Entity type plugins

Type	betty.model.Entity
Repository	betty.project.Project.entity_type_repository

Entity types form the core of a Betty project’s ancestry. Each entity type describes a specific type of information, such as people or places. Ancestries can be filled with an unlimited number of entities (instances of entity types), that together describe a family’s history.

Creating an entity type

1. Create a new class that extends betty.model.Entity and implements the abstract methods, for example:

   from typing import override
   from betty.machine_name import MachineName
   from betty.model import Entity
   
   class MyEntity(Entity):
     @override
     @classmethod
     def plugin_id(cls) -> MachineName:
         return "my-module-my-entity"
   
     # Implement remaining abstract methods...
     ...
   

2. Tell Betty about your entity type by registering it as an entry point. Given the entity type above in a module my_package.my_module, add the following to your Python package:

pyproject.toml

[project.entry-points.'betty.entity_type']
'my-module-my-entity' = 'my_package.my_module.MyEntity'

setup.py

SETUP = {
    'entry_points': {
        'betty.entity_type': [
            'my-module-my-entity=my_package.my_module.MyEntity',
        ],
    },
}
if __name__ == '__main__':
    setup(**SETUP)

See also

Read more about how to use entities and Betty’s built-in entity types at Ancestry.