SHACLenforce

SHACLenforce is a software project that provides runtime enforcement and validation of SHACL constraints on RDF data. It uses a shapes graph to constrain a data graph, ensuring that stored or streamed data conforms to the defined shapes. By enforcing constraints at write time or during extract, transform, and load processes, SHACLenforce helps improve data quality and interoperability in semantic web applications.

The tool supports standard SHACL features, including node shapes, property shapes, and SHACL-SPARQL constraints. It can operate as a standalone validator or as an enforcement service embedded in data pipelines and triplestores. It offers both hard enforcement, which rejects non-conforming updates, and soft enforcement, which logs violations and may provide remediation guidance. Incremental validation is typically supported, allowing only the changed portions of a dataset to be rechecked to reduce latency for large graphs.

In terms of architecture, SHACLenforce generally comprises a shapes graph, a data graph, an enforcement engine, and adapters to RDF stores or streaming endpoints. It exposes a programmatic API and may provide a REST interface to facilitate integration into data workflows. The system aims to be compatible with common RDF storage backends and to integrate with ETL pipelines or application services that manage semantic data.

Usage and impact often focus on data governance, knowledge graph quality, and interoperable data exchange. SHACLenforce is used in projects where adherence to ontologies and data models is important, including data integration, publishing pipelines, and research settings. Limitations may include partial support for advanced SHACL features and performance considerations for very large graphs; ongoing development seeks to broaden coverage and efficiency.

See also: SHACL, RDF, SHACL-SPARQL, RDF stores.