PATTERN Cited by 1 source

Capability discovery via semantic search

Definition

Capability discovery via semantic search is the practice of backing a capability registry with a search engine (e.g., Amazon OpenSearch Service) that supports full-text and semantic queries over capability metadata — descriptions, input/output schemas, tags, and version annotations. This enables specification authors and AI tools to find reusable capabilities by intent ("normalize a currency field") rather than requiring exact identifiers.

Why it matters

Direct-key lookups require knowing the exact capability ID in advance. As capability libraries grow to tens or hundreds of entries, intent-based discovery becomes essential for:

• Domain users authoring specifications without deep platform knowledge.
• AI assistants proposing relevant capabilities during specification authoring.
• Reducing duplication (teams discover existing capabilities rather than re-implementing).

Implementation

The reference implementation stores capability metadata (descriptions, schemas, tags, ARNs) in Amazon OpenSearch Service indices. The composer queries OpenSearch both for exact validation (does this capability exist with this version?) and for fuzzy discovery (which capabilities handle date formatting?).

(Source: sources/2026-07-09-aws-specification-driven-composition-for-flexible-data-workflows)

Seen in

• sources/2026-07-09-aws-specification-driven-composition-for-flexible-data-workflows — AWS Architecture Blog (2026-07-09): OpenSearch as the capability registry supporting semantic search for discovery.