# Declaring the Initial Context Item

The `declare context item` declaration in the query prolog is implemented. This allows a required type and a default value to be declared for the context item.

At present (the rules aren't entirely clear) it is possible to specify a value from the calling API, or to not specify a value, regardless whether "external" is specified or not.

At present there is no interaction with the API facilities for defining a required type for the context item: both can be used independently.

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