Profiles

The core format is deliberately neutral: it does not know any country's rules. A profile is how a regulator, a utility or a research network adds its own requirements on top. A profile is a JSON Schema published at an HTTPS address. A file lists the profiles it claims to follow in profiles:

"profiles": [
  "https://welldot.org/profiles/brazil-ana/v1/schema.json"
]

The rules for profiles are in profiles in the format reference.

What a profile can do

A profile can make an optional field required, restrict an open vocabulary to certain values, demand a particular x- extension, or require certain water quality parameters for a monitoring program (profile schema requirements). It usually extends the canonical schema with allOf and adds its own constraints.

For example, a registry could require well_id, location and construction_date, and limit well_purpose to the uses it recognizes. A drinking water program could require nitrate, coliforms and turbidity in every sample (regulatory profiles).

Conformance is a claim

Listing a profile is a statement by the author, not a guarantee. A profile-aware reader validates the file against each profile it can reach and reports failures as warnings. A profile that cannot be downloaded is ignored, and a file is never rejected because of one (profile validation). A file that is valid .well stays valid everywhere.

Profiles and jurisdiction

National drinking water limits are not written into files either. They are data that software picks at display time (@welldot/core ships WHO, EU and Brazilian limit sets). Local obligations, such as which parameters must be sampled, enter through profiles. See jurisdiction neutrality in the design principles and limit sets.

Status

The profiles field and its rules are part of v2. No official profile is published yet; the spec/profiles/ folder is reserved for them. If you need one for your agency or program, open an issue on GitHub. The Relationship to GWML2 section describes how profiles support regulatory adoption.