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Getting Started
ecosystem.ckan.org | Beta Release
A guide for everyone — no technical background needed.
The CKAN Ecosystem Catalog is a free, community-driven directory that brings together everything built on CKAN — open data portals from governments and organisations around the world, and the extensions (add-ons) developers have created to power them.
Think of it as a searchable map of the CKAN world. Whether you are curious about what CKAN-powered sites exist in your country, looking for a plugin to add a new feature to your data portal, or wanting to share your own work with the wider community — this is the right place.
The catalog is openly maintained. Its source code and issue tracker live on GitHub at github.com/ckan/ckanext-ecosystem_catalog, and it was originally developed by the team at datHere.
This guide is written for everyone — you do not need a technical background. Whether you are:
- an open data enthusiast who wants to explore what is out there,
- a government or NGO team that runs a CKAN portal and wants it listed,
- a developer who built a CKAN extension and wants others to find it, or
- someone who found their project already listed and wants to take ownership of it —
this guide walks you through each path step by step.
- Browse the Wiki on GitHub for deeper documentation.
- Submit a question or report a bug via the GitHub Issues page.
- Use the Contact Form on the catalog website.
- Email the team directly at: abdurrahman@dathere.com
No account needed. You can browse the entire catalog freely.
Go to ecosystem.ckan.org. The homepage shows featured sites and extensions, along with a search bar.
Use the search bar at the top to look for anything — a country, a topic, an organisation name, or a keyword. You can also use the filter options to narrow results by:
- Category (e.g. visualisation, harvesting, authentication)
- CKAN version compatibility
- Region or country
- Extension type (theme, dataset type, API, etc.)
Click on any card to open the full listing. You will find:
- A description of the site or extension
- Tags and categories
- A link to the GitHub repository (for extensions)
- Compatibility information, license, and maintainer contact
Note: Some descriptions were generated automatically by the catalog's harvesting system. These are marked with a small badge. If you spot anything inaccurate, see Part 7 — Reporting an Issue.
You need an account if you want to add or manage a listing.
- Go to ecosystem.ckan.org and click Sign Up in the top right corner.
- You can register with a GitHub or LinkedIn account, or create a new account with your email address.
- Optionally, complete your profile by adding a photo, short bio, and your organisation website.
Note: Creating an account does not automatically give you permission to add listings. You also need to be added to an organisation — see Part 3.
There are two ways to add a site or extension to the catalog. Pick whichever suits you best.
This route requires an account and organisation membership. It gives you the most control over your listing.
Every listing on the catalog belongs to an organisation. Before you can create a listing, you need to be a member of the right organisation.
Browse the list of organisations at ecosystem.ckan.org/organization.
There are three situations:
- Your organisation is already listed — contact the organisation admin or the catalog sysadmin and ask them to add your account as a member.
- Your organisation is not listed — ask the catalog sysadmin to create it for you.
- You are an individual contributor with no organisation — ask to be added under the 'Other' organisation, which is a catch-all for independent developers and contributors.
Known Gap: There is currently no self-service way to join or create an organisation. You need to contact an admin or the catalog sysadmin directly. If you do not hear back, there is no automated escalation path yet — this is a known gap in the beta.
- Once you are logged in and a member of an organisation, navigate to the CKAN Sites section.
- Click Add Site.
- Fill in the metadata fields: name, URL, description, tags, and organisation.
- Click Next: Add Data, then optionally add or link any datasets.
- Click Finish to publish your listing.
- Navigate to the CKAN Extensions section.
- Click Add Extension.
- Fill in the metadata fields — see the field descriptions in Part 6 for reference.
- Click Finish to publish.
If you prefer not to create a catalog account, or you are waiting to be added to an organisation, you can submit your listing via a GitHub Issue. You will need a GitHub account.
Go to the GitHub Issues page and choose one of the templates:
- Submit a CKAN Site
- Submit a CKAN Extension
Fill in the template with as much detail as possible and submit. The catalog team will review your submission and create the listing on your behalf.
