption: { eng: 'Classification of quantities' },
  alt: { eng: 'Diagram of quantity types' },
  images: [{ src: 'quantity-classification.svg', format: 'svg' }],
});

Rich domain models

Every domain entity is a class instance with toJSON(), fromJSON(), equals(), and clone():

import { Concept, LocalizedConcept, Expression, DetailedDefinition } from 'glossarist/models';

const lc = new LocalizedConcept({
  language_code: 'eng',
  terms: [{ type: 'expression', designation: 'entity', normative_status: 'preferred' }],
  definition: [{ content: 'A concrete or abstract thing.' }],
  entry_status: 'valid',
});

const concept = new Concept({ id: '3.1.1.1', localizations: { eng: lc.toJSON() } });
console.log(concept.primaryDesignation('eng')); // 'entity'
console.log(concept.equals(Concept.fromJSON(concept.toJSON()))); // true

Compiled / machine formats in GCR

GCR packages can contain pre-compiled machine formats (TBX, JSON-LD, Turtle, JSONL) inside a compiled/ directory.

const pkg = await loadGcr(fs.readFileSync('dataset.gcr'));

const formats = await pkg.compiledFormats();       // ['tbx', 'jsonld', 'turtle']
const ids = await pkg.compiledFormatIds('jsonld');
const jsonld = await pkg.compiledFile('jsonld', '3.1.1.1');

Bibliography and images

GCR packages can carry a bibliography.yaml file and an images/ directory — making the archive fully self-contained.

const pkg = await loadGcr(fs.readFileSync('dataset.gcr'));
const bib = await pkg.bibliography();        // raw YAML string or null
await pkg.hasImages();                        // true
const names = await pkg.imageFileNames();     // ['images/fig1.png', ...]
const img = await pkg.imageFile('fig1.png');  // Uint8Array or null

Validation

import { validateConcept, validateRegister, createConceptValidator, ValidationRule } from 'glossarist';

const result = validateConcept(concept);
if (!result.valid) {
  for (const err of result.errors) console.error(err.path, err.message);
}

// Custom rule
class MyRule extends ValidationRule {
  validate(concept) { /* return array of errors */ }
}
const validate = createConceptValidator([new MyRule()]);

Format registry

import { COMPILED_FORMATS, COMPILED_EXTENSIONS, isKnownFormat } from 'glossarist';

COMPILED_FORMATS;                    // ['tbx', 'jsonld', 'turtle', 'jsonl']
COMPILED_EXTENSIONS.get('tbx');      // 'tbx.xml'
isKnownFormat('csv');                // false

Subpath exports

• glossarist — main entry (browser-safe: readers, writers, models, validators)
• glossarist/models — domain model classes
• glossarist/rdf — RDF serializers (Turtle, N-Triples, JSON-LD) + SHACL validator
• glossarist/validators — ValidationRule framework and built-in rules
• glossarist/gcr — loadGcr, createGcr, GcrReader, GcrWriter

Links

• GitHub
• npm
• CHANGELOG

See Also

• Concept Model docs — the entity model this SDK implements
• Datasets & sections — V3 self-describing dataset model
• Non-verbal entities — figures, tables, formulas
• Standards compliance — ISO standard mappings