---
# System prepended metadata

title: OSCAL-Reference landing page
tags: [proposal, OSCAL, website]

---

Proposed update to existing landing page [_index.md](https://github.com/usnistgov/OSCAL-Reference/blob/main/site/content/_index.md)

---
title: OSCAL Specification
layout: home
toc:
  enabled: false
---

<!-- rename "Model Reference" with "Released Specifications" -->
 

NIST maintains specifications for each OSCAL release and the latest development snapshot. All specifications are available on the [model specifications](https://pages.nist.gov/OSCAL-Reference/models/) page. 

Each specification consists of an outline, an index, and a reference, for both JSON and XML formats.

## The Outline 

An outline is a navigatable, tree-based representation of OSCAL's models. For example, below is the collapsed OSCAL Catalog outline in JSON and XML, respectively. The name links to the corresponding entry in the XML or JSON formats. 

![](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/ry6Xf41h3.png)

![](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/SyAbrNk2n.png)

By clicking on the black triangle in front of an entry, it expands to show child entries.

![](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/HJTtVNJ33.png)

In an outline, the cardinality, the minimum and maximum number of instances required, follows the entry as a number in square brackets. The data type follows the cardinality (see the cardinality [1] in the image below).

## The Reference

In an outline, each entry is linked to its corresponding reference providing a definition and for its constraints.

![](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/HJ5Z9Ek3n.png)

## The Index

An index for each OSCAL model lists all entries in alphabetical order. 

Each entry in the index lists all of its uses in specific locations in applicable models. The entries link to those locations in both JSON and XML formats.

![](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/B1AMyS123.png)
