[paphillips]

Taking this concept further one could model in RAML [0] to define both the types (flat or nested) and api definitions. It's based on YAML 1.2 with enough maturity to provide capabilities such as union types, extensions, includes, user-defined facets, etc.

The AMF project [1] can be used to parse and transform to/from RAML, OpenAPI, GraphQL, and json schema. Code generation to languages of choice can be bolted on from there.

I'm using this approach to define canonical data models. Subsequent code generation scaffolds internal application integration apis, master data management (MDM) entities, and SQL/OLAP artifacts for ETL / BI purposes.

This approach keeps overall end-to-end data architecture consistent, in sync, and versioned under source control. Additionally, flat types as required by relational systems are re-used and composed into nested complex types more appropriate for apis. Metadata is layered on as needed to refine the models for system-specific needs, for example to add user-facing field groups, descriptions, and formats for BI datasets, sensitivity levels and other data security controls, business rule definitions for MDM, etc.

[0] https://github.com/raml-org/raml-spec/blob/master/versions/r... [1] https://a.ml/docs/