TopBraid SHACL API

An open source implementation of the W3C Shapes Constraint Language (SHACL) based on Apache Jena.

Contact: Ashley Caselli ([email protected])
Original developer: Holger Knublauch ([email protected])

Can be used to perform SHACL constraint checking and rule inferencing in any Jena-based Java application. This API also serves as a reference implementation of the SHACL spec.

Coverage:

• SHACL Core and SHACL-SPARQL validation
• SHACL Advanced Features (Rules etc)

Former Coverage until version 1.4.0

• SHACL Compact Syntax

Former Coverage until version 1.3.2

• SHACL JavaScript Extensions

The TopBraid SHACL API is internally used by the European Commission's generic SHACL-based RDF validator (used to validate RDF content against SHACL shapes) and SHACL shape validator (used to validate SHACL shapes themselves).

The same code is used in the TopBraid products (currently aligned with the TopBraid 7.1 release).

Feedback and questions should become GitHub issues or sent to TopBraid Users mailing list: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/topbraid-users Please prefix your messages with [SHACL API]

To get started, look at the class ValidationUtil in the package org.topbraid.shacl.validation. There is also an Example Test Case

How to use it

• Application dependency
• Docker
• Command line

Application dependency

Releases are available in the central maven repository:

⚠️ Replace *VER* with the actual package version. Consult the package page to find what versions are available.

<dependency>
  <groupId>org.topbraid</groupId>
  <artifactId>shacl</artifactId>
  <version>*VER*</version>
</dependency>

Docker Usage

You can use the tool as Docker image. Prebuild Docker images are available at the GitHub Container Registry. The SHACL API runs inside the Docker image, with two possible commands available. To run the validator:

⚠️ It is generally better to use a fixed version of the docker image, rather than the latest tag. Consult the package page to find what versions are available.

docker run --rm -v /path/to/data:/data ghcr.io/ashleycaselli/shacl:latest validate -datafile /data/myfile.ttl -shapesfile /data/myshapes.ttl

To run rule inferencing:

docker run --rm -v /path/to/data:/data ghcr.io/ashleycaselli/shacl:latest infer -datafile /data/myfile.ttl -shapesfile /data/myshapes.ttl

Any other command after ghcr.io/ashleycaselli/shacl:latest will print the following help page:

Please use this docker image as follows:
docker run -v /path/to/data:/data ghcr.io/ashleycaselli/shacl:latest [COMMAND] [PARAMETERS]
COMMAND:
    validate 
        to run validation
    infer
        to run rule inferencing
PARAMETERS:
    -datafile /data/myfile.ttl [MANDATORY]
        input to be validated (only .ttl format supported)
    -shapesfile /data/myshapes.ttl [OPTIONAL]
        shapes for validation (only .ttl format supported)
    -maxiterations 1 [OPTIONAL] - default is 1
        iteratively applies the inference rules until the maximum number of iterations is reached (or no new triples are inferred)
    -validateShapes [OPTIONAL]
        in case you want to include the metashapes (from the tosh namespace in particular)
    -addBlankNodes [OPTIONAL]
        adds the blank nodes to the validation report
    -noImports [OPTIONAL]
        disables the import of external ontologies

Build image locally

You can build your own Docker image locally by using the Dockerfile provided in the .docker folder. It includes a minimal Java Runtime Environment for the SHACL API that clocks in at ~85Mb. To build it locally use:

⚠️ If no value for the ARCH_BASE variable is provided, the image will be built using the default architecture value (eclipse-temurin:21-alpine)

docker build \
    -f .docker/Dockerfile \
    -t ghcr.io/topquadrant/shacl:VER \
    --build-arg VERSION=VER .

If you'd like to build the image locally in an x86 architecture, use:

docker build    
    -f .docker/Dockerfile \
    -t ghcr.io/topquadrant/shacl:VER \
    --build-arg VERSION=VER \
    --build-arg ARCH_BASE=eclipse-temurin:21-alpine .

If your architecture is arm, use:

docker build \
    -f .docker/Dockerfile \
    -t ghcr.io/topquadrant/shacl:VER \
    --build-arg VERSION=VER \
    --build-arg ARCH_BASE=amazoncorretto:21-alpine3.20-jdk .

Command Line Usage

Download the latest release from:

https://repo1.maven.org/maven2/org/topbraid/shacl/

The binary distribution is:

https://repo1.maven.org/maven2/org/topbraid/shacl/*VER*/shacl-*VER*-bin.zip.

Two command line utilities are included: shaclvalidate (performs constraint validation) and shaclinfer (performs SHACL rule inferencing).

To use them, set up your environment similar to https://jena.apache.org/documentation/tools/ (note that the SHACL download includes Jena).

For example, on Windows:

SET SHACLROOT=C:\Users\Holger\Desktop\shacl-1.4.3-bin
SET PATH=%PATH%;%SHACLROOT%\bin

As another example, for Linux, add to .bashrc these lines:

# for shacl
export SHACLROOT=/home/holger/shacl/shacl-1.4.3-bin/shacl-1.4.3/bin
export PATH=$SHACLROOT:$PATH 

After setting up the environment, you can run the command line utilities (i.e. validation) using the following command:

• Windows: shaclvalidate.bat -datafile myfile.ttl -shapesfile myshapes.ttl

• Linux/Unix: shaclvalidate.sh -datafile myfile.ttl -shapesfile myshapes.ttl

Both tools (Windows, Linux) take the parameters described in the Docker Usage section. Currently, only Turtle (.ttl) files are supported.

The tool print the validation report or the inferences graph to the output screen.