Source Definition

A Source Definition is a document that registers a queryable SPARQL source for Quick Search — the equivalent of a family member picking "Wikidata" from a dropdown instead of typing a URL. Publishing one adds it to the org's list of sources a client can search; nothing else in the framework holds this list.

The declaration carries what a client needs to reach and label the source:

  • sdg:endpoint — the SPARQL endpoint's resolvable URL.
  • rdfs:label — the display name shown in source pickers.
  • sdg:accessMode — how a client is allowed to reach it: direct or proxied.
  • sdg:purpose — optional prose on what the source is for.

Claims cite the endpoint, not the definition

A @claim<label>(source) written against a registered source cites the resolved endpoint URL as its sd:claimSource literal — never the SourceDefinition document's own IRI. The definition is an authoring-time address book a person or tool consults to find and pick a source; it is not a layer of runtime indirection that verification or querying passes through. Renaming or re-registering a SourceDefinition does not change what any existing claim points at — only republishing the claim against the new endpoint does.

Single authority

Source configuration lives only in SourceDefinition documents. There is no parallel config store, environment file, or admin-panel setting that also names a SPARQL source — unlike the PrefixConfigGraph/NamespaceDefinition split elsewhere in the registry, which duplicates prefix bindings across two authorities and has caused drift. A source exists for Quick Search if and only if a SourceDefinition document declares it.

Usage

  • Frontmatter: this:document a sdg:SourceDefinition ; … with sdg:endpoint and rdfs:label required, sdg:accessMode and sdg:purpose optional.
  • Harvested by: ?d a sdg:SourceDefinition ; sdg:endpoint ?e ; rdfs:label ?l . plus optional sdg:accessMode ?m.
Source Definition — Sparqdown Docs