semantica/docs/reference/explorer.md

title, description, icon

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Explorer	Interactive FastAPI dashboard for knowledge graph exploration and the Ontology Hub.	map

semantica.explorer provides a browser-based dashboard for exploring knowledge graphs, managing ontologies, and running visual analyses — no code required.

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Installation

pip install "semantica[explorer]"

Requires uvicorn and fastapi. Included automatically with pip install semantica[all].

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Launch

# Start the explorer on a saved graph
semantica-explorer --graph my_graph.json

# Custom host and port
semantica-explorer --graph my_graph.json --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8080

# Don't auto-open browser
semantica-explorer --graph my_graph.json --no-browser

import subprocess
from semantica.context import ContextGraph

graph = ContextGraph(advanced_analytics=True)
# ... build or load your graph ...
graph.save_to_file("my_graph.json")

# Launch the dashboard via CLI
subprocess.run(["semantica-explorer", "--graph", "my_graph.json", "--port", "8000"])

# Run directly as a Python module
# python -m semantica.explorer --graph my_graph.json --port 8000
import subprocess
subprocess.run(["python", "-m", "semantica.explorer", "--graph", "my_graph.json"])

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CLI Reference

Flag	Default	Description
--graph, -g	(required)	Path to a ContextGraph JSON file
--port, -p	8000	Port to bind the server
--host	127.0.0.1	Host to bind the server
--no-browser	false	Skip auto-opening the browser

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Features

Graph Explorer

The core dashboard for navigating knowledge graphs:

• Indexed search — find any node by label or type; 0.004ms on 118k-node graphs
• Bidirectional path finding — trace paths between any two nodes
• Neighbor expansion — click any node to expand its connections
• Filter by entity type — focus on specific node types (Person, Organization, Event, etc.)
• Edge label display — relationship types shown on all edges
• Graph declutter — workspace layout controls for dense graphs

Ontology Hub (v0.5.0)

Full ontology lifecycle management in the browser:

• Visual ontology editor — drag-and-drop class and property authoring
• SHACL Studio — create, validate, and test SHACL shapes with live feedback
• Alignment authoring — author ontology alignments across schemas
• Health dashboard — graph quality metrics, validation status, coverage reports
• Version control — snapshot, diff, and restore ontology versions

Distance Intelligence (v0.5.0)

Semantic neighborhood analysis:

• N×N distance matrices — pairwise semantic distances across node sets
• Ego-mode visualization — focus on a single node's semantic neighborhood
• Distance band classification — nodes grouped as near / mid / far
• Embedding cache — optimized embedding reuse for large graphs

Knowledge Explorer API

Full FastAPI backend accessible at http://localhost:8000/docs:

• 12+ export formats (RDF, Parquet, AQL, JSON-LD, and more)
• WebSocket progress streaming for long operations
• Thread-safe sessions with rollback protection
• Audit trail for all operations

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API Endpoints

The FastAPI server exposes a REST API alongside the browser dashboard:

Endpoint	Method	Description
/api/graph/summary	GET	Node count, edge count, entity types
/api/graph/search	GET	Full-text and type-filtered node search
/api/graph/path	GET	Bidirectional path between two nodes
/api/graph/neighbors	GET	Neighbors of a node with optional depth
/api/ontology/validate	POST	Run SHACL validation on the graph
/api/export/{format}	GET	Export graph in specified format
/ws/progress	WS	WebSocket stream for operation progress

Full OpenAPI docs available at http://localhost:8000/docs when the server is running.

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See Also

Build and save the ContextGraph that Explorer loads. Programmatic ontology management and SHACL generation. Programmatic graph rendering without the full Explorer server. Export to RDF, Parquet, AQL without launching a server.