Install and Configure GraphViews

20/03/2026

This guide explains how to install and configure GraphViews, a tool that helps you visualize your PoolParty taxonomies.

To deploy GraphViews, ensure the system satisfies the following prerequisites:

The image is hosted at ontotext/graphviews. Ensure your environment has access to Docker Hub.
Before starting the service, you must expose the GraphViews context path through the Nginx proxy.
1. Navigate to your PoolParty deployment directory.
2. Copy the Nginx include files. Ensure the source filename matches the one provided in your specific deployment package.
```
cp files/nginx/addons/graphviews.conf files/nginx/includes/extra_includes/
```

Note

GraphViews does not maintain its own database since it functions as a visualization layer. Therefore, no database migration or backup or restore of internal GraphViews data to GraphViews version 1.8.0 is required.

Configuration is handled via environment variables within the addons.yaml file. For more information about how to deploy PoolParty add-on services, refer to the Docker compose file for PoolParty.

The following environment variables are used for authentication with Poolparty:

services:
  graphviews:
    image: ontotext/graphviews:latest
    environment:
      PP_USERNAME: superadmin
      PP_PASSWORD: ${POOLPARTY_SUPER_ADMIN_PASSWORD}
      PP_URL: "${SERVER_URL}"
    # Add other necessary container variables here

Warning

Using the default PP_USERNAME (superadmin) allows GraphViews to access all PoolParty projects (both public and private).

Note

If you are upgrading and previously used default variable values, they should remain compatible with PoolParty 10. However, review addons.yaml to ensure no custom customer-specific variables (found in graphviews.properties) need to be carried over.

In the Dockerized version of GraphViews, the graphviews.properties file is overwritten by the environment: section in addons.yaml. The following mandatory properties can be defined in addons.yaml as an environment variable:

PP_USERNAME: The user account GraphViews uses to fetch project data.
PP_PASSWORD: The password for the user above.
PP_URL: The URL of the PoolParty server.

However, you can also configure the following optional properties in the graphviews.properties file to customize the application's behavior:

graphviews.languages.allowed: A comma-separated list specifying allowed languages (for example: en, de).
logging.level.root: Sets the logging level (default is INFO).
logging.file: Specifies the path for log file output (logs are written to the console by default).
server.port: The port number for GraphViews (defaults to 8080).

Note

You can find a complete list of configurable properties in the Spring Boot Common Application Properties documentation.

All Spring Boot properties can be externalized via environment variables.

To start the GraphViews service use the following command:

docker compose -f docker-compose.yaml -f addons.yaml up -d graphviews

After the service has been deployed successfully you can reach GraphViews via http(s)://<server-name>/GraphViews.

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