The present paper aims at stressing the importance of the Hofmann–Streicher groupoid model for Martin Löf Type Theory as a link with the first-order equality and its semantics via adjunctions. The groupoid model was introduced by Martin Hofmann in his Ph.D. thesis and later analysed in collaboration with Thomas Streicher. In this paper, after describing an algebraic weak factorisation system $$\mathsf {L, R}$$ on the category $${\cal C}-{\cal Gpd}$$ of $${\cal C}$$ -enriched groupoids, we prove that its fibration of algebras is elementary (in the sense of Lawvere) and use this fact to produce the factorisation of diagonals for $$\mathsf {L, R}$$ needed to interpret identity types.

We introduce type-theoretic algebraic weak factorisation systems and show how they give rise to homotopy-theoretic models of Martin-Löf type theory. This is done by showing that the comprehension category associated with a type-theoretic algebraic weak factorisation system satisfies the assumptions necessary to apply a right adjoint method for splitting comprehension categories. We then provide methods for constructing several examples of type-theoretic algebraic weak factorisation systems, encompassing the existing groupoid and cubical sets models, as well as new models based on normal fibrations.