Skip to content

SYDONIA · ASYCUDA World · PostgreSQL

Query Sydonia: write friendly, run genuine

Write customs analytics against a friendly logical model — declaration, declaration_item, hs_code, tax_amount — and compile them to genuine ASYCUDA World (SYDONIA) SQL you can actually run, read-only, against a real instance. The abstraction is easy; the output is real. Underneath is a faithful, fully-sourced reconstruction of the whole customs model — now the logical layer the compiler maps from.

Query Sydonia → Quickstart Explore the schema GitHub
55tables across 8 modules
49 / 6documented / inferred
100%cited public sourcing
0errors on a clean load

Why it exists

ASYCUDA World is the customs platform used by 100+ countries, but its internal database schema is wide, denormalised and proprietary — painful to query for analytics. So this project does two things. It rebuilds an information-equivalent reference model using only public documentation — official public technical table descriptions, national ASYCUDA World user manuals, and open ISO/UN/WCO standards, every table traceable to a citation or honestly flagged as inferred. And it ships a query compiler that lets you write against that clean model and compile to genuine Sydonia SQL — so the friendly names are the ergonomics, and the runnable statement is real.

The modeled version is ASYCUDA World (v4) — the current standard. The platform section covers the full version lineage (ASYCUDA++ → World → ASY5), the XML wire formats, and where external systems can integrate, so you can place this model against the deployment you actually have.

Scope, stated plainly

This is a functional/reference reconstruction for sandbox, integration, analytics and training use. It is not an attempt to obtain or reproduce UNCTAD's proprietary internal schema, and it contains no pirated software or data from any live customs system.

What you can do with it

  •  Compile to genuine Sydonia SQL

    Write a query against the friendly logical model; the compiler rewrites it into runnable ASYCUDA World SQL via a CTE prelude. Write friendly, run genuine.

    The query compiler

  •  Query a real ASYCUDA World

    Point the same queries and skills at a live instance — read-only, metadata only — for analytics, feature extraction and selectivity on your data.

    Querying Sydonia

  •  Stand up a customs sandbox

    One psql command loads a clean schema, seed reference data, and a fully worked manifest→release example. PostgreSQL 14+.

    Quickstart

  •  Understand the customs domain

    A guided map of manifests, the SAD declaration, valuation build-up, per-item taxes, selectivity lanes and the document lifecycle.

    Customs concepts

  •  Query real join paths

    A cookbook of the join paths that matter: declaration → item → tax line, manifest → B/L → cargo, assessed-vs-paid reconciliation.

    Querying guide

  •  Extend it safely

    Add tables and columns while keeping the conventions and the provenance trail intact, so your fork stays as auditable as the original.

    Extending guide

  •  Trust the sourcing

    Every CREATE TABLE carries a -- src: or -- inferred tag. Coverage and an official fit/gap analysis are published in full.

    Provenance

  •  Drive it with Agent Skills

    A suite of standard Agent Skills — installable into any agent (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, …) via npx skills add — that set up, query, seed, extend and validate the model directly inside your own codebase.

    Agent Skills

  •  Know the platform

    ASYCUDA itself: the version lineage (v1 → World → ASY5), the XML wire formats, the integration doors, and the clearance process.

    The platform

  •  Build ML on it

    The research-backed blueprint for ML on declarations and plugging a risk engine into selectivity — prototyped on this schema.

    ML on customs data

A 30-second taste

createdb customs_sandbox
psql -v ON_ERROR_STOP=1 -d customs_sandbox -f Sydonia/schema/asycuda.sql
psql -v ON_ERROR_STOP=1 -d customs_sandbox -f Sydonia/schema/seed_reference.sql
psql -v ON_ERROR_STOP=1 -d customs_sandbox -f Sydonia/examples/e2e.sql

--- Declaration summary ---
  reg  | type |  status  | lane | total_items | total_cif_value
-------+------+----------+------+-------------+-----------------
 C 427 | IM4  | released | RED  |           2 |      63300.0000

--- Total assessed vs receipt ---
 total_assessed | receipt_amount
----------------+----------------
     12132.5000 |     12132.5000

A single import declaration — two items, freight and insurance apportioned to per-item CIF, duties and VAT calculated, routed to the RED lane, inspected, paid and released — inserts with full referential integrity.

For large-language-model consumption

This site publishes an llms.txt index and a concatenated llms-full.txt so you can hand the entire model to an LLM in one paste. See the Agent Skills to wire it into an agent workflow.

Sydonia Toolkit is independent and reconstructed from public documentation. ASYCUDA and SYDONIA are programmes of UNCTAD; this project is not affiliated with or endorsed by UNCTAD.