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Structure of the YAML Input File

RenderCV's input file consists of four parts: cv, design, locale and rendercv_settings.

Your_Name_CV.yaml
cv:
  ...
  YOUR CONTENT
  ...
design:
  ...
  YOUR DESIGN
  ...
locale:
  ...
  TRANSLATIONS TO YOUR LANGUAGE
  ...
rendercv_settings:
  ...
  RENDERCV SETTINGS
  ...
  • The cv field is mandatory. It contains the content of the CV.
  • The design field is optional. It contains the design options of the CV. If you don't provide a design field, RenderCV will use the default design options with the classic theme.
  • The locale field is optional. It contains all the strings that define the CV's language (like month names, etc.). If you don't provide a locale field, the default English strings will be used.
  • The rendercv_settings field is optional. It contains the settings of RenderCV (output paths, keywords to make bold, etc.). If you don't provide a rendercv_settings field, the default settings will be used.

Tip: JSON Schema

To maximize your productivity while editing the input YAML file, set up RenderCV's JSON Schema in your IDE. It will validate your inputs on the fly and give auto-complete suggestions.

  1. Install YAML language support extension.
  2. Then the Schema will be automatically set up because the file ends with _CV.yaml.
  3. Press Ctrl + Space to see the auto-complete suggestions.
  1. Ensure your editor of choice has support for JSON Schema.

  2. Add the following line at the top of Your_Name_CV.yaml:

    # yaml-language-server: $schema=https://github.com/rendercv/rendercv/blob/main/schema.json?raw=true

  3. Press Ctrl + Space to see the auto-complete suggestions.

"cv" field

The cv field of the YAML input starts with generic information, as shown below.

cv:
  name: John Doe
  location: Your Location
  email: [email protected]
  phone: +905419999999 # (1)!
  website: https://example.com/
  social_networks:
    - network: LinkedIn # (2)!
      username: yourusername
    - network: GitHub 
      username: yourusername
  ...
  1. If you want to change the phone number formatting in the output, see the locale field's phone_number_format key.
  2. The available social networks are: LinkedIn, GitHub, GitLab, Instagram, ORCID, Mastodon, StackOverflow, ResearchGate, YouTube, Google Scholar, Telegram, X.

None of the values above are required. You can omit any or all of them, and RenderCV will adapt to your input. These generic fields are used in the header of the CV.

The main content of your CV is stored in a field called sections.

cv:
  name: John Doe
  location: Your Location
  email: [email protected]
  phone: +905419999999
  website: https://yourwebsite.com/
  social_networks:
    - network: LinkedIn
      username: yourusername
    - network: GitHub
      username: yourusername
  sections:
    ...
    YOUR CONTENT
    ...

"cv.sections" field

The cv.sections field is a dictionary where the keys are the section titles, and the values are lists. Each item of the list is an entry for that section.

Here is an example:

cv:
  sections:
    this_is_a_section_title: # (1)!
      - This is a TextEntry. # (2)!
      - This is another TextEntry under the same section.
      - This is another another TextEntry under the same section.
    this_is_another_section_title:
      - company: This time it's an ExperienceEntry. # (3)!
        position: Your position
        start_date: 2019-01-01
        end_date: 2020-01
        location: TX, USA
        highlights: 
          - This is a highlight (a bullet point).
          - This is another highlight.
      - company: Another ExperienceEntry.
        position: Your position
        start_date: 2019-01-01
        end_date: 2020-01-10
        location: TX, USA
        highlights: 
          - This is a highlight (a bullet point).
          - This is another highlight.
  1. The section titles can be anything you want. They are the keys of the sections dictionary.
  2. Each section is a list of entries. This section has three TextEntrys.
  3. There are seven different entry types in RenderCV. Any of them can be used in the sections. This section has two ExperienceEntrys.

There are seven different entry types in RenderCV. Different types of entries cannot be mixed under the same section, so for each section, you can only use one type of entry.

The available entry types are: EducationEntry, ExperienceEntry, PublicationEntry, NormalEntry, OneLineEntry, BulletEntry, and TextEntry.

Each entry type is a different object (a dictionary). Below, you can find all the entry types along with their optional/mandatory fields and how they appear in each built-in theme.

EducationEntry

Mandatory Fields:

  • institution: The name of the institution.
  • area: The area of study.

