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

Community
Links
Visit Website See this tool in the graph Suggest an edit

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#
Owner - List
  • Valueflows community
Governing Body None (open community governance by the ValueFlows contributor community; W3C-adjacent but not on a formal W3C track)
Governing Body - List
  • Valueflows community
  • World Wide Web Consortium
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
Funding - List
  • Valueflows community
Last Investigated Jan 15, 2026

Topology view

This tool in the centre and the things it is directly related to. Each line names the kind of relationship.

Topology view: ValueflowsThis tool in the centre and the things it is directly related to. Each line names the kind of relationship.ValueflowsActivityPub (Basis for, Based on)ActivityPubBonfire Networks (Basis for, Protocol spoken by)BonfireNetworksElohim Protocol (Basis for, Required by, Protocol spoken by)ElohimProtocolHolochain (Basis for, Protocol spoken by, Stores in)HolochainMoss (Basis for, Protocol spoken by)MossNeighbourhoods (Basis for, Protocol spoken by)Neighbourhoo…Nondominium (Basis for, Hosts, Protocol spoken by, Storage for)NondominiumOpen Value Accounting (Basis for, Protocol spoken by)Open ValueAccountingJSON-LD (Conforms to, Speaks protocol)JSON-LDValueflows community (Developed by, Funded by, Stewarded by)ValueflowscommunityPlaynet (Protocol spoken by)PlaynetRDF (Speaks protocol)RDF
  • ActivityPub (Tool): Basis for, Based on
  • Bonfire Networks (Tool): Basis for, Protocol spoken by
  • Elohim Protocol (Tool): Basis for, Required by, Protocol spoken by
  • Holochain (Tool): Basis for, Protocol spoken by, Stores in
  • Moss (Tool): Basis for, Protocol spoken by
  • Neighbourhoods (Tool): Basis for, Protocol spoken by
  • Nondominium (Tool): Basis for, Hosts, Protocol spoken by, Storage for
  • Open Value Accounting (Tool): Basis for, Protocol spoken by
  • JSON-LD (Tool): Conforms to, Speaks protocol
  • Valueflows community (Organization): Developed by, Funded by, Stewarded by
  • Playnet (Tool): Protocol spoken by
  • RDF (Tool): Speaks protocol

1 more related entity is not drawn; see the list below or open the Graph Explorer.

Open in Graph Explorer

Use Case Domains

Mutual Aid & Exchange Group Formation & Governance

Affordances

Non-monetary exchange Transparent stewardship

Semantic & Data Protocol Attributes

Owner - List
  • Valueflows community
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)
Funding - List
  • Valueflows community
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)
Governing Body - List
  • Valueflows community
  • World Wide Web Consortium
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)

Relationships

How this tool connects to other tools and organizations, from relationships reviewed by the OpenHaven data steward. They describe how projects connect, not how good they are.

Based on
Conforms to
Developed by
  • Valueflows community
Funded by
  • Valueflows community
Speaks protocol
Stewarded by
  • Valueflows community
  • World Wide Web Consortium
Stores in
Basis for
Hosts
Protocol spoken by
Required by
Storage for