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This document describes the Verifiable Credentials Vocabulary v2.0, i.e., the RDFS [RDF-SCHEMA] vocabulary used by the Verifiable Credentials [VC-DATA-MODEL-2.0].
Alternate versions of the vocabulary definition exist in Turtle and JSON-LD.
This vocabulary has been defined by the W3C Verifiable Credentials Working Group and provides the official RDFS vocabulary for Verifiable Credentials. Comments regarding this document are welcome. Please file issues directly on GitHub, or send them to public-vc-comments@w3.org (subscribe, archives).
In general, the terms — i.e., the properties and classes — used in the VCDM are formally specified in Recommendation Track documents published by the W3C Verifiable Credentials Working Group or, for some deprecated or reserved terms, in Reports published by the W3C Credentials Community Group. In each case of such external definition, the term's description in this document contains a link to the relevant specification. Additionally, the rdfs:definedBy property in the RDFS representation(s) refers to the formal specification.
In some cases, a local explanation is necessary to complement, or to replace, the definition found in an external specification. For instance, this is so when the term is needed to provide a consistent structure to the RDFS vocabulary, such as when the term defines a common supertype for class instances that are used as objects of specific properties, or when RDF Graphs are involved. For such cases, the extra definition is included in the current document (and the rdfs:comment property is used to include them in the RDFS representations).
This specification makes use of the following namespaces:
credhttps://www.w3.org/2018/credentials#dchttp://purl.org/dc/terms/owlhttp://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#rdfhttp://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#rdfshttp://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#xsdhttp://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#vshttp://www.w3.org/2003/06/sw-vocab-status/ns#schemahttp://schema.org/jsonldhttp://www.w3.org/ns/json-ld#The following @context files make use of the terms defined in this specification:
https://www.w3.org/ns/credentials/v2cred:credentialSchemacred:credentialStatuscred:confidenceMethodcred:credentialSubjectcred:digestSRIcred:evidencecred:expirationDatecred:holdercred:jsonSchemacred:issuanceDatecred:issuercred:refreshServicecred:relatedResourcecred:termsOfUsecred:validFromcred:validUntilcred:verifiableCredentialcred:EnvelopedVerifiableCredentialcred:EnvelopedVerifiablePresentationcred:JsonSchemacred:JsonSchemaCredentialcred:VerifiableCredentialcred:VerifiablePresentationcred:sriStringThe following are property definitions in the cred namespace.
Credential schema
See the formal definition of the term.
The property's value should be a URL, i.e., not a literal.
CredentialSchemaVerifiableCredential@context:https://www.w3.org/ns/credentials/v2Credential status
See the formal definition of the term.
The property's value should be a URL, i.e., not a literal.
CredentialStatusVerifiableCredential@context:https://www.w3.org/ns/credentials/v2Credential subject
See the formal definition of the term.
The property's value should be a URL, i.e., not a literal.
VerifiableCredential@context:https://www.w3.org/ns/credentials/v2Subresource integrity digest
See the formal definition of the term.
sriString@context:https://www.w3.org/ns/credentials/v2Evidence
See the formal definition of the term.
The property's value should be a URL, i.e., not a literal.
CredentialEvidenceVerifiableCredential@context:https://www.w3.org/ns/credentials/v2Holder
See the formal definition of the term.
The property's value should be a URL, i.e., not a literal.
VerifiablePresentation@context:https://www.w3.org/ns/credentials/v2Referring to a Json Schema
See the formal definition of the term.
rdf:JSONJsonSchema@context:https://www.w3.org/ns/credentials/v2Issuer
See the formal definition of the term.
The property's value should be a URL, i.e., not a literal.
VerifiableCredential@context:https://www.w3.org/ns/credentials/v2Refresh service
See the formal definition of the term.
The property's value should be a URL, i.e., not a literal.
RefreshServiceVerifiableCredential@context:https://www.w3.org/ns/credentials/v2Terms of use
See the formal definition of the term.
The property's value should be a URL, i.e., not a literal.
TermsOfUseVerifiableCredentialVerifiablePresentation@context:https://www.w3.org/ns/credentials/v2Valid from
See the formal definition of the term.
xsd:dateTimeVerifiableCredentialVerifiablePresentation@context:https://www.w3.org/ns/credentials/v2Valid until
See the formal definition of the term.
xsd:dateTimeVerifiableCredentialVerifiablePresentation@context:https://www.w3.org/ns/credentials/v2Verifiable credential graph
See the formal definition of the term.
The property's value should be a URL, i.e., not a literal.
VerifiableCredentialGraphVerifiablePresentation@context:https://www.w3.org/ns/credentials/v2The following are class definitions in the cred namespace.
Credential evidence
See the formal definition of the term.
evidenceCredential schema
See the formal definition of the term.
credentialSchemaCredential status
See the formal definition of the term.
credentialStatusEnveloped verifiable credential
See the formal definition of the term.
@context:https://www.w3.org/ns/credentials/v2Enveloped verifiable presentation
See the formal definition of the term.
@context:https://www.w3.org/ns/credentials/v2JSON schema validator
See the formal definition of the term.
