What Is LionWeb?
LionWeb is an open interchange protocol for exchanging models — and the languages (metamodels) that define them — between different modeling tools and language workbenches, so a model built in one tool can be used, checked or extended in another.
The problem it solves
Models locked into a single tool or a single team get duplicated, and integrating them stays a manual job. As the number of tools and teams working on related models grows, keeping copies in sync by hand stops scaling. LionWeb was started to facilitate interoperability between language engineering tools, so components and models can be reused across them instead of rebuilt per tool.
How it relates to EMF/XMI-based interchange
EMF/XMI ties a language and its models to a specific tool ecosystem; moving that language elsewhere usually means a rewrite. F1RE’s own SysML v2 in LionWeb post is a concrete example of the alternative: an existing SysML v2 language, originally implemented in EMF, was transferred into both JetBrains MPS and Freon by connecting it to LionWeb — without redefining the language twice.
Where to read more
- SysML v2 language in LionWeb — moving a language from EMF into MPS and Freon via LionWeb.
- Implementing LionWeb in Rascal — bringing a grammarware tool, Rascal, into the LionWeb ecosystem.
F1RE advises on LionWeb infrastructure, adapts existing toolchains to open modeling standards, and designs workflows that keep working as the number of tools and users grows. See About F1RE.