Quick Start
Available themes: classic, harvard, engineeringresumes, engineeringclassic, sb2nov, moderncv
Available locales: english, arabic, danish, dutch, french, german, hebrew, hindi, hungarian, indonesian, italian, japanese, korean, mandarin_chinese, norwegian_bokmål, norwegian_nynorsk, persian, portuguese, russian, spanish, turkish, vietnamese
These are starting points — every aspect of the design and locale can be fully customized in the YAML file.
YAML Structure
A RenderCV input has four sections. Only cv is required — the others have sensible defaults.
Single file vs. separate files: All four sections can live in one YAML file, or each can be a separate file. Separate files are useful for reusing the same design/locale across multiple CVs:
When using separate files, each file contains only its section (e.g., design.yaml has design: as the top-level key). CLI-loaded files override values in the main YAML file.
The YAML maps directly to Pydantic models. The complete type-safe schema is provided below so you can understand every field, its type, and its default value.
Pydantic Schema
The YAML input is validated against these Pydantic models.
Top-Level Model
CV Content (cv)
The cv.sections field is a dictionary where keys are section titles (any string you want) and values are lists of entries. Each section contains entries of the same type.
Entry Types
cv.sections is a dictionary: keys are section titles (any string), values are lists of entries. Each section must use a single entry type — you cannot mix different entry types within the same section. The entry type is auto-detected from the fields present in each entry.
Shared fields — these are available on entry types that support dates and complex fields (ExperienceEntry, EducationEntry, NormalEntry, PublicationEntry):
9 entry types:
Example:
Entries also accept arbitrary extra keys (silently ignored during rendering). A typo in a field name will NOT cause an error.
Design (design)
All built-in themes share the same structure — they only differ in default values. See the sample designs below for every available field and its default. Set design.theme to pick a theme, then override any field.
Locale (locale)
Built-in locales: english, arabic, danish, dutch, french, german, hebrew, hindi, hungarian, indonesian, italian, japanese, korean, mandarin_chinese, norwegian_bokmål, norwegian_nynorsk, persian, portuguese, russian, spanish, turkish, vietnamese
Set locale.language to a built-in locale name to use it. Override any field to customize translations. Set language to any string and provide all translations for a fully custom locale.
Settings (settings)
Key fields: bold_keywords (list of strings to auto-bold), current_date (override today's date), render_command.* (output paths, generation flags).
Important Patterns
YAML quoting
ALWAYS quote string values that contain a colon (:). This is the most common cause of invalid YAML. Highlights, titles, summaries, and any free-form text often contain colons:
Rule: if a string value contains :, it MUST be quoted. When in doubt, quote it.
Bullet characters
The design.highlights.bullet field only accepts these exact characters: ●, •, ◦, -, ◆, ★, ■, —, ○. Do not use en-dash (–), >, *, or any other character. When in doubt, omit bullet to use the theme default.
Phone numbers
Phone numbers MUST be in international format with country code (E.164). Never invent a phone number — only include one if the user provides it.
If the user provides a local number without country code, ask which country, or omit the phone field.
Text formatting
All text fields support inline Markdown: **bold**, *italic*, [link text](url). Block-level Markdown (headers, lists, blockquotes, code blocks) is not supported. Raw Typst commands and math ($$f(x)$$) also pass through.
Date handling
dateandstart_date/end_dateare mutually exclusive. Ifdateis provided,start_dateandend_dateare ignored.- If only
start_dateis given,end_datedefaults to"present". start_date/end_daterequire strict formats: YYYY-MM-DD, YYYY-MM, or YYYY.dateis flexible: accepts any string ("Fall 2023") in addition to date formats.
Section titles
snake_casekeys auto-capitalize:work_experience→ "Work Experience"- Keys with spaces or uppercase are used as-is.
Publication authors
Use *Name* (single asterisks, italic) to highlight the CV owner in author lists.
Nested highlights (sub-bullets)
CLI Reference
rendercv new "Full Name"
Generate a starter YAML file.
rendercv render <input.yaml>
Generate PDF, Typst, Markdown, HTML, and PNG from a YAML file.
Per-format controls: --{format}-path PATH sets custom output path, --dont-generate-{format} skips generation. Formats: pdf, typst, markdown, html, png.
Override any YAML field from the CLI using dot notation (overrides without editing the file):
rendercv create-theme "theme-name"
Scaffold a custom theme directory with editable Typst templates for complete design control.
JSON Schema
For YAML editor autocompletion and validation:
Complete Example
Sample CV
Sample Design (classic — complete reference)
This shows every available design field with its default value. All themes share the same structure.
Other Theme Overrides
Other themes only override specific fields from the classic defaults above. To use a theme, set design.theme and optionally override any field. Each theme also customizes design.templates (entry layout patterns) — see the classic sample above for the full template structure. The override YAMLs below omit templates for brevity.