Note: Even this path requires a GitHub account. If you have neither a catalog account nor a GitHub account and still want to add a listing, use the Contact Form or email the team directly.
You might find that your site or extension is already listed on the catalog — added by the harvesting system or by a community member. If you want to take ownership and manage the listing yourself, you can claim it.
Go to the GitHub Issues page and choose the Claim your Listing template.
In your issue, include:
- The URL or name of the listing you want to claim
- Evidence of ownership — for example, a link to your GitHub profile, your organisation website, or an email domain that matches the listing
The catalog team will review your claim. If approved, the sysadmin will add you to the relevant organisation so you can start managing the listing.
Known Gap: If your claim is not approved or you do not receive a response, there is currently no formal appeal or retry path. Contact the team directly via the Contact Form or email as a follow-up.
Once you are a member of an organisation, you can edit any listing that belongs to that organisation. You can update it any time.
- Log in and navigate to your organisation's page.
- Click the Manage button near the top right of the page.
- Update the metadata fields as needed.
- Click Update Site to save.
- Optionally, update or add resources (datasets) linked to the site, then click Add or Save and add another.
- Log in and navigate to your organisation's page.
- Scroll down, find the extension you want to edit, and click on it.
- Click Manage.
- Update the metadata fields.
- Scroll to the bottom and click Update Metadata to save.
Note: You can only edit listings that belong to your organisation. If you need to edit a listing in a different organisation, you will first need to be added to that organisation.
- Navigate to the listing and click Manage.
- Scroll to the bottom of the page.
- Click Delete. You will be asked to confirm before anything is permanently removed.
This section is aimed at developers who maintain a CKAN extension on GitHub.
The catalog can automatically read and sync your extension's metadata from a simple file you place in your GitHub repository. This means you do not have to manually update the catalog every time something changes — the harvester picks up your file on its next scheduled run.
- You create a file called
ckan_ecosystem.yamland place it in the root of your extension's GitHub repository. - The catalog harvester reads this file periodically.
- Your listing on the catalog is automatically updated with the information from the file.
| Field | What it is | Example |
|---|---|---|
title |
The display name of your extension | CKAN GeoView |
notes |
A short description (supports Markdown) | Provides map previews for geospatial data. |
detailed_info |
A longer description with full feature details | (Longer Markdown text) |
publisher |
Who made it | datHere |
extension_type |
The category it belongs to | visualization |
tags |
Keywords for search | map, geo, spatial |
ckan_version |
Which CKAN versions it supports | 2.9, 2.10, 3.0 |
license |
The software license | Apache-2.0 |
contact_name |
Maintainer name | Jane Smith |
contact_email |
Maintainer email | jane@example.com |
url |
GitHub repository URL | https://github.com/org/ckanext-geoview |
organization_url |
Your organisation's website | https://dathere.com |
Tip: Best practice: add the
ckan_ecosystem.yamlfile to your repository right when you create a new extension. This way the catalog can find and list it automatically from day one.
Known Gap: The automatic YAML sync only works for public GitHub repositories. If your repository is private, or hosted on a platform other than GitHub (such as GitLab), the harvester cannot reach your file. In that case, update your listing manually through the catalog website.
Note: The CKAN community is working on adding
ckan_ecosystem.yamlto the standard ckanext repository template. Until then, remember to add it manually.
If you notice something wrong — an inaccurate description, an outdated listing, a missing entry, or a bug on the website — please let the team know.
- Use the Contact Form on the catalog website — no account needed.
- Email the team directly at: abdurrahman@dathere.com
- Submit a GitHub Issue at github.com/ckan/ckanext-ecosystem_catalog/issues — requires a GitHub account.
Note: The catalog is in beta. Some listings may have incomplete or auto-generated metadata. Your reports help improve the quality of the catalog for everyone.
