Specifications

Updated May 9, 2026

The Fairspec standard consists of five complementary JSON-based specifications. Each one describes a different layer of data publishing — from individual files up to collections of datasets.

• Catalog — A replication format for syncing collections of datasets using JSON Lines.
• Dataset — Describes individual datasets and their resources using DataCite-compatible metadata.
• Data Schema — A simple JSON-based format for describing the structure of JSON data, compatible with JSON Schema Draft 2020-12.
• File Dialect — Defines how different file formats (CSV, TSV, JSON, JSONL, XLSX, ODS, Parquet, Arrow, SQLite) should be interpreted.
• Table Schema — A schema specification adapted for tabular data, including columns, constraints, and primary/foreign keys.

All specifications use the same descriptor pattern: a JSON document referencing a published profile via the $schema property. Profiles are versioned and hosted at https://fairspec.org/profiles/<version>/<name>.json.