Create objectType

[istairbn]

I can get a new object type via the REST API... but I can't create one.

Which means if I have a collection of object types to create at the start of an engagement, I'm going to have to manually add them. Obviously via REST I wouldn't expect to have the full flexibility of the manual wizard, but I would expect to be able to CRUD the basics at least

I would expect the potential request payload to be similar to the Get objectType with the exception of the RID's of all the elements.

Expected Payload

{
  "apiName": "employee",
  "description": "A full-time or part-time employee of our firm",
  "displayName": "Employee",
  "status": "ACTIVE",
  "primaryKey": "employeeId",
  "properties": {
    "employeeId": {
      "dataType": {
        "type": "integer"
      },
    },
    "fullName": {
      "dataType": {
        "type": "string"
      },
    },
    "office": {
      "description": "The unique ID of the employee's primary assigned office",
      "dataType": {
        "type": "string"
      },
    },
    "startDate": {
      "description": "The date the employee was hired (most recently, if they were re-hired)",
      "dataType": {
        "type": "date"
      },
    }
  },
}

As an example use case, this would allow me to populate an Ontology with a 1:1 mapping of a pre-existing model: by listing the current ontology objects and then creating the missing ones.

[jsmith]

Hey @istairbn, there is no current plan to add APIs for creating/modifying object types or other ontology entities although this could change in the future. Something that might be relevant though is ongoing work to allow ontology entities to be defined in code rather than through the UI. This doesn't help if you just want to script a change to your ontology, but if you are using this approach, the idea of scripting a change just means updating the code that defines the ontology.

If you'd like to learn more about this work, please let me know!

[istairbn]

Definitely interested in objects as code...

[jsmith]

Hey @istairbn just wanted to provide a quick update that endpoints for ontology modifications are in progress! Let me know if you're still interested and I can try to keep you up-to-date.

[ask-the-six]

@jsmith Ontology as code soon?

[BoPengGit]

@jsmith We need to add coding capabilities to Palantir. With the rapid advancement of coding tools such as Claude tool, we are looking to use AI coding tools to do the building, not doing it manually by hand, which is now 100x slower in development speed as opposed to using Claude Code to build it for me.

For example, I am working on a potential big project for the government and one of the biggest pain points on me interested in using Palantir is the lack of ability to automate everything via an SDK , which makes me want to use AWS + Python + React with Claude code that can automate everything and build 100x faster than if I did it with Palantir manually.

[ask-the-six]

I don’t think this is fully “resolved” yet, but I do think there’s a viable (and actually powerful) way to approach this now.

Ontology as Code repository: https://github.com/palantir/osdk-ts/blob/main/packages/maker/README.

After following this for a while, I’m not convinced a REST API for ad-hoc schema mutation is actually the best long-term abstraction. It feels more brittle than treating ontology changes as a first-class, versioned artifact—especially multi-environment setups. For example: If you’re creating a new object type for each publication instead of a single Publication object type with instances, that’s a modeling smell. It creates the illusion that you need frequent schema changes, when really identity is leaking into the schema layer.

Ideally schemas are stable concepts and instances change. Under that model, schema updates shouldn’t be frequent enough to justify imperative REST mutation — generators + Ontology as Code + CI/CD feels like the right default.

Curious if Ontology as Code + CI/CD is sufficient alternative to everyone's use cases, or if REST-level schema mutation is still a requirement for folks.

[jsmith]

@BoPengGit In addition to the maker package mentioned above, there is also Palantir MCP and AI FDE which can be used to let LLMs modify the ontology. Fully agree that there should be a way for claude code to modify the ontology, and for that I'd recommend using Palantir MCP which integrates easily with claude code.