Credential Commons

Credential Commons is an open, free toolkit — JSON-LD profiles, a SHACL validator and crosswalks — for validating and publishing credential and learning-outcome data against shared education ontologies. It is an interoperability and conformance layer, not a new ontology.

Describe your data as JSON-LD and run npx credential-commons validate .jsonld. You get a plain-language report of what must be fixed (violations) and what is recommended (warnings); exit code 0 means conformant.

Those are the vocabularies; Credential Commons is the fast path to adopting them. It reuses schema.org and national vocabularies like schema.edu.ee, checks conformance, and crosswalks your data to CTDL and ELM/Europass rather than competing with them.

A different layer, not a competitor. Verifiable Credentials and Open Badges 3.0 prove who issued a credential to which person; Credential Commons describes what the thing is — volume, language, outcomes, curriculum version — before anyone earns it. A signature proves authorship, not quality; Credential Commons is the check that runs first, and its records export straight to Open Badges 3.0.

Yes. The code is Apache-2.0 and the profiles, contexts and crosswalks are CC-BY-4.0. There is no paid gate to being conformant — if npx credential-commons validate passes, your data is conformant.

Add the Credential Commons JSON-LD context, include the required fields (name, ECTS/EAP credits, language, provider), validate, and serve the file at a stable HTTPS URL. The 10-minute quickstart walks through it.

None is mandated. Credential Commons is a neutral commons: it defines the alignment slots and crosswalks, and you plug in whatever you use — ESCO, O*NET, EQF, a national framework, or your own. CC keeps the link interoperable; it never picks a favourite.

No. It reuses open mechanisms (schema.org, W3C Verifiable Credentials, JSON-LD, SHACL) and provides framework-agnostic slots. The crosswalks show how to map to standards like CTDL, ELM and Open Badges if you use them — not which to use. Staying open and pluralistic is the point.

Very fast — it is deliberately small and machine-readable. An agent reads the JSON-LD context and AGENTS.md, maps your offerings into the neutral slots, runs npx credential-commons validate to see exactly what is missing, and publishes one readable shape. It is built to be picked up in minutes.

You do not have to choose blindly. Credential Commons is neutral: describe your data once and it crosswalks to CTDL, ELM/Europass and Open Badges 3.0 (W3C VC-compatible). Use whichever standard your audience already trusts — CC keeps the link interoperable.

Publish them in the shared Credential Commons shape at a stable URL. CC issues no stamp of its own — it is infrastructure, not an authority — but it makes your credential readable and portable, so the next school or employer can trust it and build on it instead of starting the learner over.

Run npx credential-commons validate .jsonld. It works as a quality mirror, reporting exactly what is missing — a credit value, a learning outcome — so you know what to fix. Free, no sign-up.

Align each learning outcome to a competency in whatever framework you use — ESCO, EQF, O*NET, a national framework or your own — with the competency-alignment profile. CC mandates no framework; it just keeps the alignment link interoperable.

A micro-credential (also called a micro-qualification or micro-degree) is a short, recognised unit of learning that certifies one skill or a small set. To be interoperable it needs a name, its volume (ECTS/EAP credits or study hours), the language, the provider, and its learning outcomes. Credential Commons defines exactly this shape and checks it for you.

You need no special software. Copy the essentials from your spreadsheet into one small JSON-LD file using the Credential Commons context — name, volume, language, provider, outcomes — then run npx credential-commons validate and publish it. An AI agent can do this straight from your Word or Excel in minutes; there is nothing to buy or install to be conformant.

Map, don't migrate. Keep your student information system and project a public, person-free Credential Commons view from it — the offering, its outcomes, the credential. CC is a thin portable layer on top, not a replacement, so your credentials become interoperable (and EU/Europass-ready) without changing your internals.

Model each course as its own credential and compose courses into a programme or micro-qualification. Credential Commons has course, program and curriculum profiles for exactly this — a standalone course can also be a part of a larger qualification, and the composition stays machine-readable.

Put the level (e.g. EQF) on the credential, and align each learning outcome to a competency with the competency-alignment profile — ESCO, EQF, a national framework or your own. Credential Commons keeps the link interoperable and mandates no particular framework.