Optional Fields:

  • degree: The type of degree (e.g., BS, MS, PhD)
  • location: The location
  • start_date: The start date in YYYY-MM-DD, YYYY-MM, or YYYY format
  • end_date: The end date in YYYY-MM-DD, YYYY-MM, or YYYY format or "present"
  • date: The date as a custom string or in YYYY-MM-DD, YYYY-MM, or YYYY format. This will override start_date and end_date.
  • summary: The summary
  • highlights: The list of bullet points
institution: Boğaziçi University
area: Mechanical Engineering
degree: BS
location: Istanbul, Turkey
start_date: 2015-09
end_date: 2020-06
highlights:
  - 'GPA: 3.24/4.00 ([Transcript](https://example.com))'
  - "Awards: Dean's Honor List, Sportsperson of the Year"

figure["alt_text"]

figure["alt_text"]

figure["alt_text"]

figure["alt_text"]

figure["alt_text"]

ExperienceEntry

Mandatory Fields:

  • company: The name of the company
  • position: The position

Optional Fields:

  • location: The location
  • start_date: The start date in YYYY-MM-DD, YYYY-MM, or YYYY format
  • end_date: The end date in YYYY-MM-DD, YYYY-MM, or YYYY format or "present"
  • date: The date as a custom string or in YYYY-MM-DD, YYYY-MM, or YYYY format. This will override start_date and end_date.
  • summary: The summary
  • highlights: The list of bullet points
company: Some Company
position: Software Engineer
location: TX, USA
start_date: 2020-07
end_date: '2021-08-12'
highlights:
  - Developed an [IOS application](https://example.com) that has
    received more than **100,000 downloads**.
  - Managed a team of **5** engineers.

figure["alt_text"]

figure["alt_text"]

figure["alt_text"]

figure["alt_text"]

figure["alt_text"]

NormalEntry

Mandatory Fields:

  • name: The name of the entry

Optional Fields:

  • location: The location
  • start_date: The start date in YYYY-MM-DD, YYYY-MM, or YYYY format
  • end_date: The end date in YYYY-MM-DD, YYYY-MM, or YYYY format or "present"
  • date: The date as a custom string or in YYYY-MM-DD, YYYY-MM, or YYYY format. This will override start_date and end_date.
  • summary: The summary
  • highlights: The list of bullet points
name: Some Project
date: 2021-09
summary: This is a summary of the project.
highlights:
  - Developed a web application with **React** and **Django**.
  - Implemented a **RESTful API**

figure["alt_text"]

figure["alt_text"]

figure["alt_text"]

figure["alt_text"]

figure["alt_text"]

PublicationEntry

Mandatory Fields:

  • title: The title of the publication
  • authors: The authors of the publication

Optional Fields:

  • doi: The DOI of the publication
  • url: The URL of the publication
  • journal: The journal of the publication
  • date: The date as a custom string or in YYYY-MM-DD, YYYY-MM, or YYYY format
title: Magneto-Thermal Thin Shell Approximation for 3D Finite
  Element Analysis of No-Insulation Coils
authors:
  - J. Doe
  - '***H. Tom***'
  - S. Doe
  - A. Andsurname
date: '2021-12-08'
journal: IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity
doi: 10.1109/TASC.2023.3340648

figure["alt_text"]

figure["alt_text"]

figure["alt_text"]

figure["alt_text"]

figure["alt_text"]

OneLineEntry

Mandatory Fields:

  • label: The label of the entry
  • details: The details of the entry
label: Programming
details: Python, C++, JavaScript, MATLAB

figure["alt_text"]

figure["alt_text"]

figure["alt_text"]

figure["alt_text"]

figure["alt_text"]

BulletEntry

Mandatory Fields:

  • bullet: The bullet point
bullet: This is a bullet entry.

figure["alt_text"]

figure["alt_text"]

figure["alt_text"]

figure["alt_text"]

figure["alt_text"]

NumberedEntry

Mandatory Fields:

  • number: The content of the numbered entry
number: This is a numbered entry.

figure["alt_text"]

figure["alt_text"]

figure["alt_text"]

figure["alt_text"]

figure["alt_text"]

ReversedNumberedEntry

The ReversedNumberedEntry displays entries in descending numerical order.

