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 # OpenAPI
 
 [![Build Status](https://github.com/zweidenker/OpenAPI/actions/workflows/build.yml/badge.svg?branch=master)](https://github.com/zweidenker/OpenAPI/actions/workflows/build.yml)
+
+This is an implementation of the [OpenAPI 3.0](https://spec.openapis.org/oas/v3.0.4.html) specification for the [Pharo](http://pharo.org) language. It models an OpenAPI document as an object tree, validates whole documents against the official OAI meta-schema, and can drive an HTTP client from a loaded document. It builds on [JSONSchema](https://github.com/zweidenker/JSONSchema) for schema parsing and validation.
+
+The framework is split into three packages:
+
+- **`OpenAPI-Core`** — the document object model (`OpenAPI`, `OAInfo`, `OAPathItem`, `OAOperation`, `OAParameter`, `OASchemaDefinition`, …), parsing/serialization, and `OADocumentValidator` for validating a document against the spec.
+- **`OpenAPI-Client`** — builds and fires HTTP requests from a loaded document (`OpenApiClient`, `OARequestBuilder`), including the full OAI parameter style/explode matrix.
+- **`OpenAPI-REST`** — a server-side routing layer on top of Zinc (`OpenAPICall`, `OpenAPIUriSpace`). This package is effectively unmaintained legacy code (see [What is (not yet) supported](#what-is-not-yet-supported)) — new work should not depend on it.
+
+## Contents
+
+- [Installation](#installation)
+- [Quick start](#quick-start)
+- [Parsing and serializing documents](#parsing-and-serializing-documents)
+- [Validating documents](#validating-documents)
+- [Building requests with OpenAPI-Client](#building-requests-with-openapi-client)
+- [Parameter locations and styles](#parameter-locations-and-styles)
+- [What is (not yet) supported](#what-is-not-yet-supported)
+
+## Installation
+
+Load it into Pharo via Metacello:
+
+```smalltalk
+Metacello new
+  repository: 'github://zweidenker/OpenAPI';
+  baseline: #OpenAPI;
+  load.
+```
+
+This loads the `default` group (`OpenAPI-Core` + `OpenAPI-REST` + `OpenAPI-Client`, plus their tests). Load a specific group instead if you only need part of it, e.g. `load: #('Client')` to get `OpenAPI-Core` + `OpenAPI-Client` while skipping the REST layer entirely.
+
+## Quick start
+
+```smalltalk
+"Parse a document..."
+api := OpenAPI fromString: someOpenApiJsonString.
+api info title.       "e.g. 'Swagger Petstore'"
+api openapi.           "e.g. '3.0.0'"
+api paths keys.        "e.g. #('/pets' '/pets/{petId}')"
+
+"...and check whether it's actually a valid OpenAPI 3.0 document."
+OADocumentValidator isValidDocument: someOpenApiJsonString.   "-> true/false"
+```
+
+## Parsing and serializing documents
+
+`OpenAPI fromString:` parses a JSON document into the full object model (`OAInfo`, `OAPathItem`, `OAOperation`, `OAParameter`, `OASchemaDefinition`, …) and resolves `$ref`s within it. The result can be serialized back to JSON:
+
+```smalltalk
+api := OpenAPI fromString: jsonString.
+api specString.   "-> the document, serialized back to JSON"
+```
+
+Parsing/serialization is best-effort, not a strict round-trip guarantee: a small number of schema keyword combinations don't survive `specString` unchanged (see [What is (not yet) supported](#what-is-not-yet-supported)).
+
+## Validating documents
+
+`OADocumentValidator` checks a whole document against the official OAI 3.0 meta-schema (bundled verbatim, Apache-2.0 — see `OAMetaSchema`), not just individual parameter values:
+
+```smalltalk
+OADocumentValidator isValidDocument: jsonStringOrDictionary.        "-> Boolean"
+OADocumentValidator validateDocument: jsonStringOrDictionary.       "-> the parsed document, or raises a JSONSchemaError"
+OADocumentValidator validationErrorMessageFor: jsonStringOrDictionary.
