A service-oriented architecture repository (SOA repository) is a specific resource, often a database, that holds data and metadata for a service-oriented architecture registry. An SOA repository helps to serve the purposes of the greater service-oriented architecture, which are related to building software programs that can operate in a broader collaborative system. Programmers design interfaces and other aspects of programs so that single applications can communicate and share information, with the intent to enable a much more efficient IT architecture for an enterprise. The service-oriented architecture repository is part of an arrangement to store critical information about the service-oriented architecture as a whole.

The terms service-oriented architecture repository and service-oriented architecture registry may often be used interchangeably, which makes more detailed inspection of a single SOA resource vital to understanding how that resource is used and supported within its greater context.