Research: Google Open Knowledge Format (OKF) — assess overlap, decide adopt vs interop vs acknowledge

[avrabe]

Please research Google okf if this could be a separate format to use or for our finalized way. Or if this is not structured enough

[avrabe]

Triage from the issue-fixing routine: the ask is research-shaped ("research Google okf — could it be a separate format to use, or for our finalized way, or is it not structured enough") which is a useful research lead but doesn't carry an explicit "fixed when …" line the routine can verify before opening a PR. Deferring until one is pinned.

Two clarifying questions before the AC, since the body is a one-liner:

1. Which "okf" do you mean? A few candidates that could fit "Google + okf" — could you confirm which (or paste a link)?

   • OKF (Open Knowledge Format) as a generic structured-knowledge interchange notion
   • Google's Open Knowledge Graph / Knowledge Graph schema posture
   • Something else (an internal Google format you saw in a paper / talk — link would help)

2. Which "our finalized way"? Most likely the artifact-YAML / schema set this repo ships (common, aspice, stpa, the bridges) — but the issue could also be about the export side (compliance-bundle output: ReqIF / OSLC / CycloneDX-AIBOM / etc., per Supply chain integration: Sigil attestations + SBOM/AIBOM + Rivet traceability bridge #107 / AI code provenance tracking: AIBOM integration and AI-generated artifact audit trail #104). Different answer per slice.

This one feels like #508's shape (research lead → tracking issue, not a single-PR implementation slice). The format the routine looks for matches #532's kill-criterion. Two sketches depending on which slice you want to scope:

## Acceptance Criteria — option A (research-only deliverable)
- [ ] A short research note (in-repo `docs/research/okf-eval.md` or a comment on this issue) lands that answers, with cited sources: (a) what Google okf *is* (spec link / paper / canonical example), (b) which of rivet's existing surfaces it overlaps with (schema authoring? import? export? trace graph?), (c) verdict — adopt-as-is / adopt-with-mapping / inform-only / not-applicable, with one or two concrete reasons.
- [ ] If verdict is "adopt-with-mapping" or "adopt-as-is", file a follow-up implementation issue with explicit AC (don't fold it into this one — keeps the research slice closeable).
- [ ] Decision recorded as a `decision`-type artifact in this repo so it's part of the trace graph. Refs: `#549`.
- [ ] **Explicitly out of scope:** any code change in this PR — research-only.

## Acceptance Criteria — option B (if okf is concretely about an import/export format)
- [ ] Pin which side of the boundary: (i) `rivet import --format okf` (consume an okf doc as artifacts), or (ii) `rivet export --format okf` (emit okf from the artifact store), or both. Body of this issue updated with the chosen side.
- [ ] Schema mapping table in `docs/formats/okf.md`: okf field ↔ rivet artifact field (or "no equivalent — drop / error"). Mapping is reversible for whichever directions you scope.
- [ ] Round-trip fixture under `tests/fixtures/okf-roundtrip/` for the scoped direction(s): input → rivet artifacts → re-emit → diff (golden file).
- [ ] `rivet validate` PASS unchanged; `cargo test` / `cargo fmt --check` / `clippy --all-targets -- -D warnings` clean.
- [ ] Commit trailers: `Implements: REQ-NNN` (new REQ for the okf surface) + `Refs: #549`.
- [ ] **Explicitly out of scope (file separately):** the *other* direction of import/export if only one is scoped; any UX changes to the dashboard around the new format.

If neither shape fits — i.e. okf is a standards posture question ("should our finalized way be okf-shaped?") — that's closer to a design issue like #490, and the AC would be a design-note deliverable rather than either of the above.

Process side-rail (carried from every recent triage thread): https://pulseengine.eu/blog/ is still HTTP 503 (the long-standing expired-TLS / site-infra symptom flagged on #420, #468, #456, #436, #431, #422, #479, #482, #488, #490, #500, #508, #509, #516, #522, #523, #530, #532, #538, #543, #546, #547, #548 — re-verified at the start of this run). The binding workflow guidance can't be consulted, so no PR will land from this triage regardless. Comment is the AC ask only.

