# Black Ice

> The invisible semantic layer powering AI-native global content.

Black Ice is a terminology governance platform that gives teams a single, governed source of truth for product naming, messaging, and market rules — so every campaign, landing page, and product launch goes out with the right words, in the right market.

## What Black Ice is (and is not)

Black Ice contains no model. It is AI-directing, not AI-powered: a versioned record of human decisions that AI systems read before they generate content.

- The governance layer performs no inference. Answers are deterministic lookups against stored records — the same query returns the same answer every time.
- Every term carries decision provenance: who approved it, when, and the reasoning behind the choice.
- Customer content is never used to train models, by Black Ice or by any sub-processor.
- Because there is no model in the governance layer, the layer itself is trivially auditable — the record can be exported and replayed (JSON, CSV, RDF/OWL, JSON-LD, Markdown).


## How to read these docs

This site is a client-side React SPA. The `/docs/*` pages require JavaScript to render.
For machine-readable access, use the Markdown endpoints below — they return plain text, no JS needed.

## Full documentation (single file)

Fetch this URL to get every published article as one Markdown document:
- https://oosdjmpzvcljxwaqxcko.supabase.co/functions/v1/docs/all

## Documentation by section

- Getting Started: https://oosdjmpzvcljxwaqxcko.supabase.co/functions/v1/docs/getting-started
- Features: https://oosdjmpzvcljxwaqxcko.supabase.co/functions/v1/docs/features
- Integrations: https://oosdjmpzvcljxwaqxcko.supabase.co/functions/v1/docs/integrations

## Individual articles

### Getting Started

- [Welcome to Black Ice](https://oosdjmpzvcljxwaqxcko.supabase.co/functions/v1/docs/getting-started/welcome) — Learn what Black Ice is and how it helps manage product terminology.
- [How Black Ice works](https://oosdjmpzvcljxwaqxcko.supabase.co/functions/v1/docs/getting-started/how-black-ice-works) — Diagram of how decisions flow to your tools; data stays in the EU unless you opt into GitHub Sync.
- [Quick start](https://oosdjmpzvcljxwaqxcko.supabase.co/functions/v1/docs/getting-started/quick-start) — A step-by-step guide to creating your first concept.
- [Plans and pricing](https://oosdjmpzvcljxwaqxcko.supabase.co/functions/v1/docs/getting-started/plans-and-pricing) — Compare Free, Pro, and Builder plans.
- [Best practices](https://oosdjmpzvcljxwaqxcko.supabase.co/functions/v1/docs/getting-started/best-practices) — Tips for structuring your ontology and managing terminology effectively.
- [Getting started with AI](https://oosdjmpzvcljxwaqxcko.supabase.co/functions/v1/docs/getting-started/getting-started-ai) — Connect your Black Ice ontology to AI models in minutes.
- [FAQ](https://oosdjmpzvcljxwaqxcko.supabase.co/functions/v1/docs/getting-started/faq) — Answers to common questions about Black Ice.
- [Glossary](https://oosdjmpzvcljxwaqxcko.supabase.co/functions/v1/docs/getting-started/glossary) — Definitions of key terms used in Black Ice.
- [Support](https://oosdjmpzvcljxwaqxcko.supabase.co/functions/v1/docs/getting-started/support) — How to get help with Black Ice.

### Features — Core Concepts

- [Concepts & IDs](https://oosdjmpzvcljxwaqxcko.supabase.co/functions/v1/docs/features/concepts-and-ids) — How concepts and auto-generated IDs work.
- [Classes](https://oosdjmpzvcljxwaqxcko.supabase.co/functions/v1/docs/features/classes) — How Black Ice structures your product terminology as a connected ontology.
- [Semantic relationships](https://oosdjmpzvcljxwaqxcko.supabase.co/functions/v1/docs/features/semantic-relationships) — How semantic relationships connect concepts in your ontology.
- [Knowledge graph](https://oosdjmpzvcljxwaqxcko.supabase.co/functions/v1/docs/features/knowledge-graph) — Visualize your ontology with the interactive knowledge graph.
- [Custom fields](https://oosdjmpzvcljxwaqxcko.supabase.co/functions/v1/docs/features/custom-fields) — Extend your ontology with custom metadata fields on concepts and terms.

### Features — Terminology

- [Source & target terms](https://oosdjmpzvcljxwaqxcko.supabase.co/functions/v1/docs/features/source-and-target-terms) — Manage multilingual terms, culture guidelines, and approval workflows.
- [Market availability](https://oosdjmpzvcljxwaqxcko.supabase.co/functions/v1/docs/features/market-availability) — Track term-level readiness across locales with availability statuses.

