Library Overview

The Library at /library is the central repository for OSCAL documents on OSCAL Hub. Every document you create in a Build wizard can be saved here. Teammates in your organization can share documents through it. The broader community can publish reference content that anyone — even unauthenticated visitors — can browse via the Public Catalog.

Think of it as a searchable, versioned, analytics-aware shelf for all the OSCAL content your work produces.

What it lets you do

• Store any OSCAL document type. Catalogs, Profiles, Component Definitions, SSPs, Assessment Plans, Assessment Results, and POA&Ms are all supported.
• Organize with tags. Attach free-form tags (e.g., FedRAMP, NIST-800-53, baseline) when uploading or saving. Tags feed into search and filtering.
• Control visibility. Each item is either Private (only you), Organization (your org members), or Public (everyone). See Library Visibility for the full breakdown.
• Save directly from any builder. Every Build wizard has a Save to Library button. See Save to Library.
• Auto-version on resave. Saving the same document to the library a second time appends a new version to the existing library card rather than creating a duplicate.
• Track downloads and ratings. Every download is counted. Logged-in users can rate items. The Analytics tab surfaces the most downloaded and most popular items.

Visibility modes at a glance

New items default to Private. You can change visibility at any time. For the full rules and how to change visibility, see Library Visibility.

How to browse the library

1. Sign in and navigate to /library

   The library requires authentication. After logging in, click Library in the navigation or go to /library directly.

2. Use the Browse tab

   The Browse tab opens by default and shows all items visible to you (your private items, your org's items, and any public items). Use the Visibility dropdown to narrow down to a specific scope.

3. Filter and search

   Switch to the Search tab to filter by keyword, OSCAL type, or tag. All three filters can be combined. The search index covers title, description, and tags.

4. Click an item card to see the detail page

   Each card shows the item's type badge, visibility badge, tags, author, date, download count, view count, star rating, and comment count. Click the card to open the detail page at /library/[itemId].

5. Download

   On the card or detail page, click Download to save the file locally. The download is logged for analytics. You must be signed in to download.

How to upload directly

If you have an OSCAL file on disk (from an external tool or another system), you can add it to the library without going through a builder wizard.

1. Go to /library and open the Upload tab

   Navigate to /library and click the Upload tab.

2. Fill in the metadata

   Enter a Title (required), optional Description, select the OSCAL Type that matches the file, and add any Tags (comma-separated).

3. Select the file

   Click the file picker and choose your .json, .xml, .yaml, or .yml file. The format is detected from the file extension.

4. Click Upload to Library

   The item appears in the Browse tab immediately. Default visibility is Private — you can change it from the library card using the visibility action menu.

Saving from a builder

The preferred path for new content is to build it in a wizard and then click Save to Library when you are ready to share it. This flow lets you set the name, description, tags, visibility, and version notes in one modal without leaving the builder context.

See Save to Library for the full walkthrough.

Tips & limits

• The search index covers title, description, and tags. Body content of OSCAL documents is not full-text indexed. Use descriptive titles and tags to make items easy to find.
• The Analytics tab shows popular items. The most-downloaded leaderboard updates in real time and is a quick way to find reference documents the community finds useful.
• "My uploads" filtering. In the Browse tab, select the Private visibility filter to see only items you created and have not shared. Combine with the Search tab to find a specific one-of-yours quickly.
• There is no hard limit on library size, but very large OSCAL files (multi-MB) may take a moment to upload and download.
• Visibility changes are audited. Every time you publish, unpublish, or change the scope of a library item, the event is recorded in the audit trail.

Related

• Library Visibility
• Save to Library
• Public Catalog
• Artifacts
• Build Hub