hdf-libs documentation

Reference docs for the Heimdall Data Format. Start with the readers' guide; pull in the spec or a focused guide when you need depth on a specific topic.

Start here

• HDF Readers' Guide — narrative introduction. What HDF is, why it exists, how the seven document types fit together. Read this first.

Reference

• Specification — formal schema documentation for all seven HDF document types, field-by-field.
• Document type ecosystem — design rationale and full ecosystem view across the seven types.
• Status determination — how a control's overall status is derived from its results (the precedence rules).

Guides

• CLI user-story examples — runnable end-to-end workflows for every hdf subcommand.
• Converter fingerprint registry — how auto-detection picks the right converter for an input file.
• Label keys reference — well-known label keys (system, environment, region, …) used for grouping components and baselines.
• NIST 800-53 revision handling — selecting Rev 4 vs Rev 5, the per-revision completeness contract, and the r4↔r5 crosswalk.
• OSCAL alignment — mapping between HDF and OSCAL document types.
• OSCAL CLI examples — converting FedRAMP SAR/SAP/SSP/POA&M between OSCAL and HDF.
• Legacy HDF migration — for tool authors moving from InSpec exec-json (Legacy HDF / v2) to the current schema.

Contributing

• Developer guide — dual TS+Go implementation patterns, testing conventions, monorepo layout, cross-platform notes.