Skip to content

ONTOSTUDIO_DESKTOP.md

Document type: Product design specification (target state). Not a shipped feature list. See ROADMAP_MAPPING.md for release mapping and SHIPPED.md for what works today.

OntoStudio Desktop Specification

Purpose

OntoStudio is the long-term desktop flagship of the Ontologos ecosystem. While OntoCode provides a world-class VS Code experience, OntoStudio removes the constraints of an editor extension and delivers a dedicated semantic engineering environment built around OntoCore.

OntoStudio is not intended to replace OntoCode---it shares the same backend, design system, and plugin ecosystem while providing an optimized desktop experience.

Vision

Become the premier desktop IDE for ontology and knowledge graph engineering.

Comparable ambitions:

  • IntelliJ IDEA for semantic engineering
  • DataGrip for semantic querying
  • Figma for semantic visualization
  • Obsidian for knowledge exploration
  • Cursor for AI-native workflows

Design Principles

One Platform

OntoCode and OntoStudio share:

  • OntoCore
  • Design System
  • Workspace Model
  • Plugin Platform
  • AI Experience
  • Component Library

The desktop application should feel familiar to OntoCode users.

Workspace First

Users work inside semantic workspaces rather than windows or files.

Example workspaces:

  • Entity
  • Graph
  • Query
  • Reasoning
  • Review
  • Documentation
  • Architecture
  • AI

Native Performance

The desktop application should feel instantaneous.

Goals:

  • Native menus
  • Native file dialogs
  • GPU-accelerated rendering
  • Fast graph visualization
  • Low memory footprint

Technology Stack

Recommended stack:

Frontend

  • React
  • TypeScript
  • Zustand
  • TanStack Query

Desktop Shell

  • Tauri

Backend

  • OntoCore (Rust)

Rendering

  • WebGPU (future)
  • SVG/Canvas hybrid
  • Incremental graph rendering

Application Layout

+----------------------------------------------------------------+
| Menu | Workspace | Search | AI | Git | User                    |
+----------------------------------------------------------------+

| Explorer | Active Workspace | Inspector                        |
|          |                  |                                  |
|          |                  |                                  |
+----------------------------------------------------------------+

| Problems | Graph | Query | AI | Logs | Terminal                |
+----------------------------------------------------------------+

Multiple Workspaces

Support opening multiple workspaces simultaneously.

Examples:

Clinical Ontology

Security Ontology

Reference Ontology

Each workspace maintains:

  • layout
  • history
  • tabs
  • graph views

Multi-Window

Future support:

  • Detached graph window
  • Detached reasoning dashboard
  • Presentation mode
  • Multi-monitor layouts

Graph Workspace

Desktop enables:

  • larger canvases
  • higher frame rates
  • GPU rendering
  • advanced layouts
  • presentation mode

AI Workspace

Dedicated orchestration environment.

Capabilities:

  • Long-running tasks
  • Project-wide documentation
  • Large-scale refactoring
  • Review generation
  • Architecture analysis

Offline First

Everything except cloud services should function offline.

Examples:

  • Editing
  • Reasoning
  • Graphs
  • Documentation
  • Local AI
  • Plugins

Local AI

Support:

  • Local LLMs
  • Cloud providers
  • Hybrid execution

Users control where inference occurs.

Plugin Marketplace

Desktop marketplace provides:

  • Browse
  • Install
  • Update
  • Ratings
  • Reviews
  • Publisher verification

Integrated into the application.

Collaboration

Desktop collaboration includes:

  • Reviews
  • Discussions
  • Semantic pull requests
  • Live collaboration
  • Notifications

Enterprise Features

Future support:

  • SSO
  • Managed plugins
  • Policy enforcement
  • Audit logs
  • Secure environments

Performance Targets

Startup

\<2 seconds

Workspace open

\<500 ms

Entity navigation

\<50 ms

Graph interaction

60 FPS target

Large ontology loading

Progressive

Distribution

Supported platforms:

  • Windows
  • macOS
  • Linux

Provide:

  • Native installers
  • Automatic updates
  • Portable mode
  • Enterprise deployment packages

Relationship to OntoCode

OntoCode:

  • VS Code extension
  • Lightweight
  • Embedded workflows

OntoStudio:

  • Dedicated desktop IDE
  • Full workspace experience
  • Advanced visualization
  • Large-scale collaboration

Both products share a common architecture and evolve together.

Future Opportunities

  • Cloud synchronization
  • Team workspaces
  • Shared semantic canvases
  • Mobile companion
  • Browser companion
  • VR/AR ontology exploration (research)

Success Criteria

OntoStudio succeeds when ontology engineers choose it as their primary engineering environment because it combines the power of a modern IDE, the flexibility of an infinite semantic workspace, the intelligence of integrated AI, and the performance of a native Rust application. It should stand on its own as the flagship desktop experience of the Ontologos ecosystem while remaining fully compatible with OntoCode and every shared platform capability.