Create a starter YAML file (you can specify theme and locale)

Quick Start

Available themes: {{ available_themes | join(", ") }} Available locales: {{ available_locales | join(", ") }}

These are starting points — every aspect of the design and locale can be fully customized in the YAML file.

# Install RenderCV
uv tool install "rendercv[full]"

# Create a starter YAML file (you can specify theme and locale)
rendercv new "John Doe"
rendercv new "John Doe" --theme moderncv --locale german

# Render to PDF (also generates Typst, Markdown, HTML, PNG by default)
rendercv render John_Doe_CV.yaml

# Watch mode: auto-re-render whenever the YAML file changes
rendercv render John_Doe_CV.yaml --watch

# Render only PNG (useful for previewing or checking page count)
rendercv render John_Doe_CV.yaml --dont-generate-pdf --dont-generate-html --dont-generate-markdown

# Override fields from the CLI without editing the YAML
rendercv render cv.yaml --cv.name "Jane Doe" --design.theme "moderncv"

YAML Structure

A RenderCV input has four sections. Only cv is required — the others have sensible defaults.

cv:         # Your content: name, contact info, and all sections
design:     # Visual styling: theme, colors, fonts, margins, spacing, layouts
locale:     # Language: month names, phrases, translations
settings:   # Behavior: output paths, bold keywords, current date

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:

# Single self-contained file (all sections in one file)
rendercv render John_Doe_CV.yaml

# Separate files: CV content + design + locale loaded independently
rendercv render cv.yaml --design design.yaml --locale-catalog locale.yaml --settings settings.yaml

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

{{ model_sources.rendercv_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.

{{ model_sources.cv }}

{{ model_sources.social_network }}

{{ model_sources.custom_connection }}

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:

cv:
  sections:
    experience:          # list of ExperienceEntry (detected by company + position)
      - company: Google
        position: Engineer
        start_date: 2020-01
        highlights:
          - Did something impactful
    skills:              # list of OneLineEntry (detected by label + details)
      - label: Languages
        details: Python, C++
    about_me:            # list of TextEntry (plain strings)
      - This is a free-form paragraph about me.

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: {{ available_locales | join(", ") }}

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:

# WRONG — colon breaks YAML parsing:
- title: Catalytic Mechanisms: A New Approach
  highlights:
    - Relevant coursework: Distributed Systems, ML

# RIGHT — wrap in double quotes:
- title: "Catalytic Mechanisms: A New Approach"
  highlights:
    - "Relevant coursework: Distributed Systems, ML"

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.

# WRONG:
phone: "(555) 123-4567"
phone: "555-123-4567"

# RIGHT:
phone: "+15551234567"

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

• date and start_date/end_date are mutually exclusive. If date is provided, start_date and end_date are ignored.
• If only start_date is given, end_date defaults to "present".
• start_date/end_date require strict formats: YYYY-MM-DD, YYYY-MM, or YYYY.
• date is flexible: accepts any string ("Fall 2023") in addition to date formats.

Section titles

• snake_case keys 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)

highlights:
  - Main bullet point
    - Sub-bullet 1
    - Sub-bullet 2

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 render CV.yaml --cv.name "Jane Doe" --design.theme "moderncv"
rendercv render CV.yaml --cv.sections.education.0.institution "MIT"

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:

# yaml-language-server: $schema=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rendercv/rendercv/refs/tags/v{{ version }}/schema.json

Complete Example

Sample CV

{{ sample_cv }}

Sample Design (classic — complete reference)

This shows every available design field with its default value. All themes share the same structure.

{{ sample_classic_design }}

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.

{% for theme, yaml in theme_overrides.items() %}

{{ theme }}

{{ yaml }}

{% endfor %}