# Credential Commons

> Open tools to validate and publish credential and learning-outcome data
> against shared education ontologies. Not a new ontology or portal — a thin
> interoperability + conformance layer (JSON-LD profiles, a SHACL validator, and
> crosswalks to CTDL, ELM/Europass and Open Badges 3.0). Reuses and supports
> national vocabularies such as schema.edu.ee rather than replacing them.

## Start here
- README: https://github.com/credential-commons/credential-commons/blob/main/README.md
- Guide for AI agents (adopt in 5 steps): https://github.com/credential-commons/credential-commons/blob/main/AGENTS.md
- Quickstart: https://github.com/credential-commons/credential-commons/blob/main/docs/quickstart.md

## Machine-readable entry points
- JSON-LD context: https://credentialcommons.org/profiles/context/haridus.jsonld
- Vocabulary (content-negotiates to RDF): https://credentialcommons.org/ns/0.1/
- SHACL profile: https://github.com/credential-commons/credential-commons/blob/main/profiles/shapes/micro-credential.shacl.ttl
- Crosswalks (CTDL / ELM / OB3): https://github.com/credential-commons/credential-commons/tree/main/profiles/crosswalks
- Reference dataset (250 real records): https://github.com/credential-commons/credential-commons/blob/main/examples/mkval/catalog.jsonld

## Use
- Validate: npx credential-commons validate <file>.jsonld  (exit 0 conformant, 1 violations)
- Export:   npx credential-commons export <file>.jsonld --to ctdl|elm|ob3
- CI:       uses: credential-commons/credential-commons/action@v0

## Answers
### What is 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.

### How do I validate credential or micro-credential data?
Describe your data as JSON-LD and run npx credential-commons validate <file>.jsonld. You get a plain-language report of what must be fixed (violations) and what is recommended (warnings); exit code 0 means conformant.

### How is it different from CTDL, Open Badges or schema.edu.ee?
Those are the standards; 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, ELM/Europass and Open Badges 3.0 rather than competing with them.

### Is it free, and what is the licence?
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 cc validate passes, your data is conformant.

### How do I publish micro-credentials as Linked Data?
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.

## Languages
Site available in: en (/), et (/et/), fi (/fi/), de (/de/), fr (/fr/).

## Licence
Code: Apache-2.0. Profiles/contexts/crosswalks/docs: CC-BY-4.0. Name/logo: TRADEMARK.md.