Standard Vocabularies

GENEALOGIX includes a comprehensive set of standard vocabularies that define controlled types for events, relationships, places, sources, media, and more. These vocabularies are automatically copied to new archives during initialization with glx init.

Archive Initialization

When you run glx init, these standard vocabulary files are copied to your archive's vocabularies/ directory. You can then customize them by:

Editing descriptions and labels
Adding additional types
Adjusting to match your research focus

Overview

Standard vocabularies provide:

Consistency - Ensures all researchers use the same terminology
Validation - The glx validate command checks all types exist
Customization - Archives can extend with custom definitions
Interoperability - Maps to GEDCOM and other formats

Vocabulary Files

Event Types

Defines lifecycle events (birth, death, marriage), religious events (baptism, confirmation), and attribute facts (occupation, residence, education).

vocabularies/event-types.glx

yaml

Event Properties

Defines additional properties that can be associated with events (like certainty, privacy, historical context).

vocabularies/event-properties.glx

yaml

Relationship Types

Defines relationships between people including marriage, parent-child (biological, adoptive, foster), sibling, and other family connections.

vocabularies/relationship-types.glx

yaml

Relationship Properties

Defines additional properties that can be associated with relationships (like custody, legality, adoption type).

vocabularies/relationship-properties.glx

yaml

Person Properties

Defines properties that can be associated with people (such as sex, gender, physical characteristics, titles).

vocabularies/person-properties.glx

yaml

Place Types

Defines geographic and administrative place classifications from countries down to buildings.

vocabularies/place-types.glx

yaml

Place Properties

Defines additional properties that can be associated with places (such as historical names, coordinates, administrative divisions).

vocabularies/place-properties.glx

yaml

Source Types

Defines categories of genealogical sources including vital records, census, church registers, military records, newspapers, and more.

vocabularies/source-types.glx

yaml

Source Properties

Defines additional properties that can be associated with sources (such as abbreviation, call number, publication information).

vocabularies/source-properties.glx

yaml

Citation Properties

Defines properties that can be associated with citations (such as locator, text from source, source date).

vocabularies/citation-properties.glx

yaml

Media Types

Defines categories of media objects including photographs, documents, audio recordings, and video.

vocabularies/media-types.glx

yaml

Media Properties

Defines additional properties that can be associated with media objects (such as dimensions, duration, subjects, crop coordinates).

vocabularies/media-properties.glx

yaml

Confidence Levels

Defines confidence levels for assertions, representing researcher certainty in conclusions.

vocabularies/confidence-levels.glx

yaml

Sex Types

Defines controlled values for the sex person property (male, female, unknown, not_recorded, other). Sex is what was recorded in source documents (e.g., GEDCOM SEX, census enumerations) and maps to GEDCOM SEX on import/export. Out-of-vocabulary values produce a validation warning, not an error — archives may add custom values before recording them in the vocabulary.

vocabularies/sex-types.glx

yaml

Gender Types

Defines controlled values for the gender person property — self-identified gender identity (male, female, nonbinary, other). Primarily relevant for modern records and living persons. No direct GEDCOM mapping — GEDCOM 7.0 defers gender identity to FACT. Out-of-vocabulary values produce a validation warning, not an error.

vocabularies/gender-types.glx

yaml

Participant Roles

Defines roles that people play in events and relationships (principal, witness, officiant, spouse, parent, child).

vocabularies/participant-roles.glx

yaml

Repository Types

Defines categories of institutions that hold genealogical sources (archives, libraries, churches, online databases).

vocabularies/repository-types.glx

yaml

Repository Properties

Defines additional properties that can be associated with repositories (such as phone numbers, email, access hours, holdings).

vocabularies/repository-properties.glx

yaml

Customizing Vocabularies

Adding Custom Types

Extend standard vocabularies by adding custom entries:

yaml

# vocabularies/event-types.glx
event_types:
  # ... standard types ...

  # Custom types
  apprenticeship:
    label: 'Apprenticeship'
    description: 'Beginning of apprenticeship training'

Using Custom Types

Once defined, use custom types in your entities:

yaml

# events/event-apprenticeship.glx
events:
  event-john-apprentice:
    type: apprenticeship # Custom type from vocabulary
    date: '1845-03-10'
    place: place-leeds
    value: 'Apprenticed to blacksmith'

Validation

The glx validate command ensures all types are properly defined:

bash

$ glx validate

✓ vocabularies/event-types.glx
✓ events/event-apprenticeship.glx
  - event type 'apprenticeship' found in vocabulary (custom)

Best Practices

Use Standard Types First - Standard types ensure GEDCOM compatibility and interoperability
Document Custom Types - Provide clear labels and descriptions for custom types
Map to GEDCOM - Include GEDCOM mappings when possible (use _TAG format for custom tags)
Keep Consistent - Use consistent naming conventions (lowercase with hyphens)

Standard Vocabularies ​

Overview ​

Vocabulary Files ​

Event Types ​

vocabularies/event-types.glx

Event Properties ​

vocabularies/event-properties.glx

Relationship Types ​

vocabularies/relationship-types.glx

Relationship Properties ​

vocabularies/relationship-properties.glx

Person Properties ​

vocabularies/person-properties.glx

Place Types ​

vocabularies/place-types.glx

Place Properties ​

vocabularies/place-properties.glx

Source Types ​

vocabularies/source-types.glx

Source Properties ​

vocabularies/source-properties.glx

Citation Properties ​

vocabularies/citation-properties.glx

Media Types ​

vocabularies/media-types.glx

Media Properties ​

vocabularies/media-properties.glx

Confidence Levels ​

vocabularies/confidence-levels.glx

Sex Types ​

vocabularies/sex-types.glx

Gender Types ​

vocabularies/gender-types.glx

Participant Roles ​

vocabularies/participant-roles.glx

Repository Types ​

vocabularies/repository-types.glx

Repository Properties ​

vocabularies/repository-properties.glx

Customizing Vocabularies ​

Adding Custom Types ​

Using Custom Types ​

Validation ​

Best Practices ​

See Also ​

Standard Vocabularies

Overview

Vocabulary Files

Event Types

Event Properties

Relationship Types

Relationship Properties

Person Properties

Place Types

Place Properties

Source Types

Source Properties

Citation Properties

Media Types

Media Properties

Confidence Levels

Sex Types

Gender Types

Participant Roles

Repository Types

Repository Properties

Customizing Vocabularies

Adding Custom Types

Using Custom Types

Validation

Best Practices

See Also