diff --git a/R/ids.R b/R/ids.R
index 7faff78..bcb09ee 100644
--- a/R/ids.R
+++ b/R/ids.R
@@ -106,6 +106,33 @@ is_key <- function(x, compound=FALSE) {
     is.character(x) & grepl("^[a-z0-9]+:[0-9]{5,20}$", x)
 }
 
+id_spec_type <- function(x) {
+  if(is.numeric(x))
+    return("id")
+  if(is.character(x)) {
+    if(length(x) == 1) {
+      if(grepl("^http[s]{0,1}://", x))
+        return("url")
+      else if(isTRUE(substr(x,1,1)=="/"))
+        return("query")
+      else if(grepl("^\\s*([a-z:]{3}[0-9,\\s]+)+$", x, perl = T))
+        return("key")
+      else if(grepl("^\\s*([0-9,\\s]+)+$", x, perl = T))
+        return("id")
+      else
+        return("query")
+    }
+    if(all(grepl("^[a-z0-9]+:[0-9]{5,20}$", x)))
+      return("key")
+    if(all(grepl("^[0-9]{5,20}$", x)))
+      return("id")
+  }
+  if(inherits(x, "ngscene"))
+    return('ngscene')
+  return(NA_character_)
+}
+
+
 #' Specify ids for fly connectome datasets
 #'
 #' @param query A query (e.g. cell type name or regular expression)
diff --git a/R/normalisation.R b/R/normalisation.R
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ae4a578
--- /dev/null
+++ b/R/normalisation.R
@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+normalise_query <- function(x, dataset=NULL) {
+  if(!isTRUE(id_spec_type(x)=='query'))
+    return(x)
+
+  if(!isTRUE(substr(x,1,1)=="/") || length(x)!=1)
+    return(x)
+
+  # first add default query field if missing
+  query_field=stringr::str_match(x, '^/([A-z][A-z0-9]*):.+')[,2]
+  if(is.na(query_field)) {
+    query_field='type'
+    x=paste0('/type:', substr(x,2,nchar(x)))
+  }
+  query_field2=translate_fields(query_field, dataset = dataset, direction = 'out')
+  query_expr=stringr::str_match(x, '^[^:]+:(.+)')[,2]
+  if(is.na(query_expr)) {
+    warning('unable to parse query expression!')
+    return(x)
+  }
+  x=paste0("/", query_field2, ":", query_expr)
+  x
+}
+
+# this private function; expects a character vector and returns one of same length
+# out means from coconatfly to the external data source
+# in means from the external data source to coconatfly
+translate_fields <- function(x, dataset, direction=c("out", "in")) {
+  FUN=field_translater(dataset=dataset, direction = direction)
+  FUN(x)
+}
+
+# this is a function generator, the resultant functions are what dplyr::rename
+# would like
+field_translater <- function(dataset, direction=c("out", "in")) {
+  dataset=match_datasets(dataset)
+  direction=match.arg(direction)
+  field_table <- switch(dataset,
+                        flywire=c(
+                          id='root_id',
+                          type="cell_type",
+                          class="super_class",
+                          subclass="cell_class",
+                          subsubclass="cell_sub_class"),
+                        hemibrain=c(
+                          id='bodyid',
+                          lineage="cellBodyFiber"
+                        ),
+                        manc=c(
+                          id='bodyid',
+                          lineage="hemilineage"
+                        ),
+                        malecns=c(
+                          id='bodyid',
+                          class="superclass",
+                          subclass="class",
+                          subsubclass="subclass"
+                        ),
+                        opticlobe=c(
+                          id='bodyid'
+                        ),
+                        character()
+  )
+
+  FUN=function(x) {
+    if(length(field_table)==0) return(x)
+    # out means that we are translating coconatfly -> external
+    # in means that we are translating external -> coconatfly
+    if(direction=='out') {
+      y=field_table[match(x, names(field_table))]
+      y[is.na(y)]=x[is.na(y)]
+    } else {
+      y=names(field_table)[match(x, field_table)]
+      y[is.na(y)]=x[is.na(y)]
+    }
+    unname(y)
+  }
+  FUN
+}
+
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-normalisation.R b/tests/testthat/test-normalisation.R
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..76485e7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-normalisation.R
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+test_that("field translation works", {
+  cf=c("subclass", "class", "type", "rhubarb")
+  fw=c("cell_class", "super_class", "cell_type", "rhubarb")
+  expect_equal(translate_fields(fw, dataset = 'fly', direction = 'in'), cf)
+  expect_equal(translate_fields(cf, dataset = 'fly', direction = 'out'), fw)
+
+  l=as.list(letters[seq_along(cf)])
+  names(l)=cf
+  df=data.frame(l)
+  expect_type(tofw <- field_translater(dataset = "flywire", direction = "out"), 'closure')
+  df2=dplyr::rename_with(df, .fn=tofw)
+  expect_equal(colnames(df2), fw)
+})