owl-portability-layer

Vendor-neutral OWL/SHACL semantic layer for enterprise AI platforms

Problem

Enterprise ontology features are increasingly bundled into proprietary stacks—Palantir Foundry and Microsoft Fabric IQ ship rich models, but teams get locked into vendor-specific object APIs, action types, and lakehouse quirks. Agent layers (MCP, A2A) need a stable semantic contract that survives platform churn.

Architecture

                          ┌──────────────────────────────┐
                          │  Agents (MCP / A2A / custom)  │
                          └───────────────┬──────────────┘
                                          │
                          ┌───────────────▼──────────────┐
                          │   OWL Portability Layer      │
                          │   OWL + SHACL (pyshacl/RDFS) │
                          └───────────────┬──────────────┘
                                          │
   ┌─────────┬─────────┬─────────┬────────┼────────┬─────────┬─────────┐
   │         │         │         │        │        │         │         │
┌──▼────┐ ┌──▼──────┐ ┌──▼────┐ ┌──▼──────┐ ┌──▼─────┐ ┌──▼────┐ ┌──▼─────┐
│  IBM  │ │Dataverse│ │Fabric │ │AgentCore│ │Service │ │Google │ │Palantir│
│watsonx│ │D365/M365│ │  IQ   │ │  (AWS)  │ │  Now   │ │Catalog│ │Foundry │
└───────┘ └─────────┘ └───────┘ └─────────┘ └────────┘ └───────┘ └────────┘
                                          │
                                 ┌────────▼────────┐
                                 │ MCP (JSON-RPC)  │  ← vendor-free path
                                 └─────────────────┘

Quick start

pip install -r requirements.txt
python examples/demo_validation.py

How it works

• Ontology first: Domain classes and properties live in ontologies/*.ttl as the single semantic source of truth.
• SHACL as policy: Constraints (including SPARQL-based rules) enforce approvals and thresholds without scattering logic in adapters.
• Dict → RDF: Payloads are lifted to RDF for validation, then passed unchanged to adapters when validation passes.
• Pluggable targets: Register PalantirFoundryAdapter, FabricIQAdapter, or MCPAdapter under short keys; swap target_platform only.

Platform Adapters

Platform	Adapter	Status	Governance Model
Palantir Foundry	PalantirFoundryAdapter	✅ Live	Proprietary OSDK
Microsoft Fabric IQ	FabricIQAdapter	✅ Live	Semantic contracts
Microsoft Dataverse	DataverseSemanticAdapter	✅ Live	Vector index + Skills
Google Knowledge Catalog	GoogleKnowledgeCatalogAdapter	✅ Live	schema.org + RDF
ServiceNow Context Engine	ServiceNowContextEngineAdapter	✅ Live	CMDB Knowledge Graph
AWS AgentCore	AgentCoreSemanticAdapter	✅ Live	Cedar + OWL/SHACL
IBM watsonx.data Context	IBMWatsonxContextAdapter	✅ Live	Runtime governance + OWL/SHACL

All adapters work in simulation mode — zero platform credentials needed.

IBM vs Google vs AWS: Three Approaches to the Semantic Layer

Dimension	Google Knowledge Catalog	AWS AgentCore	IBM watsonx.data
Governance model	Retrieval-first	Cedar (access control)	Runtime enforcement
Cross-platform	❌	Gateway only	Federated ✅
Open standards	RDF/JSON-LD ✅	Cedar (open source) ✅	Claimed ✅
OWL support	❌	❌	❌
SHACL support	❌	❌	❌
Production status	GA	GA	Private preview

See docs/ibm_vs_google_vs_aws.md for full analysis.

Microsoft's Two Semantic Layers

Microsoft offers two complementary semantic layers. The OWL Portability Layer includes adapters for both:

Layer	Adapter	Data Estate	Entry Barrier
Fabric IQ	FabricIQAdapter	OneLake / DirectLake	Requires Fabric migration
Dataverse	DataverseSemanticAdapter	Dynamics 365, Power Apps, M365	Already deployed at scale

See docs/dataverse_vs_fabric_iq.md for the full comparison.

Cedar + OWL/SHACL: Two Complementary Layers

AWS AgentCore ships Cedar for access control governance. The AgentCoreSemanticAdapter adds the OWL/SHACL domain constraint layer that Cedar cannot express.

Question	Cedar (AgentCore Gateway)	OWL/SHACL (This Layer)
Is this principal permitted to call this tool?	✅	—
Does this call violate domain business rules?	—	✅
Does this work cross-platform?	Gateway only	✅ All platforms

# Cedar + OWL/SHACL parallel governance demo (zero credentials)
python examples/demo_agentcore_parallel_governance.py

# Five-platform portability demo (simulation mode)
python examples/demo_five_platform_portability.py

# Dataverse + OWL/SHACL bridge demo (zero credentials)
python examples/demo_dataverse_bridge.py

# Six-platform portability demo (simulation mode)
python examples/demo_six_platform_portability.py

Cross-Platform Validators

Validator	Use Case	Demo
CrossPlatformOffboardingValidator	Employee offboarding across ServiceNow + Salesforce + Microsoft	examples/demo_offboarding_validation.py

Running the demos

python examples/demo_validation.py
python examples/demo_portability.py
python examples/demo_migration_check.py

# Cross-platform offboarding validation (zero credentials)
python examples/demo_offboarding_validation.py

# Four-platform portability demo (simulation mode)
python examples/demo_four_platform_portability.py

# Dataverse + OWL/SHACL bridge demo (zero credentials)
python examples/demo_dataverse_bridge.py

# Six-platform portability demo (simulation mode)
python examples/demo_six_platform_portability.py

# IBM watsonx + OWL/SHACL governance demo (zero credentials)
python examples/demo_ibm_watsonx_governance.py

# Seven-platform portability demo (simulation mode)
python examples/demo_seven_platform_portability.py

AgentCore demos are listed under Cedar + OWL/SHACL above.

Adding your own adapter

See docs/adding_adapters.md.

Related articles

• Microsoft Just Shipped Two Semantic Layers. One of Them Is Quietly More Powerful Than Fabric IQ [MEDIUM ARTICLE LINK — add when published]
• Google vs Microsoft vs Palantir: The Enterprise Ontology Race and the Layer All Three Are Missing
• ServiceNow vs Microsoft vs Salesforce: The Semantic Layer War (and the OWL Layer None of Them Ship)
• AWS Built AgentCore With 6 Enterprise Layers. The Semantic Authority Layer Isn't One of Them
• IBM watsonx vs Google Knowledge Catalog vs AWS AgentCore: The Semantic Layer Race Just Got a New Contender — and a New Gap [MEDIUM ARTICLE LINK — add when published]

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Part of the OntoArc enterprise ontology toolkit.