CredentialSchemajsonSchema@context:https://www.w3.org/ns/credentials/v2JSON schema validator with schema contained in a credential
See the formal definition of the term.
VerifiableCredential@context:https://www.w3.org/ns/credentials/v2Refresh service
See the formal definition of the term.
refreshServiceTerms of use
See the formal definition of the term.
termsOfUseVerifiable credential
See the formal definition of the term.
credentialSchema, credentialStatus, credentialSubject, evidence, issuer, refreshService, renderMethod, relatedResourcetermsOfUse, validFrom, validUntil@context:https://www.w3.org/ns/credentials/v2Verifiable credential graph
See the formal definition of the term.
verifiableCredentialVerifiable presentation
See the formal definition of the term.
holder, verifiableCredentialtermsOfUse, validFrom, validUntil@context:https://www.w3.org/ns/credentials/v2The following are datatype definitions in the cred namespace.
Datatype for digest SRI values
See the formal definition of the term.
xsd:stringdigestSRI@context:https://www.w3.org/ns/credentials/v2All terms in this section are reserved. Implementers may use these properties, but should expect them and/or their meanings to change during the process to normatively specify them.
The following are reserved property definitions in the cred namespace.
Confidence method (reserved)
See the formal definition of the term.
The property's value should be a URL, i.e., not a literal.
ConfidenceMethod@context:https://www.w3.org/ns/credentials/v2Render method (reserved)
See the formal definition of the term.
The property's value should be a URL, i.e., not a literal.
RenderMethodVerifiableCredentialThe following are reserved class definitions in the cred namespace.
Confidence method (reserved)
See the formal definition of the term.
confidenceMethodRender method (reserved)
See the formal definition of the term.
renderMethodAll terms in this section are deprecated, and are only kept in this vocabulary for backward compatibility.
New applications should not use them.
The following are deprecated property definitions in the cred namespace.
Expiration date (deprecated)
See the formal definition of the term.
xsd:dateTime@context:https://www.w3.org/ns/credentials/v2Issuance date (deprecated)
See the formal definition of the term.
xsd:dateTime@context:https://www.w3.org/ns/credentials/v2The diagram uses boxes, ellipses, and connecting lines with different "styles" (border color, end marker, line type) to differentiate their semantic meaning; these styles identify Property, Class, or Datatype, via the shapes used for the graph nodes, and Superclass, Domain Of, Range, or Contains, via the styles of the connecting lines. These style names are used in the explanation text in what follows.
In the middle of the diagram there is a column of labeled boxes, all styled as Property. The labels, from top to bottom, are: "credentialSchema", "credentialStatus", "credentialSubject", "issuer", "evidence", "refreshService", "renderMethod", "confidenceMethod", "termsOfUse", "validFrom", "validUntil", and "holder". On the left side of this column, there are five labeled ellipses, styled as Class. These are, from top to bottom, "VerifiableCredential", "JsonSchemaCredential", "EnvelopedVerifiableCredential", "VerifiableCredentialGraph", and "VerifiablePresentation". There is also a small, unlabeled circle, which serves as an intersection point for connector lines, with two pointing in, and four pointing out.
The "VerifiableCredential" ellipse is connected to the "credentialSchema", "credentialStatus", "credentialSubject", "issuer", "relatedResource", "evidence", "refreshService", "renderMethod", and "confidenceMethod" boxes, through connecting lines styled as Domain Of. It is also connected to the crossing point circle with a similar connecting line, styled as Domain Of. The "VerifiablePresentation" ellipse is connected to the crossing point circle, as well as the "holder" and "verifiableCredential" boxes, with a similar connecting line styled as Domain Of. The crossing point circle is connected to the "termsOfUse", "validFrom", and "validUntil" boxes with a connecting line styled as Domain Of. The "verifiableCredential" box is connected to the "VerifiableCredentialGraph" ellipse with a connecting line styled as Range. The "JsonSchemaCredential" ellipse is connected to the "VerifiableCredential" ellipse with a connecting line styled as Superclass. Finally, the "VerifiableCredentialGraph" ellipse is connected to the "VerifiableCredential" and "EnvelopedVerifiableCredential" ellipses with connector lines styled as Contains.
On the right side of the column, there is another column of ellipses, styled as "Class", and labeled as "CredentialSchema", "CredentialStatus", "CredentialEvidence", "RefreshService", "RenderMethod", "ConfidenceMethod", and "TermsOfUse". The Property boxes labeled as "credentialSchema", "credentialStatus", "credentialEvidence, "refreshService", "renderMethod", "confidenceMethod", and "termsOfUse" are respectively connected to those Class ellipses, with connecting lines styled as Range.
The "CredentialSchema" ellipse is connected to one more ellipse, on the far right side of the diagram, styled as Class and labeled as "JsonSchema", with a connecting line styled as Superclass. This "JsonSchema" ellipse is also connected to a Property box labeled as "jsonSchema", through a connector line styled as Domain Of, and to a Datatype shape labeled as "rdf:JSON", through a connecting line styled as Range.
Finally, on the lower far right side of the diagram, there is a separate Property box labeled as "digestSRI", connected to a Datatype shape labeled as "sriString", with a connecting line styled as Range.