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Configure a catalogue

Setting up a fresh catalogue is the most common admin task — a new dataset, a new compliance register, a new federation export — and the steps are always the same: create the shell, attach the right schemas, set visibility, assign roles. This tutorial walks through one end-to-end.

Goal​

By the end you will have one catalogue ready for publication: schemas attached, visibility set, three roles configured (viewer, editor, admin), at least one user assigned per role.

Prerequisites​

  • Admin rights on OpenCatalogi (Nextcloud admin, or the catalogue-admin role).
  • OpenRegister set up with at least one publication schema you want to attach (see Create and attach a schema in the Open Register docs).
  • At least two Nextcloud users / groups to assign — editors and viewers are reasonable.

Steps​

  1. Open Catalogi in the navigation and click Add Catalogue. The Create Catalogue dialog asks for title, slug (auto-suggested from the title), summary, organisation (the owning org, picked from the Organisations list), and an optional logo. Fill them in and save.

    Create Catalogue dialog

  2. The catalogue detail page opens, on the Overview tab. Switch to Schemas. Click Attach schema, pick the publication schema(s) you want to allow in this catalogue (you can attach more than one — Document, Dataset, Service). Each attached schema appears as a chip.

    Schemas attached

  3. Switch to Settings. The Visibility block has three radio options — Private (assigned users / groups only), Internal (any logged-in user), Public (anyone, federation-readable). Pick Internal for a typical org-wide catalogue.

    Visibility set to Internal

  4. Still on Settings, scroll to Roles. Three default roles are pre-created: viewer (read), editor (read, create, update), admin (everything including settings). Click Add member, pick a user or group, choose a role. Add at least one entry per role.

    Members assigned to roles

  5. Save. Log out and back in as a user assigned the editor role — they can read the catalogue, add publications, edit existing ones, but the Settings tab is hidden. As a viewer the Add publication button is greyed out.

    Editor view of the catalogue

Verification​

The catalogue appears in Catalogi, the Schemas tab lists the right attached schemas, the Settings tab shows the visibility and the three roles with the right members; an editor user can publish, a viewer can read but not write; the catalogue's Audit tab logs every settings change.

Common issues​

SymptomFix
Schema picker is emptyOpenRegister has no schemas yet, or the user doesn't have read access to them — check OpenRegister's Schemas list, attach yourself to the org that owns them.
Members can read but every save fails 403The catalogue's role has read but not update, or the publication schema is marked read-only in OpenRegister.
Federation peers can't reach the catalogueVisibility is set to Internal, which doesn't expose to federation — bump it to Public (or use a per-peer share — see Manage federation sources).

Reference​