First Public Working Draft: Web of Things (WoT) Thing Description 2.0

Web of Things (WoT) Thing Description 2.0

https://www.w3.org/TR/2025/WD-wot-thing-description-2.0-20251104/

Published by
 Web of Things Working Group

Abstract

This document describes a formal information model and a common representation for a Web of Things (WoT) Thing Description (TD), Version 2.0. A Thing Description describes the metadata and interfaces of Things, where a Thing is an abstraction of a physical or virtual entity that provides interactions to and participates in the Web of Things. Thing Descriptions provide a set of interactions based on a small vocabulary that makes it possible both to integrate diverse devices and to allow diverse applications to interoperate. Thing Descriptions, by default, are encoded in a JSON format that also allows JSON-LD processing. The latter provides a powerful foundation to represent knowledge about Things in a machine-understandable way. A Thing Description instance can be hosted by the Thing itself or hosted externally when a Thing has resource restrictions (e.g., limited memory space) or when a Web of Things-compatible legacy device is retrofitted with a Thing Description. Furthermore, this document introduces the Thing Model, which allows authors to describe only the model or class of an Internet of Things (IoT) entity. Thing Models can be seen as a template for Thing Description instances, but with reduced constraints such as no or few requirements for specific communication metadata. 

This specification continues the work of [WOT-THING-DESCRIPTION11] with no guarantees on backwards compatibility. In case of no backwards compatibility, there will be concrete guidelines for implementers to migrate to the new version.

Status of the Document

This section describes the status of this document at the time of its publication. A list of current W3C publications and the latest revision of this technical report can be found in the W3C standards and drafts index. 

This document was published by the Web of Things Working Group as a First Public Working Draft using the Recommendation track. 

Publication as a First Public Working Draft does not imply endorsement by W3C and its Members. 

This is a draft document and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to cite this document as other than a work in progress. 

This document was produced by a group operating under the W3C Patent Policy. W3C maintains a public list of any patent disclosures made in connection with the deliverables of the group; that page also includes instructions for disclosing a patent. An individual who has actual knowledge of a patent that the individual believes contains Essential Claim(s) must disclose the information in accordance with section 6 of the W3C Patent Policy. 

This document is governed by the 18 August 2025 W3C Process Document.

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Received on Tuesday, 4 November 2025 07:09:39 UTC