--- title: Glossary url: https://docs.triply.cc/reference/glossary/ description: Every term used across the Triply documentation, defined once, with links to the page that explains it properly. --- # Glossary Terms used across this documentation. Each entry gives the short answer; the links go to the page that explains the idea properly. ## Data and its shape **RDF** — Resource Description Framework, the W3C standard for representing data as a graph of statements rather than as tables. It is a data model, not a file format. See [Linked data](https://docs.triply.cc/concepts/linked-data/). **Triple** — one statement, made of a subject, a predicate and an object: *this thing* has *this relation* to *that*. The smallest unit of RDF. See [Every fact is a triple](https://docs.triply.cc/concepts/linked-data/#every-fact-is-a-triple). **Statement** — another word for a triple. Used in TriplyDB where a count is involved ("statement count"). **Quad** — a triple plus the graph it belongs to, so four terms instead of three. **IRI** — Internationalized Resource Identifier, a globally unique name for a thing, shaped like a URL. IRIs are what make it possible to say something about the same thing across datasets. See [Three kinds of term](https://docs.triply.cc/concepts/linked-data/#three-kinds-of-term). **Literal** — a value rather than a thing: a number, a date, a piece of text. Literals can only appear as the object of a triple. **Blank node** — a term that names something without giving it an IRI, used for structure that has no identity of its own. **Namespace and prefix** — a namespace is the shared beginning of a set of IRIs; a prefix is a short alias for it, so `skos:Concept` stands for the full IRI. See [Namespaces and prefixes](https://docs.triply.cc/concepts/linked-data/#namespaces-and-prefixes). **Graph** — a named set of statements. Data is split into graphs so parts of it can be loaded, replaced or queried independently. See [Graphs group statements](https://docs.triply.cc/concepts/linked-data/#graphs-group-statements). In TriplyDB a graph lives inside a dataset — see [TriplyDB concepts](https://docs.triply.cc/concepts/what-triplydb-is/). **Named graph** — a graph identified by an IRI, so a query can ask about it specifically. **Knowledge graph** — a graph that holds both the data and the model describing it, built to be connected to other data rather than to stand alone. See [Knowledge graphs](https://docs.triply.cc/concepts/knowledge-graphs/). **Linked data** — data published as RDF with resolvable IRIs, so following an identifier leads to more information about the thing it names. See [Linked data](https://docs.triply.cc/concepts/linked-data/). **Serialisation** — a file format for writing RDF down. Turtle, TriG, N-Triples, N-Quads, JSON-LD and RDF/XML all express the same model. See [Supported file formats](https://docs.triply.cc/reference/file-formats/). ## Querying **SPARQL** — the W3C query language for RDF. See [SPARQL: the basics](https://docs.triply.cc/concepts/sparql-basics/). **Triple pattern** — a triple with variables in one or more positions. Matching patterns against the data is how SPARQL selects things. See [Triple patterns and variables](https://docs.triply.cc/concepts/sparql-basics/#triple-patterns-and-variables). **SELECT query** — returns a table of values, one row per match. **CONSTRUCT query** — returns RDF rather than a table, building new triples from what it matched. Used for transforming data as well as reading it. **Endpoint** — the address a SPARQL query is sent to. **Federation** — running one query across more than one endpoint. See [SPARQL: construct and federation](https://docs.triply.cc/concepts/sparql-construct-and-federation/). **GraphQL** — a query language originally from application development. In TriplyDB the schema is generated from your SHACL shapes. See [GraphQL](https://docs.triply.cc/reference/graphql/). ## Models and validation **Ontology** — a formal description of the kinds of things in a domain and how they relate. See [OWL and ontologies](https://docs.triply.cc/concepts/owl-and-ontologies/). **Class and instance** — a class is a category, an instance is one member of it. See [What an ontology is](https://docs.triply.cc/concepts/owl-and-ontologies/#what-an-ontology-is). **Property** — the predicate part of a triple, seen as part of a model: the kind of relation that may hold between things. **OWL** — the Web Ontology Language, for stating what is true of a domain so that new facts can be inferred. See [What OWL adds](https://docs.triply.cc/concepts/owl-and-ontologies/#what-owl-adds). **Inference** — deriving statements that are not written down, from what is. See [Inference or property paths?](https://docs.triply.cc/concepts/owl-and-ontologies/#inference-or-property-paths) **SHACL** — the Shapes Constraint Language, for stating what data *must* look like and checking it. Where OWL describes the world, SHACL describes the file. See [SHACL](https://docs.triply.cc/concepts/shacl/) and [SHACL and OWL](https://docs.triply.cc/concepts/shacl/#shacl-and-owl). **Shape** — one SHACL description: which properties instances of a class must or may have, and with what values. **Shapes graph** — the graph holding a dataset's shapes. The Editor generates its forms from it. **Violation** — a place where the data does not satisfy a shape, reported by validation. See [What a violation looks like](https://docs.triply.cc/concepts/shacl/#what-a-violation-looks-like). **Validation report** — the result of validating, itself RDF, so it can be queried. See [The report is data too](https://docs.triply.cc/concepts/shacl/#the-report-is-data-too). ## Vocabularies **SKOS** — Simple Knowledge Organization System, for thesauri, taxonomies and controlled vocabularies. See [SKOS](https://docs.triply.cc/concepts/skos/). **Concept** — one entry in a SKOS vocabulary: a term or category, not a class. See [Concepts, not classes](https://docs.triply.cc/concepts/skos/#concepts-not-classes). **Concept scheme** — a collection of SKOS concepts that belong together. See [Schemes hold