Conversion rules reference

The converter currently applies these rules.

Document shape

Output is serialized as a Salad document with $namespaces and $graph. External Salad dependencies are not emitted under $schemas; they are imported once through $import entries inside $graph.

Namespaces and imports

The built-in sld namespace points to https://w3id.org/cwl/salad#. External schema namespaces are derived from the imported file name, so string_format.yaml becomes string_format, and the namespace value ends with #.

Object schemas

JSON Schema objects and schemas with properties become Salad record types. Required properties remain required. Optional properties are represented as nullable unions by adding null.

Primitive types

JSON Schema primitive types map to Salad primitive types as follows:

JSON Schema type	Salad type
string	string
integer	int
number	float
boolean	boolean
null	null

String formats

Recognized string formats, such as date, date-time, uri, uuid, email, ipv4, and ipv6, are mapped to named types from the EOAP string format Salad schema. References are qualified with the generated namespace, for example string_format:Date or string_format:URI.

Arrays

JSON Schema arrays are emitted as Salad array types, with items recursively converted using the same type rules.

Enums

JSON Schema enum values become Salad enum definitions with stringified symbols.

References

Local $ref values into #/$defs/... and #/definitions/... are resolved to emitted Salad type names. The CLI merger can also recursively load external referenced schemas and inline their record or enum definitions into the final document.

Definitions

$defs and definitions are predeclared so references can point to stable generated names. Object-like definitions become records, enum definitions become enums, and unsupported definition shapes are wrapped in a record with a required value field.

Compositions

oneOf and anyOf become Salad unions. allOf is handled for object-like schemas by using extends when branches are references and by flattening inline object branches into a merged record.

Names

Record names are derived from schema titles when available, falling back to reference paths, field names, or source file hints. Names are sanitized for Salad compatibility and de-duplicated when the same preferred name appears more than once.

Documentation

JSON Schema description is carried into Salad doc fields. When no description is present, title can be used as documentation. Example values are appended to field and enum docs when available.

Merging behavior

When the CLI receives multiple sources, or a source references shared external schemas, it emits a single merged Salad document, de-duplicating schema loads and type definitions by source reference where possible.

Fallbacks and warnings

Unsupported type variants and unsupported non-object allOf branches degrade to Any, with warnings collected into the generated document comment.