Valueflows

Semantic & Data Protocol

Vocabulary for the distributed economic networks of the next economy, to coordinate the creation, distribution, and exchange of economic resources. Implements the REA (Resource, Event, Agent) accounting ontology with additions for recipes, offers/requests, ecological accounting, and distributed protocol compatibility. Designed to support coordination both inside and between organizations (enterprise not assumed), reciprocity with or without money (money not assumed), and ecological agents as part of the economic network

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Details

License CC0 / Public Domain (spec and vocabulary); implementations vary (hREA: Apache 2.0; Bonfire ValueFlows: AGPL-3.0)
Dev Status 🟢 Active
Dev Status Detail Released (working towards stable v1.0 of core model; active development with multiple reference implementations; vocabulary presented in RDF, GraphQL, JSON-Schema, and UML formats)
Owner ValueFlows community (open governance); key contributors include Lynn Foster, Bob Haugen (both REA practitioners since 1990s), elf Pavlik, Mikey Williams, Connor Turland; namespace URI: https://w3id.org/valueflows/ont/vf#
Country International
Start Year 2014
Stack Implementation-dependent (vocabulary only — defines data model, not runtime); reference implementations: hREA (Rust/Holochain + JavaScript GraphQL); Bonfire (Elixir/Phoenix + ActivityPub); Basis Project (Rust, auto-generated from OWL file)
Funding Community-driven; EU Reflow project funded Dyne's Valueflows development (including EU Digital Product Passport); NLnet funding for related projects
Last Investigated Jan 15, 2026

Use Case Domains

Mutual Aid & Exchange Group Formation & Governance

Affordances

Non-monetary exchange Transparent stewardship

Semantic & Data Protocol Attributes

Origins Economic coordination / REA accounting (evolved from REA ontology through Sensorica's NRP software, Open Value Networks, FreedomCoop's OCP; addresses limitations of conventional debit/credit accounting by modeling real-world economic activity directly)
Database Implementation-dependent (hREA uses Holochain DHT; Bonfire uses PostgreSQL; vocabulary itself is storage-agnostic)
Query Language SPARQL (for RDF implementations); GraphQL (primary API specification for implementations; hREA and Bonfire both expose ValueFlows GraphQL API enabling cross-project UI compatibility)
Data Formats RDF (Turtle, JSON-LD; linked open data namespace at w3id.org) + GraphQL schemas + JSON-Schema reference; vocabulary supports both RDF-based and non-RDF-based usage
Collaborative Live Editing N/A (vocabulary defines economic data model; real-time coordination handled by implementations)
Rich Text Editing N/A (vocabulary only)
Mobile Support N/A (vocabulary only; implementations may have mobile support)
Web Support N/A (vocabulary only; implementations like Bonfire and hREA provide web interfaces)
Native Apps N/A (vocabulary only)
Terms Free open vocabulary (CC0/Public Domain)
Funds N/A (core vocabulary is volunteer-driven; implementations separately funded)
Based On REA (Resource-Event-Agent) accounting model (William McCarthy, 1982); extensions for recipes, offers/requests (Intents), ecological accounting, process flows (IPO: Input-Process-Output chains), agreements/exchanges; ActivityPub federation via Bonfire (FEP proposals for Federated Marketplace, Federated Work Coordination, To-do's)
Semantic Web Compatibility Full RDF compliance (core design principle; linked open data namespace; Turtle and JSON-LD serialization; UML diagrams; designed to support both RDF-based and non-RDF-based use)
Protocol Maturity / Standardization Community Standard (vocabulary specification developed by international community; W3C-adjacent but not formal W3C track)
Vocabulary / Ontology Type Economic flows / Resource, Event, and Agent coordination; covers planning (Intents, Commitments, Proposals), observation (Economic Events, Economic Resources), recipes (RecipeProcess, RecipeFlow), agents (persons, organizations, ecological agents), processes (IPO chains), exchanges, and agreements
Usage Pattern Embedded in other protocols and platforms (used by hREA on Holochain, Bonfire on ActivityPub/Fediverse, Dyne's Reflow/Interfacer for EU Digital Product Passport, Carbon Farm Network/NY Textile Lab for supply chains, Sensorica for open value networks, LearnDeep for fablab materials sharing, Basis Project for ecological production, Code A for climate accounting education, Weather Makers for ecosystem restoration planning)