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OWL/XML and RDF/XML workflow (read-only catalog)

Status: Shipped in v0.12.0 — browse and query in VS Code; no write-back to .owl or .owx files.

OntoCore indexes RDF/XML (.owl) and OWL/XML (.owx) via Horned-OWL. The Entity Inspector shows entities from these files but marks them read-only (editable: false).

Canonical capability matrix: What ships today.

What works today

Capability .owl (RDF/XML) .owx (OWL/XML)
Workspace indexing Yes Yes
Explorer / SQL / SPARQL Yes Yes
Entity Inspector (view) Yes Yes
Entity Inspector (edit) No No
Patch / ontocore patch write-back No No
Manchester editor apply No No
Refactoring apply No (Turtle only) No

Browse-only in place

Keep authoritative sources as .owl / .owx in the repo. Use OntoCode to browse, query, reason, and run semantic diff without editing those files.

Edit via Turtle or OBO

  1. Maintain editable copies as .ttl or .obo in the same workspace (or a sibling package).
  2. Use owl:imports or catalog files so the index links related modules.
  3. Apply patches and inspector edits on Turtle/OBO only — see Authoring.

Round-trip with Protégé or ROBOT

For teams that must publish RDF/XML or OWL/XML:

  1. Author in Turtle/OBO with OntoCode.
  2. Export or convert with ROBOT or Protégé before release.
  3. Re-index after conversion; treat XML as release artifacts, not the live edit surface.

Protégé coexistence patterns: Protégé coexistence.

VS Code behavior

  1. Open a workspace containing .owl or .owx files.
  2. Trust the workspace and run OntoCode: Index Workspace.
  3. Select an entity — the inspector shows axioms but edit controls are disabled.
  4. For edits, open the corresponding .ttl or .obo file, or create one and link via imports.

CLI

ontocore validate /path/to/ontologies
ontocore query /path/to/ontologies "SELECT * FROM classes WHERE file_path LIKE '%.owl'"
ontocore classify /path/to/ontologies --profile el

Patch apply to .owl / .owx returns an unsupported format error — see Errors reference.

Migration from v0.11

v0.12 added Horned-OWL catalog support for OWL/XML and clarified RDF/XML read-only policy. See Migration v0.11 → v0.12.

Topic Guide
Format policy Authoring
OBO write-back OBO authoring
Protégé gaps Protégé decision guide