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Structure of the YAML Input File

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

Your_Name_CV.yaml
cv:
  ...
  YOUR CONTENT
  ...
design:
  ...
  YOUR DESIGN
  ...
locale_catalog:
  ...
  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_catalog field is optional. You can provide translations for some of the strings used in the CV, for example, month abbreviations. RenderCV will use the default English strings if you don't provide a locale_catalog field.
  • The rendercv_settings field is optional. It contains the settings of RenderCV (output paths, etc.). If you don't provide a rendercv_settings field, RenderCV will use the default settings.

Tip

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_catalog field's phone_number_format key.
  2. The available social networks are: LinkedIn, GitHub, GitLab, Instagram, ORCID, Mastodon, StackOverflow, ResearchGate, YouTube, Google Scholar, Telegram.

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.
  • 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.
  • highlights: A 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"]

ExperienceEntry

Mandatory Fields:

  • company: The name of the company.
  • position: Your 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.
  • highlights: A 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"]

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.
  • highlights: A list of bullet points.
name: Some Project
date: 2021-09
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"]

PublicationEntry

Mandatory Fields:

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

Optional Fields:

  • doi: The DOI 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"]

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"]

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"]

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"]

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 built-in templates do not use it. However, you can use the an_arbitrary_key key in your custom templates. Further information on overriding the built-in templates with custom ones can be found here.

Also, you can use arbitrary keys in the cv field. You can use them anywhere in the templates, but generally, they are used in the header of the CV (Header.j2.tex).

cv:
  name: John Doe
  label_as_an_arbitrary_key: Software Engineer

"design" field

The design field contains your theme selection and its options. Currently, the available themes are: classic, moderncv, sb2nov, engineeringresumes. However, custom themes can also be used (see here).

design:
  theme: classic
  ...

Each theme may have different options for design. classic, sb2nov, and engineeringresumes almost use identical options, but moderncv is slightly different. Please 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:

design:
  theme: classic
  color: blue
  disable_external_link_icons: false
  disable_last_updated_date: false
  disable_page_numbering: false
  font: Source Sans 3
  font_size: 10pt
  header_font_size: "30 pt"
  page_size: a4paper
  show_timespan_in:
    - 'Experience'
  text_alignment: justified
  margins: 
    page:
      bottom: 2 cm
      left: 2 cm
      right: 2 cm
      top: 2 cm
    section_title:
      bottom: 0.2 cm
      top: 0.3 cm
    entry_area:
      date_and_location_width: 4.5 cm
      education_degree_width: 1 cm
      left_and_right: 0.2 cm
      vertical_between: 0.2 cm
    highlights_area:
      left: 0.4 cm
      top: 0.10 cm
      vertical_between_bullet_points: 0.10 cm
    header:
      bottom: 0.3 cm
      horizontal_between_connections: 0.5 cm
      vertical_between_name_and_connections: 0.3 cm

"locale_catalog" 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_catalog field. Also, you can change the phone number formatting with the phone_number_format key.

Here is an example:

locale_catalog:
  phone_number_format: national # (1)!
  date_style: "MONTH_ABBREVIATION YEAR" # (2)!
  last_updated_date_style: Last updated in TODAY # (3)!
  page_numbering_style: NAME - Page PAGE_NUMBER of TOTAL_PAGES # (4)!
  abbreviations_for_months: 
    - Jan
    - Feb
    - Mar
    - Apr
    - May
    - Jun
    - Jul
    - Aug
    - Sep
    - Oct
    - Nov
    - Dec
  full_names_of_months: 
    - January
    - February
    - March
    - April
    - May
    - June
    - July
    - August
    - September
    - October
    - November
    - December
  month: month      
  months: months    
  year: year        
  years: years      
  present: present   
  to: to
  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_catalog.date_style.
  4. The available placeholders are: NAME, PAGE_NUMBER, TOTAL_PAGES, and TODAY.

"rendercv_settings" field

The rendercv_settings field contains RenderCV settings. We plan to add more settings soon, such as the ability to bold specific words and disable sections. Currently, it only includes the render_command field, which contains all the CLI options of the rendercv render command, as shown below. If CLI arguments are provided, they will override the values in the YAML file. All the fields are optional. 

rendercv_settings:
  render_command:
    output_folder_name: rendercv_output
    pdf_path: NAME_IN_SNAKE_CASE_CV.pdf # (1)!
    latex_path: NAME_IN_LOWER_SNAKE_CASE_cv.tex
    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. 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.