Declaring a Dialect

A version of JSON Schema is called a dialect. A dialect represents the set of keywords and semantics that can be used to evaluate a schema. Each JSON Schema release is a new dialect of JSON Schema. JSON Schema provides a way for you to declare which dialect a schema conforms to and provides ways to describe your own custom dialects.

$schema

The $schema keyword is used to declare which dialect of JSON Schema the schema was written for. The value of the $schema keyword is also the identifier for a schema that can be used to verify that the schema is valid according to the dialect $schema identifies. A schema that describes another schema is called a "meta-schema".

$schema applies to the entire document and must be at the root level. It does not apply to externally referenced ($ref, $dynamicRef) documents. Those schemas need to declare their own $schema.

If $schema is not used, an implementation might allow you to specify a value externally or it might make assumptions about which specification version should be used to evaluate the schema. It's recommended that all JSON Schemas have a $schema keyword to communicate to readers and tooling which specification version is intended. Therefore most of the time, you'll want this at the root of your schema:

1"$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema"
2

Vocabularies

New in draft 2019-09

Documentation Coming Soon

Draft-specific info

Before the introduction of Vocabularies, you could still extend JSON Schema with your custom keywords but the process was much less formalized. The first thing you'll need is a meta-schema that includes your custom keywords. The best way to do this is to make a copy of the meta-schema for the version you want to extend and make your changes to your copy. You will need to choose a custom URI to identify your custom version. This URI must not be one of the URIs used to identify official JSON Schema specification drafts and should probably include a domain name you own. You can use this URI with the $schema keyword to declare that your schemas use your custom version.

Guidelines

One of the strengths of JSON Schema is that it can be written in JSON and used in a variety of environments. For example, it can be used for both front-end and back-end HTML Form validation. The problem with using custom vocabularies is that every environment where you want to use your schemas needs to understand how to evaluate your vocabulary's keywords. Meta-schemas can be used to ensure that schemas are written correctly, but each implementation will need custom code to understand how to evaluate the vocabulary's keywords.

Meta-data keywords are the most interoperable because they don't affect validation. For example, you could add a units keyword. This will always work as expecting with an compliant validator.

schema

{ "type": "number", "units": "kg"}

data

42

compliant to schema

data

"42"

not compliant to schema

The next best candidates for custom keywords are keywords that don't apply other schemas and don't modify the behavior of existing keywords. An isEven keyword is an example. In contexts where some validation is better than no validation such as validating an HTML Form in the browser, this schema will perform as well as can be expected. Full validation would still be required and should use a validator that understands the custom keyword.

schema

{ "type": "integer", "isEven": true}

data

2

compliant to schema

This passes because the validator doesn't understand isEven

data

3

compliant to schema

The schema isn't completely impaired because it doesn't understand isEven

data

"3"

not compliant to schema

The least interoperable type of custom keyword is one that applies other schemas or modifies the behavior of existing keywords. An example would be something like requiredProperties that declares properties and makes them required. This example shows how the schema becomes almost completely useless when evaluated with a validator that doesn't understand the custom keyword. That doesn't necessarily mean that requiredProperties is a bad idea for a keyword, it's just not the right choice if the schema might need to be used in a context that doesn't understand custom keywords.

schema

{ "type": "object", "requiredProperties": { "foo": { "type": "string" } }}

data

{ "foo": "bar" }

compliant to schema

This passes because requiredProperties is not understood

data

{}

compliant to schema

This passes because requiredProperties is not understood

data

{ "foo": 42 }

compliant to schema