Mandatory Fields:

  • reversed_number: The content of the reversed numbered entry
reversed_number: This is a reversed numbered entry.

figure["alt_text"]

figure["alt_text"]

figure["alt_text"]

figure["alt_text"]

figure["alt_text"]

TextEntry

Mandatory Fields:

  • The text itself
This is a *TextEntry*. It is only a text and can be useful for
sections like **Summary**. To showcase the TextEntry completely,
this sentence is added, but it doesn't contain any information.
...

figure["alt_text"]

figure["alt_text"]

figure["alt_text"]

figure["alt_text"]

figure["alt_text"]

Markdown Syntax

All the fields in the entries support Markdown syntax.

You can make anything bold by surrounding it with **, italic with *, and links with [](), as shown below.

company: "**This will be bold**, *this will be italic*, 
  and [this will be a link](https://example.com)."
...

Using arbitrary keys

RenderCV allows the usage of any number of extra keys in the entries. For instance, the following is an ExperienceEntry containing an additional key, an_arbitrary_key.

company: Some Company
location: TX, USA
position: Software Engineer
start_date: 2020-07
end_date: '2021-08-12'
an_arbitrary_key: Developed an [IOS application](https://example.com).
highlights:
  - Received more than **100,000 downloads**.
  - Managed a team of **5** engineers.

By default, the an_arbitrary_key key will not affect the output as the default design options do not use it. However, you can use the an_arbitrary_key key in your own design options (see design.entry_types field).

"design" field

The design field contains your theme selection and its options. Currently, the available themes are: classic, sb2nov, engineeringresumes, engineeringclassic, moderncv. The only difference between the themes are the design options. Their Typst templates are the same. Any theme can be obtained by playing with the design options. Custom themes can also be created (see here).

design:
  theme: classic
  ...

Use an IDE that supports JSON schema to avoid missing any available options for the theme (see above).

An example design field for a classic theme is shown below:

theme: classic # (1)!
page:
  size: us-letter # (2)!
  top_margin: 2cm
  bottom_margin: 2cm
  left_margin: 2cm
  right_margin: 2cm
  show_page_numbering: true
  show_last_updated_date: true
colors:
  text: black
  name: '#004f90'
  connections: '#004f90'
  section_titles: '#004f90'
  links: '#004f90'
  last_updated_date_and_page_numbering: grey
text:
  font_family: Source Sans 3 # (3)!
  font_size: 10pt
  leading: 0.6em
  alignment: justified # (4)!
  date_and_location_column_alignment: right # (5)!
links:
  underline: false
  use_external_link_icon: true
header:
  name_font_family: Source Sans 3
  name_font_size: 30pt
  name_bold: true
  photo_width: 3.5cm
  vertical_space_between_name_and_connections: 0.7cm
  vertical_space_between_connections_and_first_section: 0.7cm
  horizontal_space_between_connections: 0.5cm
  connections_font_family: Source Sans 3
  separator_between_connections: ''
  use_icons_for_connections: true
  alignment: center # (6)!
section_titles:
  type: with-parial-line # (7)!
  font_family: Source Sans 3
  font_size: 1.4em
  bold: true
  small_caps: false
  line_thickness: 0.5pt
  vertical_space_above: 0.5cm
  vertical_space_below: 0.3cm
entries:
  date_and_location_width: 4.15cm
  left_and_right_margin: 0.2cm
  horizontal_space_between_columns: 0.1cm
  vertical_space_between_entries: 1.2em
  allow_page_break_in_sections: true
  allow_page_break_in_entries: true
  short_second_row: false
  show_time_spans_in: []
highlights:
  bullet: • # (8)!
  top_margin: 0.25cm
  left_margin: 0.4cm
  vertical_space_between_highlights: 0.25cm
  horizontal_space_between_bullet_and_highlight: 0.5em
  summary_left_margin: 0cm
entry_types:
  one_line_entry:
    template: '**LABEL:** DETAILS'
  education_entry:
    main_column_first_row_template: '**INSTITUTION**, AREA'
    degree_column_template: '**DEGREE**'
    degree_column_width: 1cm
    main_column_second_row_template: |-
      SUMMARY
      HIGHLIGHTS
    date_and_location_column_template: |-
      LOCATION
      DATE
  normal_entry:
    main_column_first_row_template: '**NAME**'
    main_column_second_row_template: |-
      SUMMARY
      HIGHLIGHTS
    date_and_location_column_template: |-
      LOCATION
      DATE
  experience_entry:
    main_column_first_row_template: '**COMPANY**, POSITION'
    main_column_second_row_template: |-
      SUMMARY
      HIGHLIGHTS
    date_and_location_column_template: |-
      LOCATION
      DATE
  publication_entry:
    main_column_first_row_template: '**TITLE**'
    main_column_second_row_template: |-
      AUTHORS
      URL (JOURNAL)
    main_column_second_row_without_journal_template: |-
      AUTHORS
      URL
    main_column_second_row_without_url_template: |-
      AUTHORS
      JOURNAL
    date_and_location_column_template: DATE

  1. The design.theme field only changes the default values of all the other fields in the design field. Therefore, if you don't change any of the other fields, the output will be the same for all the themes. You can remove all the other fields and just keep the design.theme field to use the default values of that theme.