concepts](https://docs.triply.cc/concepts/skos/#schemes-hold-concepts). **Broader and narrower** — the SKOS relations building a hierarchy of concepts. See [The direction that trips everyone up](https://docs.triply.cc/concepts/skos/#the-direction-that-trips-everyone-up). **Deprecated term** — a class, property or concept marked as no longer to be used, without being removed. See [Retiring a concept](https://docs.triply.cc/concepts/skos/#retiring-a-concept). ## In TriplyDB The product's own vocabulary, defined at greater length in [TriplyDB at a glance](https://docs.triply.cc/concepts/what-triplydb-is/). **Instance** — one installation of TriplyDB. Not to be confused with an instance of a class. **Account** — the owner of everything on an instance: either a user or a group. **Dataset** — the unit you manage, publish and export. It holds graphs, and may hold assets. **Asset** — a file that is not RDF, stored in a dataset so the graph can refer to it. **Service** — a copy of a dataset prepared for a particular query language. SPARQL, text search and GraphQL each need one running. See [Manage services](https://docs.triply.cc/how-to/manage-services/). **Access level** — Public, Internal or Private: who can find and open something. See [Access control](https://docs.triply.cc/concepts/access-levels/). **Saved query** — a query with a persistent URL, metadata and version history, which is also a REST API. See [Work with saved queries](https://docs.triply.cc/how-to/saved-queries/). **Story** — queries and their results presented as a readable narrative. See [Build a data story](https://docs.triply.cc/how-to/data-stories/). **View** — in the Editor, a configured perspective on a dataset: which classes and concept schemes are shown, and how. One dataset can have several. See [Edit SKOS data](https://docs.triply.cc/how-to/edit-skos-data/). **Node shape** — the SHACL description of one class, which is what the Editor builds a form from. A class without one cannot be edited until a shape exists. **Modification history** — the record of who changed an instance and when, kept for every change made through the Editor. ## AI assistants **AI assistant** — a chat application that answers questions and carries out tasks in plain language. Once connected to TriplyDB, it can work with the content your account has access to. See [Connect an AI assistant](https://docs.triply.cc/how-to/connect-an-ai-assistant/). **MCP** — [Model Context Protocol](https://modelcontextprotocol.io), an open standard through which an AI assistant connects to other systems and uses the tools they offer. See [MCP server](https://docs.triply.cc/reference/mcp/). ## Flows *(Private preview)* The vocabulary of [Flows](https://docs.triply.cc/concepts/flows/), TriplyDB's pipelines. **Flow** — a pipeline built on a canvas in the console: tasks, the connections between them and its variables. It runs by hand, on a schedule or over HTTP. See [Flows](https://docs.triply.cc/concepts/flows/). **Blueprint** — another word for a flow's definition, used in the API (`/flows/blueprints`) and on the Flow blueprints admin page. **Flow builder** — the canvas a flow is built on, with the task catalogue beside it. See [Build a flow](https://docs.triply.cc/how-to/build-a-flow/). **Task** — one step of a flow, such as an import, a query, a validation or an email. See [Flow tasks](https://docs.triply.cc/reference/flow-tasks/). **Input and output** — the datasets, graphs, queries, stories, groups or services a task reads and writes. Tasks act on these directly; no data passes along a connection. See [Inputs and outputs](https://docs.triply.cc/reference/flow-tasks/#selectors). **Connection** — an arrow from one task to another, meaning *finish the first before starting the second*. Connections decide the order; where the cards sit does not. See [Edges set the order](https://docs.triply.cc/concepts/flows/#edges-set-the-order). **Decision** — a task that sends a run down one branch or another, depending on a condition about variable values. See [Branches](https://docs.triply.cc/concepts/flows/#branches). **Variable** — a named value a flow's tasks use, written `?name`, given a value for each run. See [Variables](https://docs.triply.cc/concepts/flows/#variables). **Masked value** — a variable holding a secret, such as an API key, that tasks can use but only permitted people can see. **System variable** — a variable TriplyDB sets on every run: who started it, and an API token for that person. Its name starts with `system_`. **Preset** — a saved set of variable values to start a run with. See [Presets and schedules](https://docs.triply.cc/concepts/flows/#presets-and-schedules). **Schedule** — a flow's recurring start time, with the variable values it runs with. **Run** — one execution of a flow, with its status and a record of what each task did. See [Run a flow](https://docs.triply.cc/how-to/run-a-flow/). **Revision** — an earlier saved version of a flow, which can be loaded back from **Version history**. **Artifact** — a file a task produces and keeps with its run, such as a connector script's `script.log`. **Connector agent** — a program run outside TriplyDB, on a server or a laptop, that lets a flow run scripts on infrastructure TriplyDB cannot reach. See [Run custom code in a flow](https://docs.triply.cc/how-to/run-custom-code-in-a-flow/). **Handshake token** — the secret an administrator gives a connector agent so it can register with the instance. See [Connector agents page](https://docs.triply.cc/reference/admin-settings/#connector-agents-page). --- **Explained at length in:** [Linked data](https://docs.triply.cc/concepts/linked-data/) · [Knowledge graphs](https://docs.triply.cc/concepts/knowledge-graphs/) · [SPARQL](https://docs.triply.cc/concepts/sparql-basics/) · [OWL and ontologies](https://docs.triply.cc/concepts/owl-and-ontologies/) · [SHACL](https://docs.triply.cc/concepts/shacl/) · [SKOS](https://docs.triply.cc/concepts/skos/) · [TriplyDB at a glance](https://docs.triply.cc/concepts/what-triplydb-is/) · [Flows](https://docs.triply.cc/concepts/flows/)