A site listing can show a live web page (your portal's home page, a map, a dashboard, a video) in a frame right on the resource page, with a small preview image beside it in the listing's resource list. This is done with the Website (Plus) view.
You need to be a member of the organisation that owns the listing (see Part 3 and Part 5).
- Open your site listing and click Manage.
- Go to the Resources tab and click Add new resource.
- Under URL, choose Link and paste the address of the page, for example
https://example.org/. - Give it a Name, and set Format to
HTML. - Click Add.
Tip: Uploading an image resource (a screenshot of your site) at the same time gives the listing a picture. See 8.5.
- Open the resource you just created.
- Click Manage, then open the Views tab.
- Click New view and choose Website (Plus).
- Fill in the form (see 8.3) and click Add.
The page now appears in a frame on the resource page, with buttons underneath to open it in a new tab, go fullscreen, reload and share.
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Web Page url | The page to show. Leave blank to use the resource's own URL. Only http:// and https:// addresses are accepted. |
| Security preset | How much the framed page is allowed to do (see 8.4). |
| Height | A fixed height in pixels, a share of the window, an aspect ratio such as 16/9, or automatic. |
| Thumbnail in the resource list | An image from this listing to use as the small preview (see 8.5). |
| Don't use the page's own preview image | Tick to stop the catalog fetching the page's preview image. |
| Hide the control bar | Removes the open, fullscreen, reload and share buttons. |
| Ask before loading a page from another site | Shows a card the visitor must click before anything is loaded from the other site. |
| Preset | Use it for |
|---|---|
strict |
Simple pages. The frame can't run scripts or submit forms. |
interactive |
Most pages. Scripts, forms, popups and downloads are allowed. |
external |
Third-party embeds such as video players. May not be available for every service on the catalog. |
data-schematic |
A qsv Data Schematic page uploaded to the listing. |
If you are unsure, start with interactive. Switch to strict if the page doesn't need scripts.
The small image beside a resource in the listing is not a screenshot taken of the page. It comes from the first of these that applies:
- An image you chose. Pick an image resource from the same listing in the Thumbnail in the resource list dropdown. The image can be uploaded or linked.
-
The page's own preview image. When you save the view, the catalog looks for the page's
og:image(thentwitter:image) and keeps a small copy. Visitors never contact the other site to see it. - A service logo, for well-known services such as YouTube.
If none applies, the normal format icon is shown. The image is made when the view is saved, so save the view again after changing the page address.
Screenshot of the whole listing. The large image on a site's page, and the image on its card in search results, is taken from a resource marked Use as screenshot. When adding or editing an image resource, switch on Use as screenshot. If none is marked, the first image resource is used.
Some sites tell browsers not to display them inside another page. The frame stays blank, or the catalog shows a card instead. Nothing is wrong with your listing.
- Use the Open in new tab button, which always works.
- Show a page that allows framing, such as your documentation or a public dashboard built for embedding.
- Or add a screenshot as an image resource and mark it Use as screenshot.
- Framed pages are sandboxed and can't act as the catalog or read a visitor's catalog session.
- Counting visits is optional and off unless the catalog administrators turn it on.
- A browser sending Global Privacy Control always gets the "ask before loading" card for pages on other sites.
| I want to… | What to do |
|---|---|
| Browse sites and extensions | Just visit ecosystem.ckan.org — no account needed (Part 1) |
| Add my site or extension | Create an account, join an organisation, then add your listing (Part 3, Option A) |
| Add a listing without a catalog account | Submit a GitHub Issue using the provided template (Part 3, Option B) |
| Claim a listing that is already there | Open a 'Claim your Listing' GitHub Issue (Part 4) |
| Edit or update my listing | Log in and use the Manage button on your listing (Part 5) |
| Keep metadata in sync automatically | Add ckan_ecosystem.yaml to your GitHub repo (Part 6) |
| Report a problem | Use the Contact Form, email, or submit a GitHub Issue (Part 7) |
| Show a live web page on my listing | Add a Website (Plus) view to a resource (Part 8) |