Intermediate

The Foundry Ontology

Master Foundry's most distinctive feature — the semantic Ontology that maps data to real-world business objects, enabling applications and AI that understand your domain.

What is the Ontology?

The Ontology is Foundry's semantic layer that transforms raw data into business-meaningful objects. Instead of working with tables and columns, users interact with concepts they understand: Customers, Orders, Facilities, Equipment, Patients.

Each object type has properties (attributes), links (relationships to other objects), and actions (operations that can be performed).

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Why it matters: The Ontology bridges the gap between data teams and business users. A supply chain manager doesn't need to know SQL — they interact with "Shipments" and "Warehouses" directly, and the Ontology translates to the underlying data.

Ontology Components

ComponentDescriptionExample
Object TypesBusiness entities mapped from datasetsCustomer, Order, Product
PropertiesAttributes of objectsCustomer.name, Order.status
LinksRelationships between object typesCustomer → has many → Orders
ActionsOperations users can perform on objectsApprove Order, Reassign Technician
InterfacesShared contracts across object typesLocatable (has lat/lon)

Building Object Types

Object types are backed by datasets and can be created through the Ontology Manager:

  • Primary key: Unique identifier for each object instance (e.g., customer_id)
  • Property mapping: Map dataset columns to object properties with type validation
  • Computed properties: Derived values calculated from other properties or linked objects
  • Search configuration: Define which properties are searchable and filterable

Actions

Actions are the Ontology's mechanism for closing the loop between insight and operation:

  • Write-back actions: Modify object properties and write changes back to source systems
  • Webhook actions: Trigger external system integrations (Slack, email, API calls)
  • Validation rules: Enforce business logic before actions execute
  • Approval workflows: Require human approval for high-impact actions
  • Audit trail: Every action is logged with who, when, and what changed

Ontology-Based Applications

The Ontology powers multiple application types:

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Workshop

Build custom operational applications with drag-and-drop widgets backed by Ontology objects and actions.

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Object Explorer

Navigate and explore Ontology objects, their properties, and relationships interactively.

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OSDK

Ontology SDK for building custom TypeScript/Python applications on top of Ontology APIs.

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Key takeaway: The Ontology is what makes Foundry unique. By modeling your business domain as objects with relationships and actions, it enables applications and AI that understand business context — not just data tables.