    The available themes are: classic, sb2nov, engineeringresumes, engineeringclassic, moderncv.

  2. The available page sizes are: a0, a1, a2, a3, a4, a5, a6, a7, a8, us-letter, us-legal, us-executive, us-gov-letter, us-gov-legal, us-business-card, presentation-16-9, presentation-4-3.

  3. The available font families are: Libertinus Serif, New Computer Modern, DejaVu Sans Mono, Mukta, Open Sans, Gentium Book Plus, Noto Sans, Lato, Source Sans 3, EB Garamond, Open Sauce Sans, Fontin, Roboto, Ubuntu, Poppins, Raleway, XCharter.
  4. The available text alignments are: left, justified, justified-with-no-hyphenation.
  5. The available date and location column alignments are: left, center, right.
  6. The available header alignments are: left, center, right.
  7. The available section title types are: with-parial-line, with-full-line, without-line, moderncv.
  8. The available bullet types are: •, ◦, -, ◆, ★, ■, —, ○.

"locale" field

This field is what makes RenderCV a multilingual tool. RenderCV uses some English strings to render PDFs. For example, it takes the dates in ISO format (2020-01-01) and converts them into human-friendly strings ("Jan 2020"). However, you can override these strings for your own language or needs with the locale field.

Here is an example:

locale:
  language: en
  phone_number_format: national # (1)!
  page_numbering_template: NAME - Page PAGE_NUMBER of TOTAL_PAGES # (4)!
  last_updated_date_template: Last updated in TODAY # (3)!
  date_template: MONTH_ABBREVIATION YEAR # (2)!
  month: month
  months: months
  year: year
  years: years
  present: present
  to: –
  abbreviations_for_months:
    - Jan
    - Feb
    - Mar
    - Apr
    - May
    - June
    - July
    - Aug
    - Sept
    - Oct
    - Nov
    - Dec
  full_names_of_months:
    - January
    - February
    - March
    - April
    - May
    - June
    - July
    - August
    - September
    - October
    - November
    - December
  1. The available phone number formats are: national, international, and E164.
  2. The MONTH_ABBREVIATION and YEAR are placeholders. The available placeholders are: FULL_MONTH_NAME, MONTH_ABBREVIATION, MONTH, MONTH_IN_TWO_DIGITS, YEAR, and YEAR_IN_TWO_DIGITS.
  3. The available placeholders are: TODAY, which prints the today's date with locale.date_template.
  4. The available placeholders are: NAME, PAGE_NUMBER, TOTAL_PAGES, and TODAY.

"rendercv_settings" field

The rendercv_settings field contains RenderCV settings. 

rendercv_settings:
  date: "2025-01-06" # (1)!
  bold_keywords:
    - Python # (2)!
  render_command:
    output_folder_name: rendercv_output
    pdf_path: NAME_IN_SNAKE_CASE_CV.pdf # (3)!
    typst_path: NAME_IN_LOWER_SNAKE_CASE_cv.typ
    html_path: NAME_IN_KEBAB_CASE_CV.html
    markdown_path: NAME.md
    dont_generate_html: false 
    dont_generate_markdown: false 
    dont_generate_png: false
  1. This field is used for time span calculations and last updated date text.
  2. The words in the list will be bolded in the output automatically.
  3. NAME_IN_SNAKE_CASE is a placeholder. The available placeholders are: NAME_IN_SNAKE_CASE, NAME_IN_LOWER_SNAKE_CASE, NAME_IN_UPPER_SNAKE_CASE, NAME_IN_KEBAB_CASE, NAME_IN_LOWER_KEBAB_CASE, NAME_IN_UPPER_KEBAB_CASE, NAME, FULL_MONTH_NAME, MONTH_ABBREVIATION, MONTH, MONTH_IN_TWO_DIGITS, YEAR, and YEAR_IN_TWO_DIGITS.