TerminologyCapabilities — Capabilities of a terminology server
The CapabilityStatement specific to the Terminology module: which CodeSystems, ValueSets, ConceptMaps and operations are exposed by the server, with which versions and which options.
Purpose of the resource
TerminologyCapabilities describes what a terminology server can do: list of
hosted CodeSystems with their versions, pre-expanded ValueSets, available ConceptMaps, support
for the $expand, $validate-code, $translate,
$lookup, $subsumes operations, language handling, paging, etc.
It is generally published at the /metadata?mode=terminology endpoint or
/.well-known/fhir-configuration, alongside the general CapabilityStatement.
Key fields
| Field | Type | Cardinality | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
url | uri | 0..1 | Canonical URL. |
version | string | 0..1 | Version. |
name | string | 0..1 | Technical name. |
title | string | 0..1 | Title. |
status | code | 1..1 | draft | active | retired | unknown. |
date | dateTime | 1..1 | Publication date. |
kind | code | 1..1 | instance | capability | requirements. |
software | BackboneElement | 0..1 | Hosting software. |
implementation | BackboneElement | 0..1 | Implementation instance (URL). |
lockedDate | boolean | 0..1 | Support for reading at a given date. |
codeSystem | BackboneElement[] | 0..* | Hosted CodeSystems with their versions. |
expansion | BackboneElement | 0..1 | Expansion capabilities (hierarchical, paging, incomplete). |
codeSearch | code | 0..1 | Search filter (in-compose | in-expansion). |
validateCode | BackboneElement | 0..1 | $validate-code capabilities. |
translation | BackboneElement | 0..1 | $translate capabilities. |
closure | BackboneElement | 0..1 | $closure capabilities. |
JSON example
{
"resourceType": "TerminologyCapabilities",
"id": "example-term-server",
"url": "http://example.org/TerminologyCapabilities/example-term-server",
"version": "5.0.0",
"name": "ExampleTermServer",
"title": "Example terminology server capabilities",
"status": "active",
"date": "2026-05-15",
"kind": "instance",
"software": {
"name": "HAPI Terminology Server",
"version": "7.0"
},
"codeSystem": [{
"uri": "http://snomed.info/sct",
"version": [{
"code": "http://snomed.info/sct/900000000000207008/version/20260301",
"isDefault": true
}]
}],
"expansion": {
"hierarchical": true,
"paging": true
},
"translation": {
"needsMap": true
}
}Common pitfalls
- Missing CodeSystem versions — a client cannot tell whether the March 2026 French SNOMED CT release is available.
- Confusion with CapabilityStatement — CapabilityStatement describes the REST API; TerminologyCapabilities describes the semantic content.