Rendering user-interface elements based on variation metamodels

A system, comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory storing one or more applications, which, when executed on the processors perform an operation for rendering an element in a graphical user interface (GUI), the operation comprising:
• sending an application programming interface (API) request to a server, wherein the API request identifies an entity type and is associated with context information,
• receiving a response to the API request including a variation metamodel associated with the context information,
• parsing the response to identify a property included in the variation schema and metadata associated with the property, and
• rendering the element for the property in the GUI based on the metadata.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, perform an operation for rendering an element in a graphical user interface (GUI), the operation comprising:

• sending an application programming interface (API) request to a server, wherein the API request identifies an entity type and is associated with context information;
• receiving a response to the API request including a variation metamodel associated with the context information;
• parsing the response to identify a property included in the variation schema and metadata associated with the property;
• and
• rendering the element for the property in the GUI based on the metadata.