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Open Catalogi

What is Open Catalogi?​

Open Catalogi is an open source solution designed to help government organizations create, manage, and share catalogs of their software, services, and data. It enables transparent publication of public sector information, making it easier for citizens, businesses, and other government entities to discover and utilize available resources.

The platform follows open standards and principles, supporting the goals of digital transparency, interoperability, and reusability in government. Open Catalogi helps organizations comply with regulations like the Public Access to Government Information Act (WOO) while providing a user-friendly interface for both publishers and consumers of information.

System Architecture​

Open Catalogi consists of several integrated components that work together to provide a complete catalog management solution:

Component Descriptions​

  1. Public Frontend

    • User Interface: The web interface that users interact with to browse and search catalogs

  2. Nextcloud Apps

    • Open Catalogi App: Manages the presentation and organization of catalog items
    • Open Register App: Core data storage and management system for catalog items
    • Open Connector App: Integrates with external data sources to import catalog items

  3. External Sources

    • GitHub/GitLab Repositories: Source code repositories that can be indexed
    • External APIs: Other data sources that can be connected to enrich the catalog

Manuals​

Open Catalogi provides manuals for three different target groups:

Developers​

Manuals for developers who want to further develop Open Catalogi. This documentation contains technical information about the architecture, APIs, and how to contribute to the codebase.

(Functional) Administrators​

Manuals for administrators who want to configure and set up Open Catalogi. This documentation contains information about managing catalogs, metadata, organizations and directories.

Users​

Manuals for end users who use Open Catalogi daily for example:

  • 📝 Publishing WOO requests
  • 📋 Making permits available for inspection
  • 🗂️ Managing a complete catalog for software for example

Key Features​

  • 📚 Catalogs & Publications: Organize publications, software, and datasets into catalogs, each with its own access scope
  • 🌐 Federated Directory: Synchronize and discover catalogues across Nextcloud instances via the directory sync background job
  • 🏷️ DCAT-AP & DIWOO Export: Publications are harvested as DCAT-AP metadata and mapped to the DIWOO XML schema for data.overheid.nl
  • ⚖️ Woo (Wet open overheid) Compliance: Sitemap and robots.txt generation for all 17 mandatory Woo information categories, with audit trail
  • 🗓️ Retention Lifecycle: Daily background evaluation of publication retention terms, with a review-queue dashboard widget
  • 🗂️ Content Management: Glossary, themes, pages, and menus for building the public-facing catalogue site
  • 🏢 Organization Profiles: Publisher organizations with government identifiers (OIN/TOOI/RSIN/PKI)
  • ☁️ Nextcloud & OpenRegister Integration: Every catalogue entry is a typed OpenRegister object with RBAC-governed access
  • 🤖 AI Chat Companion (MCP): Read-only MCP tools expose catalogue search and publication lookup to compatible LLM assistants
  • 🔍 Faceted Search: Full-text search across publications with filtering by metadata fields
  • 🔌 API Access: RESTful API for programmatic access to catalog data, with CORS support

Benefits of Open Catalogi​

For Government Organizations​

  • 🏛️ Transparency: Easily publish information about your digital services and software
  • 💰 Cost Efficiency: Reduce duplication by discovering existing solutions
  • 🤝 Collaboration: Find partners working on similar challenges
  • 📊 Oversight: Maintain a clear overview of your digital portfolio
  • ⚖️ Compliance: Meet legal requirements for transparency and reuse

For Citizens and Businesses​

  • 🔎 Discoverability: Find government services and information more easily
  • 📱 Accessibility: Access government resources through a user-friendly interface
  • 🧩 Integration: Build upon existing government components for new solutions
  • 📈 Innovation: Identify opportunities for improvement and innovation

For Developers​

  • 🧰 Reusable Components: Find and reuse existing government software components
  • 📚 Documentation: Access comprehensive documentation for government APIs and services
  • 🔧 Contribution: Easily contribute improvements to government software
  • 🌱 Open Source: Benefit from and participate in open source government projects

Project History​

Open Catalogi has evolved significantly since its inception, with continuous improvements and new features being added to better serve the needs of government organizations, citizens, and developers.

Key Milestones​

Q1 2024: Nextcloud Integration​

The integration with Nextcloud marked a significant advancement for Open Catalogi, providing a robust foundation for secure storage, access control, and collaboration features. This migration enhanced the platform's security posture and enabled seamless integration with existing Nextcloud deployments in government organizations.

Q2 2024: New Search API​

The introduction of a new Search API dramatically improved the discoverability of catalog items. With enhanced search capabilities, advanced filtering options, and significant performance optimizations, users can now find relevant resources more quickly and accurately.

Q4 2024: Improved Document Handling​

Document handling capabilities were substantially enhanced with support for additional formats, automatic metadata extraction, and version control. These improvements streamlined the process of publishing and managing documents within catalogs.

Q1 2025: Dashboard Widgets​

Dashboard widgets now surface catalog stats, most-viewed publications, unpublished publications/attachments, and the retention review queue — each linking directly into the relevant filtered list.

2026: Woo/DIWOO Compliance and AI Integration​

OpenCatalogi added DIWOO sitemap and robots.txt generation for all 17 mandatory Woo (Wet open overheid) information categories, a daily retention-evaluation background job, and a read-only MCP tool provider that exposes catalogue search and publication lookup to the Nextcloud AI Chat Companion.

Getting Started​

Ready to start using Open Catalogi? Follow these steps to get up and running quickly:

For Organizations​

  1. Installation:

    • Set up Nextcloud on your server
    • Install the Open Catalogi, Open Register, and Open Connector apps
    • Configure your organization profile

  2. Connect Your Repositories:

    • Link your GitHub or GitLab organization
    • Configure webhooks for automatic updates
    • Set up metadata extraction rules

  3. Customize Your Catalog:

    • Define your catalog structure
    • Set up access permissions
    • Configure branding and appearance

For Developers​

  1. Local Development Environment:

    • Clone the repositories: 
      git clone https://github.com/OpenCatalogi/opencatalogi-app.git
      git clone https://github.com/OpenCatalogi/openregister-app.git
      git clone https://github.com/OpenCatalogi/openconnector-app.git
    • Set up Nextcloud development environment
    • Install dependencies and build the apps

  2. API Integration:

    • Review the API documentation
    • Generate API keys
    • Test your integration

For detailed instructions, see the Installation Guide and Developer Guide.