cv.json

The open, machine-readable standard for career data.
One JSON file. One URL. Always current.
Built for AI agents, ATS systems, and humans.

Spec · JSON Schema · Validator · Builder · Blog Post

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Why

Every day, millions of CVs are uploaded as PDFs — then butchered by ATS parsers. Names become addresses. Job titles merge with dates. Skills vanish. AI recruiting agents need structured data, not guesswork from PDF extraction.

cv.json gives every professional a canonical, machine-readable endpoint for their career data.

Quick Start

Consume

curl https://freecv.org/p/ashley/cv.json

No API key. No auth. Standard HTTP.

Discover

Portfolio pages include a <link> tag for automated discovery:

<link rel="alternate" type="application/json" href="/p/ashley/cv.json" title="cv.json" />

Validate

# Online validator
https://freecv.org/validate

# Schema URL
https://freecv.org/schema/cv/v1.json

# Every cv.json includes a $schema field pointing to this URL
# Use any JSON Schema validator (ajv, zod, etc.)

Schema Overview — v1.1

A complete, structured career data schema — all fields optional except basics and meta, production-ready. All date fields validated as YYYY, YYYY-MM, or YYYY-MM-DD.

Core Fields

Field	Description
basics	Name, title, photo, summary, location, social profiles
work	Companies, positions, dates, summary + highlights per entry
education	Institutions, degrees, fields, scores, summary + highlights
skills	Flat array of unique skill names
languages	Languages with fluency levels
projects	Portfolio projects with role, URLs, keywords + highlights
certificates	Professional certifications with issuer, date, expiry, verification URL
publications	Papers, articles, books — with publisher, date, and URL
awards	Awards, honors, and recognitions with awarder and date
interests	Personal interests and hobbies as a flat list
volunteer	Volunteer experience with organization URL, summary + highlights

Extended Fields (FreeCV extensions)

Field	Description
availability	Job-seeking status, preferred roles, work type, sponsorship
ats	Auto-generated ATS metadata: keywords, years of experience, seniority. Treat as hints, not authoritative values.
verification	Trust signals: email verified, platform source
i18n	Internationalization: primary language, map of translated cv.json URLs
meta	Schema version, canonical URL, last modified, generator

Field Constraints

Field	Constraint
basics.name	Required, min length 1
skills	Unique items only
ats.yearsOfExperience	Integer, minimum 0
ats.seniority	Enum: entry, junior, mid, senior, lead, executive
availability.status	Enum: actively-looking, open, not-looking
availability.workType[]	Enum: remote, hybrid, onsite
availability.employmentType[]	Enum: full-time, part-time, contract, freelance, internship, temporary, seasonal
i18n.primary	Pattern: ^[a-z]{2}(-[A-Z]{2})?$ (ISO 639-1, e.g. en, en-US)
meta.version	Pattern: ^[0-9]+\.[0-9]+(\.[0-9]+)?$ (e.g. 1.1 or 1.1.0)
meta.lastModified	Pattern: ^[0-9]{4}-[0-9]{2}-[0-9]{2} (ISO 8601 date prefix)
All date fields	Pattern: YYYY, YYYY-MM, or YYYY-MM-DD

What's New in v1.1

• Date validation — all date fields enforce YYYY, YYYY-MM, or YYYY-MM-DD patterns
• publications — papers, articles, books for academics and researchers
• awards — honors and recognitions
• interests — personal interests as a flat string array
• projects.role — your role on the project (e.g., "Lead Developer")
• projects.current — boolean flag for ongoing projects
• projects.highlights — key accomplishments on the project
• education.summary / volunteer.summary — consistent with work.summary
• volunteer[].url — organization website URL
• certificates[].expiryDate — expiry date for time-limited certifications
• employmentType — added "temporary" and "seasonal" options
• ats.seniority — added "entry" and "executive" to enum
• ats.yearsOfExperience — enforced minimum: 0
• skills — enforced uniqueItems: true
• basics.name — enforced minLength: 1
• meta.version / meta.lastModified — format patterns enforced
• ats description — clarified as auto-generated hints

All changes are non-breaking — v1.0 documents remain valid.

Example

{
  "$schema": "https://freecv.org/schema/cv/v1.json",

  "basics": {
    "name": "Ashley Chen",
    "label": "Senior Product Manager",
    "location": "San Francisco, CA",
    "summary": "10+ years leading cross-functional teams...",
    "profiles": [{ "network": "LinkedIn", "url": "..." }]
  },

  "work": [{
    "company": "Stripe",
    "position": "Senior PM",
    "startDate": "2021-06",
    "current": true,
    "highlights": ["Increased developer adoption by 34%"]
  }],

  "skills": ["Product Strategy", "SQL", "Figma"],
  "education": [{ "institution": "Stanford", "degree": "MBA" }],
  "certificates": [{ "name": "PMP", "issuer": "PMI", "date": "2020-03", "expiryDate": "2026-03" }],
  "interests": ["AI Ethics", "Open Source"],

  "availability": {
    "status": "open",
    "workType": ["remote", "hybrid"],
    "employmentType": ["full-time", "contract"],
    "roles": ["Product Manager", "Head of Product"]
  },

  "ats": {
    "keywords": ["Product Strategy", "SQL"],
    "yearsOfExperience": 10,
    "seniority": "senior"
  },

  "verification": { "email": true, "platform": "freecv.org" },

  "meta": {
    "version": "1.1",
    "canonical": "https://freecv.org/p/ashley/cv.json",
    "lastModified": "2026-04-11T10:00:00Z",
    "generator": "FreeCV"
  }
}

Live URL Pattern

Unlike static file exports, cv.json is served from a live endpoint:

https://freecv.org/p/{slug}/cv.json    # Free tier
https://livelink.cv/{slug}/cv.json     # Pro (custom domain)

Update your CV once → every system that fetches your endpoint gets the latest version.

Response Headers

Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
Link: <https://freecv.org/schema/cv/v1.json>; rel="describedby"
X-CV-Version: 1.1
Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *
Cache-Control: public, max-age=300

Privacy

• Off by default — cv.json returns 404 until explicitly enabled
• Email hidden by default — opt-in to include contact info
• Phone hidden by default — opt-in to include phone number
• One-click disable — turn off your endpoint anytime from Dashboard → Settings
• Guest users — no cv.json endpoint (requires account + slug)

Use Cases

Who	How
AI Recruiting Agents	Fetch, compare, and rank candidates from structured JSON
ATS Platforms	Ingest pre-parsed career data — no PDF parsing needed
Job Boards	Auto-populate profiles from a cv.json URL
Career Tools	Build on top of portable, standardized career data
Individuals	Own your career data in a universal, portable format

Implementations

Generate cv.json

• FreeCV Builder — Build and export cv.json (free)
• FreeCV Portfolio — Live endpoint at /p/{slug}/cv.json

Validate cv.json

• FreeCV Validator — Paste JSON or enter a URL to validate online

Consume cv.json

Your tool here — open an issue to be listed.

Contributing

We welcome contributions:

• Schema improvements — propose new fields via Issues
• Implementations — build generators, parsers, validators in any language
• Documentation — improve examples, add tutorials

License

MIT — use cv.json in any project, commercial or otherwise.

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Built by FreeCV · Used by job seekers in 180+ countries