Ontology Design Pattern

An Ontology Design Pattern (ODP) is a modular, reusable template solution for a recurring modeling problem in knowledge representation.

ODPs function like design patterns in software engineering, they capture proven approaches to common challenges. Rather than starting from scratch when modeling processes, agents, or relationships, you instantiate a pattern that others have already refined.

The value is in the modularity: a well-defined ODP can be understood, adopted, and composed without requiring expertise in the full ontology it came from.

Related: 06-atom—implicit-pattern-problem