> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://dms.dzaleka.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Dzaleka Metadata Standard

> An open-source metadata specification and Python CLI toolkit for describing, organising, and sharing digital heritage content from Dzaleka Refugee Camp.

The **Dzaleka Metadata Standard (DMS)** is an open-source metadata specification and Python toolkit designed to preserve and share digital heritage from Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Malawi. It provides a standardised, Dublin Core-compatible schema for heritage items — stories, photos, documents, audio, events, and more — along with a full CLI and local web interface for creating, validating, and exporting records.

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Quick Start" icon="rocket" href="/quickstart">
    Create your first heritage metadata record in minutes
  </Card>

  <Card title="Installation" icon="download" href="/installation">
    Install the DMS CLI tools on your system
  </Card>

  <Card title="Field Guide" icon="book-open" href="/reference/field-guide">
    Detailed definitions for every schema field
  </Card>

  <Card title="CLI Reference" icon="terminal" href="/reference/commands/init">
    Complete reference for all DMS commands
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## What DMS provides

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Metadata schema" icon="database">
    A machine-readable JSON Schema (Draft 2020-12) with 15 fields based on Dublin Core, available in JSON, YAML, and JSON-LD formats.
  </Card>

  <Card title="CLI toolkit" icon="square-terminal">
    Commands for creating, validating, searching, converting, and exporting heritage metadata records from the terminal.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Web UI (DMS Vault)" icon="browser">
    A local web interface for building and managing records without touching the terminal — with live validation feedback.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Linked data export" icon="diagram-project">
    Export records as JSON-LD mapped to FOAF, Dublin Core, Schema.org, and W3C Geo for semantic web publishing.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Get started in three steps

<Steps>
  <Step title="Install DMS">
    Clone the repository and install the CLI tools with pip.

    ```bash theme={null}
    git clone https://github.com/Dzaleka-Connect/Dzaleka-Metadata-Standard.git
    cd dzaleka-metadata-standard
    pip install -e .
    ```
  </Step>

  <Step title="Create your first record">
    Run the interactive wizard or launch the web UI to create a metadata record.

    ```bash theme={null}
    # Interactive terminal wizard
    dms init --type story

    # Or launch the local web UI
    dms web --port 8080 --dir records/
    ```
  </Step>

  <Step title="Validate and export">
    Validate your record against the schema and export it for sharing.

    ```bash theme={null}
    dms validate records/my-story.json
    dms export records/my-story.json
    ```
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Supported heritage types

DMS supports ten categories of heritage content: `story`, `photo`, `document`, `audio`, `video`, `event`, `map`, `artwork`, `site`, and `poem` — each mapping to Dublin Core for broad interoperability.

<Note>
  All DMS records conform to the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative and are compatible with linked data systems via the included JSON-LD context.
</Note>