Class Stereotypes

Class stereotypes decorate Class elements, naming the UFO notion each class instantiates — kind, role, relator, and so on. A class's stereotype also constrains the ontological natures it may list in restrictedTo and the order it may carry.

Unlike Ontological Nature and Aggregation Kind, this vocabulary is open: the schema stores stereotype as a plain non-empty string (see Decoratable), so the values below are the recommended standard set, not a closed enumeration.

Standard values

For each standard stereotype, the table gives the restrictedTo natures and the order expected in a serialized Class, using the schema's ontological-nature tokens.

Stereotype	restrictedTo	order
kind	["functional-complex"]	"1"
collective	["collective"]	"1"
quantity	["quantity"]	"1"
relator	["relator"]	"1"
mode	non-empty subset of ["intrinsic-mode", "extrinsic-mode"]	"1"
quality	["quality"]	"1"
event	["event"]	"1"
situation	["situation"]	"1"
type	["type"]	higher-order ("2", "3", … or "*" — not "1")
subkind	a single nature, inherited from the ultimate sortal	any
role	a single nature, inherited from the ultimate sortal	any
phase	a single nature, inherited from the ultimate sortal	any
historicalRole	a single nature, inherited from the ultimate sortal	any
category	a non-empty subset of the natures	any
mixin	a non-empty subset of the natures	any
roleMixin	a non-empty subset of the natures	any
phaseMixin	a non-empty subset of the natures	any
historicalRoleMixin	a non-empty subset of the natures	any

note

The non-sortal stereotypes — category, mixin, roleMixin, phaseMixin, and historicalRoleMixin — decorate classes that must be abstract (isAbstract: true), since their instances always carry an identity principle supplied by some sortal.

By domain

Grouped by the kind of entity they classify:

• Endurants: kind, collective, quantity, relator, mode, quality, subkind, role, phase, category, mixin, roleMixin, phaseMixin.
• Events: event, historicalRole, historicalRoleMixin.
• Situations: situation.
• Multi-level (types): type.

Example

The «kind» Person class, decorated with the kind stereotype and restricted to functional-complex:

{
  "type": "Class",
  "id": "class_person",
  "name": { "en": "Person" },
  "stereotype": "kind",
  "isDerived": false,
  "isAbstract": false,
  "properties": ["prop_age"],
  "literals": [],
  "restrictedTo": ["functional-complex"],
  "isPowertype": false,
  "order": "1",
  "customProperties": null,
  "created": "2024-09-04",
  "modified": null,
  "alternativeNames": [],
  "description": null,
  "editorialNotes": [],
  "creators": [],
  "contributors": []
}

Source of truth

These values come from the OntoUML profile, not from this serialization schema. See the OntoUML Metamodel for the formal definitions and constraints of each stereotype. Because stereotype is an unconstrained string (Decoratable), custom values are allowed — prefer the standard vocabulary for interoperability, and reserve custom stereotypes for deliberate extensions.