This paper introduces SetUp, a theoretical and applied framework for the management of RDF/S database evolution on the basis of graph rewriting rules. Rewriting rules formalize instance or schema changes, ensuring graph’s consistency with respect to given constraints. Constraints considered in this paper are a well known variant of RDF/S semantic, but the approach can be adapted to user-defined constraints. Furthermore, SetUp manages updates by ensuring rule applicability through the generation of side-effects: new updates which guarantee that rule application conditions hold. We provide herein formal validation and experimental evaluation of SetUp.