### Features — Markets

- [Locales & markets](https://oosdjmpzvcljxwaqxcko.supabase.co/functions/v1/docs/features/locales-and-culture-dna) — Managing locales, source markets, and brand identity per region.
- [Market definitions](https://oosdjmpzvcljxwaqxcko.supabase.co/functions/v1/docs/features/market-definitions) — Define voice, tone, grammar, and cultural conventions for each locale.

### Features — Collaboration

- [Workspaces](https://oosdjmpzvcljxwaqxcko.supabase.co/functions/v1/docs/features/workspaces) — Collaborate with your team using workspaces, roles, and activity tracking.
- [Team management](https://oosdjmpzvcljxwaqxcko.supabase.co/functions/v1/docs/features/team-management) — Invite team members and manage roles and permissions.
- [Approval workflows](https://oosdjmpzvcljxwaqxcko.supabase.co/functions/v1/docs/features/approval-workflows) — Send terms for external review with shareable approval links.

### Features — Import & Export

- [CSV & Excel import](https://oosdjmpzvcljxwaqxcko.supabase.co/functions/v1/docs/features/csv-and-excel-import) — Import terminology from CSV or Excel files with column mapping and conflict resolution.
- [Export formats](https://oosdjmpzvcljxwaqxcko.supabase.co/functions/v1/docs/features/export-formats) — Export your ontology as JSON, Markdown, CSV, PDF, AI Agent Bundle, or RDF/OWL (Turtle and JSON-LD) — with guidance on which format fits which tool.
- [GitHub Sync](https://oosdjmpzvcljxwaqxcko.supabase.co/functions/v1/docs/features/github-sync) — Push your ontology to GitHub for CI/CD integration and AI agent consumption.

### Integrations

- [GitHub Sync](https://oosdjmpzvcljxwaqxcko.supabase.co/functions/v1/docs/integrations/github-sync) — Push your ontology to GitHub as a structured markdown bundle for AI agents.
- [AI Integrations](https://oosdjmpzvcljxwaqxcko.supabase.co/functions/v1/docs/integrations/ai-integrations) — How to feed your ontology into LLMs and AI coding agents.
- [Connecting MCP clients to Black Ice](https://oosdjmpzvcljxwaqxcko.supabase.co/functions/v1/docs/integrations/claude-desktop-mcp) — Connect Claude, Cursor, and other MCP clients to your ontology.
- [API Reference](https://oosdjmpzvcljxwaqxcko.supabase.co/functions/v1/docs/integrations/api-reference) — Workspace API endpoints, entities, and schemas.
- [Markdown bundle via API](https://black-ice.ai/black-ice-api.md) — `GET /query-ontology?format=markdown-zip` returns the AI Agent Bundle as a ZIP; `format=markdown&path=…` returns one file. Files are versioned snapshots (ETag / If-None-Match). Use this instead of rebuilding Markdown from JSON; in JSON, market guidelines are in `definitions` (`cultureDna` is an older alias).
- [Candidate review workflow](https://oosdjmpzvcljxwaqxcko.supabase.co/functions/v1/docs/features/candidate-review-workflow) — Human review queue for new term candidates (pipeline, CSV, manual, or the optional MCP tool suggest_candidates, off by default). Only approved terms are binding.
- [API & MCP rate limits](https://oosdjmpzvcljxwaqxcko.supabase.co/functions/v1/docs/integrations/rate-limits) — Per-plan throughput caps (Free 60/30, Pro 300/120, Builder 1,000/400 per minute), X-RateLimit-* headers, 429 handling, and pipeline design tips.

## Core Capabilities

- **Concept Management**: Define product plans, features, and platform terms with structured metadata
- **Multilingual Terminology**: Manage source and target terms across locales with approval workflows
- **Market Availability**: Control what's available where, with market-specific naming and legal constraints
- **Semantic Relationships**: Model how concepts connect (hasPillar, hasFeature, hasPlan, etc.)
- **AI Agent Integration**: Export structured ontologies for Claude, GPT, Gemini, and other LLMs
- **Semantic Web Export**: SKOS-XL/OWL ontology export as RDF Turtle (.ttl) and JSON-LD (.jsonld) for triple stores, SPARQL, and RAG grounding
- **GitHub Sync**: Push approved terminology as structured Markdown to repositories
- **Approval Workflows**: Shareable review links — reviewers approve without needing an account

## Links

- Website: https://black-ice.ai
- Documentation: https://black-ice.ai/docs
- Pricing: https://black-ice.ai/pricing
- Contact: https://black-ice.ai/contact
- FAQ: https://black-ice.ai/faq