Frequently asked questions

Short answers, with the reasons where they help.

Who is Arspec for?

Anyone who has to read, check or maintain RDF data: ontologists and knowledge engineers, but also people who look after a vocabulary, a taxonomy, a metadata scheme or a knowledge graph as part of a wider job. You do not need to know the file format. If you can read the file in a text editor, Arspec will show it to you in a more useful way; if you cannot, Arspec means you no longer have to.

Which formats does it open?

Turtle, N3, TriG, N-Quads, RDF/XML, OWL/XML and JSON-LD — and plain JSON, YAML, TOML, XML, CSV and TSV, every object, mapping, table, element or row read as an anonymous node and every field, key, child element, attribute or column as a property; a YAML, TOML or XML file keeps its comments. It looks at the content first and the file name second. TriG, N-Quads and JSON-LD may hold named graphs, and each graph opens as a row of its own under its file. It saves Turtle, N3, TriG, N-Quads, RDF/XML, JSON-LD and the plain formats; a plain file that has been given named terms, which no plain format can write, asks on saving whether to become JSON-LD or RDF/XML where the name allows it, or to go without them. OWL/XML can be opened but not saved back: its structure is flattened into plain statements on the way in, and an edited file has no OWL/XML form to go back to. Save it as Turtle or RDF/XML instead.

Is it an OWL editor? Does it reason?

It is an RDF editor that is comfortable with OWL files, and it does not reason. If you need a reasoner or formal OWL modelling, Protégé is the right tool. Arspec is for looking at and editing any RDF, OWL included, without that ceremony.

Does it work with SHACL shapes?

Not as a validator, and not to build its views. A SHACL shape describes a node and judges it; a perspective describes statements and offers them — which rows to list, what to show of each, what a field may hold, what an Add creates — and is made in the app as a form rather than written as a query, so the two answer different questions, and the same goes for the draft SHACL user-interface vocabulary that generates forms from shapes. A shapes graph is RDF and opens like any other file, as does a validation report; Arspec does not run one. What could come, if people ask for it, is a perspective drafted from a shape: the target class as the condition, the properties as fields, their order, names and allowed values carried over.

Do I need a database or a SPARQL endpoint?

No. Arspec works on files, either local ones or fetched from a URL. Views take the place of writing a query for every way you want to look at the data.

Can I save in the browser version?

Not back to the file you opened, because a web page cannot write to your disk. Save as… downloads a copy. Automatic saving is what the desktop and phone apps add.

Where does my data go?

Nowhere, unless you connect an AI or send us a bug report. The app reads and writes files where you put them and sends nothing anywhere on its own. With the built-in assistant, what you type and what the assistant looks up go to the AI service you configured, on your own key. With your own chat app connected over MCP, Arspec only talks to that app on your own machine, and the app talks to its provider under its own terms. See AI assistant. A bug report goes to arspec.app when you press Send in its dialog, and holds what you ticked there and nothing else. See Help and contact, and the privacy page for what we keep.

What is a .arspec file?

A topic: a small text file that records which files belong together, which views are switched on for each, and the views written for them. Arspec makes one for every file you open and keeps it in its own storage, so you never have to decide where to put one just to look at a file. Save topic as… makes one that is yours to keep and share.

Can I share a view?

Yes. A view is a piece of text in the same language as the data. Keep it in the ontology file and it ships with the data. Keep it in a topic and it goes wherever the topic goes. Keep it in your profile and it follows you. A view written for one ontology works on any other that uses the same terms.

Can I build my own interface with perspectives and styles: my own buttons, forms, things that happen on a click?

No, and that is on purpose. A perspective says which information is shown and what may be done with it; a style says how it looks; how it all behaves is the app’s, the same in every view, which is why a view you have never seen works like the ones you know. Fully custom interfaces, with scripting, event handling and custom controls, are planned as a separate part of Arspec. It will be kept apart from perspectives and styles, so that those stay plain descriptions that are safe to open and to share.

Can I change the keyboard shortcuts?

Yes: Preferences → Key Bindings. Every command has a main key and an alternative; click one and press what you want instead. The defaults follow your platform, so a Mac starts with ⌘Z where Windows and Linux start with Ctrl+Z. See Keys.

What happens when I rename a term to a name that already exists?

Arspec asks. Renaming a relation or a value to an existing term simply points the row at that term, and drops the old one if nothing else used it, or asks whether to delete the record it was the subject of. Renaming a subject to another existing subject offers to merge the two, replace one with the other, or cancel. Every outcome is one undoable step.

Does the AI change my file without asking?

No. The assistant can only propose a change, and every proposal opens in a confirmation dialog in Arspec that shows the difference against the file. This is the same whether the proposal came from the built-in assistant or from an outside chat app. Refuse it and nothing happens; approve it and it becomes one step in the undo history.

Why can't my phone connect to my AI chat?

Connecting an outside chat app works on desktops only: no chat app on a phone can reach a local server, and the browser version cannot run one. The built-in assistant works everywhere, and Ollama is the way to try it without an account.

What is arspec.org, as against arspec.app?

arspec.org is where the vocabularies live, the addresses views are written in, such as https://arspec.org/ars/spec/1/schema#. arspec.app is the application: this site, the browser version at run.arspec.app, and the store listings.

Can it draw a diagram of how things are related?

Not yet as a general diagram. A style can draw a line from an item to the things nested under it, and a relations overlay is planned.

Help and contact

Questions, ideas and problems all go to the same place: the project's repository on GitHub, github.com/arspec/arspec. Open an issue there to report a bug or to ask for something, and you can follow what becomes of it. It is also the way to reach us about anything else.

The app has a shorter way for bugs. Report a bug, above Preferences at the foot of the workspace panel, opens a dialog where you describe what went wrong and tick what to send with it. Your system information (operating system, screen resolution, memory, processor and graphics) and your preferences are ticked to begin with. The topic you are working in and the source file you have selected are not, and go only if you tick them. Your profile, with your own perspectives and styles, is never included.

The report is sent to arspec.app when you press Send, compressed and at most 1 MB, and not before. A report sent this way is not answered, so use GitHub when you want a reply. The button can be switched off in Preferences, on the About page under Feedback.