JSON Resource Descriptor (JRD)

The JSON Resource Descriptor (JRD) is a simple JSON object that describes a "resource" on the Internet, where a "resource" is any entity on the Internet that is identified via a URI or IRI. For example, a person's account URI (e.g., acct:bob@example.com) is a resource. So are all web URIs (e.g., https://www.packetizer.com/).


A JRD object comprises the following name/value pairs:

  • expires
  • subject
  • aliases
  • properties
  • links

A JRD describes a URI or IRI by returning structured information about the identifier. For example, a JRD that describes a person named Paul might include information about Paul's full name, homepage, blog, etc. Here is an example JRD that describes a user named Paul:

  "subject" : "acct:paulej@packetizer.com",
  "properties" :
    "http://packetizer.com/ns/name" : "Paul E. Jones"
  "links" :
      "rel" : "http://webfinger.net/rel/profile-page",
      "href" : "http://www.packetizer.com/people/paulej/"
      "rel" : "http://packetizer.com/rel/blog",
      "type" : "text/html",
      "href" : "http://www.packetizer.com/people/paulej/blog/",
      "titles" :
        "en-us" : "Paul E. Jones' Blog"

Resources: JRD Format