Not implemented this run.

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Generated by Claude Code — issue-triage agent run 2026-06-19.

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Generated by Claude Code

[avrabe]

https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/knowledge-catalog/blob/main/okf/SPEC.md

Looking at it it has a lot of resemblance with our documents but please check if also for artifacts

[avrabe]

Investigated the OKF spec (GoogleCloudPlatform/knowledge-catalog/okf/SPEC.md, v0.1) against rivet's two surfaces — short answer: resemblance on the document side, deliberate mismatch on the artifact side. Per-axis comparison:

	OKF v0.1	rivet
Unit	"Concept" — markdown file with YAML frontmatter	Artifact — YAML record with typed fields
Body	Markdown prose with conventional sections (# Schema, # Examples, # Citations)	description: free text + structured fields
Identity	Derived from file path (tables/users.md → tables/users)	Explicit id: (REQ-001, FEAT-001); see #490 for shard-per-id
Required fields	Only type:	id, type, title, schema-declared fields
Links	Untyped — markdown links; "kind of relationship is conveyed by the surrounding prose, not by the link itself"	Typed — 14 link types (satisfies, verifies, traces-to, …) with allowed-target enforcement
Broken links	"Consumers MUST tolerate broken links"	broken-link ERROR — rivet validate fails
Schema	"No schema registry, no central authority, no required tooling" — type: is a free string	Schema-driven (common, aspice, stpa, …); embedded + vendored, surfaced via rivet schema sources (REQ-177)
Validation	Soft conformance — unknown keys, unknown types, broken links don't violate	Hard validation; coverage rules, completeness diagnostics
Provenance	Optional timestamp: in frontmatter; "git for history"	First-class provenance: field with created-by/model/session-id (REQ-104 / #104)
Versioning	okf_version: "0.1" in root index.md	Per-schema version: (cosmetic today — #431 surfacing landed in #483)

Where it overlaps the document side: OKF's "Knowledge Bundle = directory of markdown concepts" is structurally close to rivet's HTML/static-export surface (compliance reports under documents/, the per-artifact pages, rivet export --format html). Markdown frontmatter ↔ rivet artifact YAML is a near-1:1 mapping for descriptive metadata.

Where it does not fit the artifact side (the call you're asking me to make): OKF is deliberately untyped — links carry no type, broken links are explicitly compliant, and there's no schema registry. That's the exact axis rivet is built on: every assessor question rivet answers (rivet trace REQ-X --full, coverage-rule-consistency, link-target-type, the V/V closure question driving #555/#554) requires typed links and rejected broken ones. Adopting OKF as rivet's artifact format would mean dropping the audit story this whole tool exists for. The two ends of the spectrum are at odds by design — OKF says "tooling-free, prose-disambiguated"; rivet says "schema-enforced, machine-checkable."

Useful directional lifts (none require adopting OKF, but the conventions are good):

1. Path-derived ID convention. OKF's "ID = file path" is structurally what Design: shard artifacts/requirements.yaml into per-id files so parallel adds never share a region (structural fix for #422) #490 (shard artifacts/requirements.yaml into artifacts/requirements/REQ-NNN.yaml) is moving toward. Adopting that gives the OKF-style "one file per concept, ID derivable from path" affordance while keeping the typed-link enforcement.
2. Conventional body section names. OKF's # Schema / # Examples / # Citations are a cheap convention rivet's description: field could borrow — markdown-structured description: with named subsections renders cleanly in the static export and makes the AI-generated description: field more parseable downstream. No schema change required; would be a docs convention only.
3. okf_version:-style declared target. rivet's per-schema version: field is parseable today (REQ-176/177 surfacing); turning it into a rivet.yaml-level min-rivet-version: pin is the second-half of Embedded (builtin) schemas are binary-versioned, not pinned — upgrading rivet silently changes validation (new diagnostics on unchanged artifacts) #431 the maintainer call still has out.

