The specification
Developed publicly on GitHub, where the specification text, the JSON Schema and the sample passports are published.
For software vendors
One format in place of every custom integration
Your customers are required to meet AZA standard 1.4.12, and they need complete records for every animal they receive. Animal Passport is an open format for both: implement it once, and your system can exchange records with any other system that does the same.
At present, moving an animal's records between two systems requires either a custom integration for that pair of systems or a set of PDF exports. Neither scales, and no vendor can resolve this alone, because a format read by only one system does not serve as a shared standard. A useful format is one that every system in the field can write and read, from the largest networks to in-house databases.
Version 0.1 is based on real data. It covers medical, husbandry, welfare, training and transaction records in detail, and its rules were developed by exporting and re-importing complete animal histories. We particularly want to hear where it does not fit your data model.
Implementation
What implementation requires, and what it does not
Required
- Writing, reading, or both, a zip file containing passport.json and its media files, conforming to the published schema.
- Ignoring fields your system does not recognize, so that newer files never cause your reader to fail.
- Retaining each record's originRef on import and exporting it unchanged, so that records keep their identity across a series of transfers.
- Following the versioning rules in the specification.
Not required
- Sharing data with anyone other than the receiving facility. Animal Passport is a file format, not a data network.
- Paying fees or entering into an agreement.
- Implementing every record type. Export the types your system holds and import the types it can store.
- Connecting to any external service, or depending on any one company's governance.
Resources
Available now
Sample passports
Two fictitious animals, a harbor seal and her dam, that together include every field defined in version 0.1.
The passport viewer
Displays any passport in a web browser, including fields it does not recognize, which makes it a quick check of what your export produces.
How the format is governed, and how stewardship is intended to pass to an independent body, is described on the About page.
Review it against your own data
The most valuable review comes from people who know a different records system. Tell us where version 0.1 does not fit yours.