Hi,
Can i clone and use for new Workshop application. Wanted to develop new workshop with all new actions and new UI options and should not disturb the existing workshop and its objects at the same time. So wanted to clone existing object in ontology and develop WS. If yes, please share the steps. Thank you.
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Cloning an object type is generally not the right approach
The stated need — building a new Workshop application with new actions and a new UI, without disturbing the existing Workshop application or its objects — is not typically solved by duplicating the object type in the Ontology. Cloning an object type yields two distinct entities that no longer share their data, their writebacks, or their metrics, which creates ontological debt: schema divergence, duplicate actions, user confusion, and loss of the “single source of truth” that is precisely the point of the Foundry Ontology.
Two possible approaches
The first option, and the one most aligned with the platform’s philosophy, is to work on a branch. Foundry lets you create an Ontology branch from Ontology Manager (the top bar explicitly exposes branch navigation and creation: “navigate between or create new branches”). On that branch you can modify the object type, add new properties, create new action types, and connect your new Workshop to it, without affecting the master version used in production. Once validated, you merge through the proposals mechanism (“Review ontology proposals”).
The second option, when the scope is broader (e.g. different ingestion streams, with DEV/UAT/PROD source sytems in which you need to write back to ) is to use a separate development environment: a Project dedicated to development, or even a distinct dev/prod stack, in which you rebuild the workflow and then deploy it via Marketplace or the promotion tooling. This is where it can genuinely make sense to have different object types for the production and development environments — not by cloning by hand, but by exporting/importing the Ontology (“Export, edit, and import an Ontology”) or by packaging the whole thing into a Marketplace product.
Conclusion
Before cloning, ask yourself: do you really want two logically separate objects with different data, or do you simply want to iterate safely on the existing object? In the latter case — which is the most common situation when someone says “I don’t want to disturb what exists” — the right answer is an Ontology branch coupled with a new Workshop module, not a clone. Only in the former case should you consider “Copy object type configuration” or a separate development environment with promotion via Marketplace.
Thank You @NicolasDaveau . Creating Dev/New branch and working on it for new changes makes sence. Trying on it. Let me post if i see any issues/challenges .