+  "-> nil if valid, otherwise e.g. 'JSONSchemaMissingRequiredProperty: ...'"
+```
+
+The built meta-schema is cached per major.minor version, so repeated validation doesn't rebuild it every time. Only the **first** validation error is reported — JSONSchema-Core signals on the first constraint violation rather than accumulating a full list.
+
+`OAExampleDocuments` bundles six real-world OpenAPI 3.0 documents (petstore, petstore-expanded, api-with-examples, callback-example, link-example, uspto) taken verbatim from the official [OAI/OpenAPI-Specification](https://github.com/OAI/OpenAPI-Specification) repository (Apache-2.0) — the same fixtures the OAI project itself uses to test its meta-schema. Useful as realistic test data beyond hand-written minimal documents.
+
+## Building requests with OpenAPI-Client
+
+Subclass `OpenApiClient` and implement `buildOpenApi` to supply the parsed document; `baseUri` sets the server to talk to. Requests are then made by operation ID:
+
+```smalltalk
+MyApiClient class >> buildOpenApi [
+  ^ OpenAPI fromString: myOpenApiJsonString
+]
+
+client := MyApiClient new.
+client baseUri: 'https://api.example.com/v1'.
+client call: 'listPets' withArguments: (Dictionary new at: 'limit' put: 5; yourself).
+```
+
+`call:withArguments:` looks up the operation by `operationId`, builds the request (path/query/header/cookie parameters, JSON or form-urlencoded body as declared by the operation), fires it, and returns the parsed response body on success. A spec-level violation caught before the request is even sent (e.g. a missing required parameter) raises an `OAError` subclass; any non-2xx response raises `OAUnspecifiedError` with the parsed error body attached. Nested request bodies (e.g. `metadata[key]`, `items[0][price]`) are flattened automatically for form-urlencoded bodies.
+
+## Parameter locations and styles
+
+All four parameter locations and the full OAI style/explode matrix are supported when building requests:
+
+| Location | Supported styles | Default style | Default explode |
+| --- | --- | --- | --- |
+| `path` | `simple`, `label`, `matrix` | `simple` | `false` |
+| `query` | `form`, `spaceDelimited`, `pipeDelimited`, `deepObject` | `form` | `true` |
+| `header` | `simple` | `simple` | `false` |
+| `cookie` | `form` | `form` | `true` |
+
+`deepObject` and `form`+`explode:true` on an object both expand into multiple top-level parameters (one per property) rather than a single value, per spec. Cookies are a documented special case: the spec leaves `form`+`explode:true` on a non-primitive value undefined for cookies (you can't repeat a cookie name the way you repeat a query key), so arrays/objects are comma-joined into the single cookie value instead.
+
+## What is (not yet) supported
+
+This targets **OpenAPI 3.0** specifically — not a full implementation of every version or every edge case. Known gaps:
+
+- **3.1 / 3.2 are not supported**, and this is a deliberate decision, not an oversight: their dialect is JSON Schema 2020-12 + the OAS vocabulary, which needs `$dynamicRef`/`$dynamicAnchor` resolution, `$ref`-sibling composition and `unevaluated*` applicators — machinery JSONSchema-Core doesn't have yet. A 3.1 meta-schema builds but degrades to accepting anything, since it can't yet enforce the 2020-12 keywords.
+- **`allOf` composition of object schemas** (the common "extends" pattern, e.g. `Pet = allOf[NewPet, {id}]`) merges properties/required/additionalProperties for reading. A mixed/primitive `allOf` (not every branch object-shaped) has no sensible single merge target and stays a raw passthrough.
+- **A schema derived purely from `allOf`** (no explicit `type` keyword of its own) can't re-serialize its `type` keyword through `specString` — a real gap, not silently wrong: it raises rather than guessing.
+- **`OpenAPI-REST`** (server-side routing) is effectively unmaintained legacy code — parallel to, and superseded by, other routing mechanisms in the wider ApptiveGrid ecosystem.
+- Only **local `$ref`s** are resolved (inherited from JSONSchema-Core — no remote/external reference fetching).
+
+If you need something that is missing you are welcome to open a pull request, or a ticket in this repository.