Verdict for this issue: OKF is not a candidate format for rivet's artifact store — the typed/untyped link split makes them incompatible at the core. It could be a (cheap, lossy) export target for the document surface — rivet export --format okf-bundle emitting a markdown-per-artifact knowledge-bundle next to the existing HTML export — if there's a downstream consumer that wants the OKF posture (the agent-friendly knowledge-bundle ecosystem). Not implementing speculatively; flag it if a real consumer asks.

If you'd like to scope an export --format okf-bundle slice, suggested AC:

## Acceptance Criteria — `rivet export --format okf-bundle` (export only, no schema change)
- [ ] `rivet export --format okf-bundle <dir>` writes a `<dir>/index.md` (no frontmatter, per OKF reserved-filename rule) and one `<type>/<id>.md` per artifact, with YAML frontmatter populated from artifact fields (`type:`, `title:`, `description:`, `tags:`, `timestamp:` from the latest commit touching the artifact, `resource:` from `external:` if present).
- [ ] Body of each `.md` contains the artifact's `description:` prose plus rendered tables for typed links (`## Verifies`, `## Satisfies`, `## Traces-to`) so the link graph is human-readable as prose, satisfying OKF's "kind of relationship in the surrounding prose" convention.
- [ ] `okf_version: "0.1"` in `index.md` frontmatter.
- [ ] Round-trip is **export-only** (deliberately lossy on link types): no `rivet import --format okf-bundle` — the typed-link information cannot be reconstructed from the OKF representation, that's the format's intent. Documented in the export's docs page.
- [ ] `rivet validate` PASS unchanged; `cargo test` / `clippy --all-targets -- -D warnings` / `fmt --check` clean.
- [ ] Commit trailers: `Implements: REQ-NNN` (new REQ for "OKF-bundle export target") + `Refs: #549`.
- [ ] **Explicitly out of scope (file separately if wanted):** import; adopting OKF on the artifact-store side (rejected per analysis above); the "conventional body sections in `description:`" convention from lift (2) — useful but independent.

If instead you'd like to leave this issue as the research note and not file the export, that's also a clean close — the analysis lives here and #549 is the citable record of "evaluated OKF; not a fit for artifacts, plausible fit for an export target."

Process side-rail (carried from every recent triage thread): https://pulseengine.eu/blog/ is still HTTP 503 (re-verified at the start of this run — same long-standing expired-TLS / site-infra symptom flagged across the last ~25 triage threads). The binding workflow guidance can't be consulted, so no PR will land from this triage regardless. Comment is the OKF analysis + AC sketch only.

Not implemented this run.

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Generated by Claude Code — issue-triage agent run 2026-06-21.

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Generated by Claude Code

[avrabe]

Triage (scheduled run): this is a research request without a closure bar. Holding off until it's either reshaped into a research-deliverable issue or a feature ticket.

Suggested acceptance criteria for the research version:

## Acceptance Criteria
- [ ] A `design-decision` artifact compares Google OKF (or OpenKey Format — please pin the exact spec URL) against rivet's current YAML format on: structure, schema-validation surface, traceability link model, MBSE fit
- [ ] A go / no-go recommendation, with rationale, in the artifact rationale
- [ ] If go: a follow-up issue with a phased adoption plan + CHANGELOG-visible migration notes
- [ ] If no-go: link the rejection from the artifact so the question doesn't recur

Body is currently one sentence — that's not enough to anchor either the search or the verdict. Please add (a) the precise spec link, (b) what would make rivet want this format vs. its current YAML, (c) the closure bar above (or your own).

— rivet triage (Claude Code, scheduled)

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Generated by Claude Code

[avrabe]

Triage: needs clarification before it can be planned. "okf" is ambiguous — it could mean the Open Knowledge Foundation's data formats, Google's Open Knowledge / a specific schema, or something else. Could you point to the exact spec/URL you have in mind and the use case (an import/export target format? an alternative to the current artifact YAML? a knowledge-graph interchange)? Without that, researching risks chasing the wrong "okf." Left unassigned to a release pending that detail.