ontoforge

Goal

Export and import OntoForge ontology schemas via the Modeling REST API. These operations handle schema only (entity types, relation types, properties) — not instance data.

Export Schema

Export an ontology schema to a single JSON file.

Script: scripts/export_schema.py

uv run scripts/export_schema.py <ontology_key> [-o <output_path>]

Parameters:

• ontology_key (required) — Ontology key (e.g. my_ontology)
• -o, --output (optional) — Output file path. Default: ./ontology/<ontology_key>.json

Output: Path to the exported JSON file.

The exported file is the standard OntoForge transfer format and can be committed to a repository for version control.

Import Schema

Import an ontology schema from a JSON file, completely replacing any existing schema with the same ontology ID.

Script: scripts/import_schema.py

uv run scripts/import_schema.py <file>

Parameters:

• file (required) — Path to the schema JSON file (previously exported via Export Schema)

Output: Confirmation with ontology key and name.

The import always overwrites the existing ontology if one exists with the same ID. All entity types, relation types, and properties are replaced atomically.

Environment

Both scripts read the OntoForge server URL from (in order):

1. --base-url flag
2. ONTOFORGE_BASE_URL environment variable
3. Default: http://localhost:8000

Related: Project Setup

To bootstrap a new project with OntoForge (Docker Compose, environment variables, .mcp.json), use the ontoforge-setup skill (also part of this plugin). It ships templates for Docker Compose and MCP configuration and walks through the setup interactively.