GA4GH Connect session follow up - GA4GH Schema Registry Specification

[Beatrice Amos]

Dear Colleagues,

Thank you all for contributing to the GA4GH Connect session: GA4GH Schema Registry Specification - what a productive and engaging discussion! A big thank you to Kathy Reinold, Nathan Sheffield and Jonathan Fuerth for an excellent session, and to all participants for their valuable contributions and engaging discussions. Your input made this a truly meaningful conversation.

For those who were unable to attend, the meeting summary and recording are available in the meeting agenda document. Please take a moment to review the meeting notes for accuracy and completeness and let me know if anything needs to be updated or clarified.

📌 Key Takeaways:

🔶 A centralised schema registry could improve schema discoverability, governance, and alignment across GA4GH workstreams, filling a gap not addressed by current GitHub practices.

🔶 Community input supports a lightweight, GitHub-integrated prototype as a first step - one that includes lifecycle labeling (e.g., experimental vs approved) and namespace clarity.

🔶 Interoperability and alignment with global efforts (e.g., EOSC, ELIXIR) are important for long-term success, but GA4GH should start small and focused to prove value.

Meeting Summary:

The DaMaSC subgroup met to discuss the development of a Schema Registry API intended to support schema sharing, discoverability, and governance across GA4GH and potentially beyond. The group discussed the balance between technical simplicity and the need for metadata, lifecycle stages, and policy to support schema usability and trust. Participants agreed on testing a minimal prototype using GitHub, aiming to evaluate its usefulness before expanding or formalising the registry.

📌 Action items:

🔶 Develop a prototype of the Schema Registry using GitHub folder structures and pathing that mimics the proposed API.

🔶 Define minimal metadata requirements (e.g., schema status, version, maintainer, namespace) to test in the prototype and guide future governance.

🔶 Clarify scope and policies for inclusion in the registry - starting with schemas from the GA4GH workstreams - and distinguish between approved and experimental schemas.

I'll be sharing follow-ups soon, so please stay tuned. If there's anything we missed or anything you'd like to add, feel free to reach out!

Thanks again for your engagement and contributions - let’s keep the momentum going!

Best,
Beatrice

--

Beatrice Amos

Work Stream Manager

beatri...@ga4gh.org

ba...@sanger.ac.uk

Please note my upcoming Out of Office days:
March 31st -  April 21st 

https://www.ga4gh.org/what-we-do/calendar/