DocLang is the AI-native markup format for unstructured content — including documents, images, and more. It maps cleanly to LLM tokens while preserving structure, semantics, layout, and geometry in a single, unambiguous representation.
This repository is the home of the normative specification and the reference toolkit for DocLang. If you build with LLMs and VLMs on real-world content, this is where the standard lives.
For additional background information see MOTIVATION.md.
The source of the specification is available in spec.md and exports to different formats can be found in the exports/ directory.
In case of discrepancies, the authoritative version of the specification is the original Markdown document.
The commands below illustrate basic scenarios. For advanced installation and usage options (minimal install, platform notes, custom Schematron backends, Python API), see the toolkit README.
pip install "doclang[schematron-saxon]"doclang validate -n my_document.dclgdoclang pack my_document.dclgIf you use DocLang in academic or technical work, please cite the specification:
@misc{doclang_2026,
title = {DocLang: Universal AI Document Format},
author = {{DocLang Project}},
year = {2026},
version = {main},
howpublished = {\url{https://github.com/doclang-project/doclang}},
}To work on this repository — setup, tests, reference generation, releases — see CONTRIBUTING.md.
DocLang is developed in the open and supported by the LF AI & Data Foundation. Learn more about the project at doclang-project.
The following people have contributed to the DocLang specification.
| Name | Company |
|---|---|
| Peter Staar | IBM |
| Panos Vagenas | IBM |
| Maksym Lysak | IBM |
| Nikolaos Livathinos | IBM |
| Christoph Auer | IBM |
| Michele Dolfi | IBM |
| Said Gürbüz | IBM |
| Santosh Borse | IBM |
| Yousaf Shah | IBM |
| Maroun Touma | IBM |
| Christopher Giblin | IBM |
| Marlene Wolfgruber | ABBYY |
| Maxime Vermeir | ABBYY |
| Morgan Logue | ABBYY |
| Andrew Pery | ABBYY |
| Jehlum Vitasta Pandit | RedHat |
| Ali Maredia | RedHat |
| Micaela Kaplan | HumanSignal |
| Ryan Chesler | NVIDIA |
| Riccardo Maggioni | Forgis |
DocLang is licensed under the Apache License 2.0. See LICENSE for details.