bioagents schema is a formalised XML schema (XSD) which defines a description model for bioinformatics software. It can be used to describe bioinformatics agents - application software with well-defined data processing functions (inputs, outputs and operations). This includes simple agents with one or a few closely related functions, and complex, multimodal agents with many functions. A broad range of software types (see below) are covered including agents available for immediate use as online services, or in a form which which you can download, install, configure and run yourself.
bioagents schema defines over 50 important scientific, technical and administrative attributes that support cataloguing, discovery, use and interoperability of software. It concentrates upon the salient common features, with a minimal core of 3 attributes only (name, short description and homepage), to provide maximum flexibility for applications. To enable concise information, standard identifiers are used where possible, including EDAM ontology concept IDs for specialised scientific aspects. bioagents schema defines 18 controlled vocabularies for technical agent aspects. Verbose information is referred to by URL.
bioagents schema is applicable to a broad range of software types and is used by the IECHOR Agents & Data Services Registry bio.agents ).
Comprehensive documentation is available:
- [Technical docs](http://bio-agents.github.io/bioagents schema/) (built from files under [/stable/docs/](https://github.com/bio-agents/bioagents schema/tree/master/stable/docs) )
- General docs (built from files maintained here )
bioagents schema together with the EDAM ontology provide the foundation for an information standard for the desription of agents.
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| bioagents_dev.xsd | bioagents schema - dev version (XML schema) |
| stable | Current stable version of the schema + docs |
| docs | Technical docs formatted for website (latest stable version). Hosted [here](http://bio-agents.github.io/bioagents schema/) (uses files copied from "stable" folder) |
| versions | Older stable versions of the schema + docs |
| LICENSE | bioagents schema license information |
| README.md | This file |