Make a CV with Typst

Sifa exports your profile as a resume.json file in the JSON Resume format. Typst is an open-source typesetting system. Several Typst CV templates read JSON Resume files directly. Together, these give you a typeset PDF CV that you rebuild in seconds when your profile changes.

Sifa does not compile the PDF for you. You keep control of the template, the fonts, and the layout. Your profile data stays the source.

What you get

• A PDF CV with correct typography, not a browser print.
• A template you change and keep.
• A rebuild that takes one command after you update your profile.

Before you start

You need a Sifa profile with your positions, education, and skills filled in. You also need one of these:

• A free account on typst.app, the Typst web editor. No installation.
• The Typst compiler on your computer. See the Typst installation instructions.

Step 1. Export your profile

1. Open your export page at sifa.id/settings/export.
2. Select JSON Resume.
3. Save the resume.json file.

The file contains your positions, education, skills, certifications, publications, projects, volunteering, awards, and languages. Hidden items stay out of the file.

Some Sifa data has no place in the JSON Resume format. Endorsements, confirmations, involvement, investments, presentations, and courses are not in the file. Your profile keeps them.

Step 2. Make the Typst file

Create a file with the name sifa-cv.typ. Put these two lines in it:

#import "@preview/altacv:1.6.0": alta-from-json

#alta-from-json(path("resume.json"))

This uses altacv, a CV template on Typst Universe that reads JSON Resume files. Other templates also read this format. jsume is one more.

The version number 1.6.0 is deliberate. Keep it. A template that changes under you also changes your CV.

Step 3. Compile the PDF

In the web editor

1. Open typst.app.
2. Create an empty project.
3. Upload sifa-cv.typ and resume.json into the project.
4. Open sifa-cv.typ. The preview shows your CV.
5. Select Export PDF.

Keep both files in the same project folder. The template reads resume.json from the folder that holds sifa-cv.typ.

On your computer

Put both files in one folder. Then run this command:

typst compile sifa-cv.typ

This writes sifa-cv.pdf next to the source file.

Step 4. Update your CV later

When your profile changes, export a new resume.json and replace the old one. Compile again. The layout stays the same.

This is the reason to keep the data and the layout apart. You change your profile in one place. Every CV, personal website, and export follows.

Change how it looks

The sifa-cv.typ file is yours. To change the layout, read the altacv documentation and add the options you want. To change the template completely, replace the import line with a different template that reads JSON Resume.

Use LaTeX instead

LaTeX cannot read a JSON file. A converter must write the .tex file first. Sifa does not supply a LaTeX template, and the tools below come from other people. Nobody maintains them now. Read that as a warning, not as a recommendation.

• RenderCV 1.18 (pip install rendercv==1.18) is the last LaTeX version. It carries its own LaTeX, so you install nothing else. Version 2.0 and later use Typst.
• ModernCV-from-JSONResume writes a moderncv document from a JSON Resume file. The author plans no more work on it.
• json_resume is a Ruby tool. It writes HTML, Markdown, and .tex from one JSON file.

The wider ecosystem moved away from LaTeX. RenderCV changed to Typst at version 2.0 for speed and for a simpler language. This is why Typst is the path this page describes, and the only path Sifa supports.

Other ways to use the file

The resume.json file is a standard format. Other tools read it:

• The JSON Resume themes render it as a web page or a PDF.
• Third-party CV editors import it, which lets you move your data on again.

Sifa does not endorse these tools. They are examples of what an open format makes possible.