About Artifacts

At the heart of OpenForm is the artifact.

An artifact is a structured definition of a document (or a collection of documents) that describes its origin, metadata, parties, fields, logic, and/or content(s).

OpenForm defines four artifact types:

Each type serves a different purpose, but all share the same foundational properties: they're typed, immutable, and machine-readable.

Design Time vs Runtime

OpenForm draws a hard line between design time and runtime.

Design time is when you define artifacts—what fields exist, what rules apply, what layers are available. Runtime is when you use those definitions—fill fields, validate inputs, render outputs, collect signatures.

// Design time: define the form
const lease = open.form()
  .name("lease")
  .fields({
    tenant: { type: "text", required: true },
    rent: { type: "money", required: true },
  })
  .build()

// Runtime: fill and render
const filled = lease.fill({ fields: { tenant: "Jane Doe", rent: { amount: 1500, currency: "USD" } } })
const output = await filled.render({ renderer: pdfRenderer() })

Runtime never mutates the artifact. The definition remains stable while runtime operations execute against it.

Immutability

Artifacts are immutable. Once defined, they don't change.

This enables versioning (artifacts can be stored, diffed, and audited), determinism (same artifact + same input = same output), and trust (downstream systems can rely on stable definitions).

Because artifacts are plain JSON, they integrate naturally with version control, compliance systems, and AI agents.

Schema-Driven

Artifacts follow the OpenForm JSON Schema specification. This means:

• Artifacts can be validated with any JSON Schema validator
• Tooling can provide autocomplete and type checking
• AI agents can read the schema to generate valid artifacts or validate outputs

{
  "$schema": "https://schemas.open-form.dev/schema.json",
  "kind": "form",
  "name": "residential-lease",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "fields": {
    "propertyAddress": { "type": "address", "required": true },
    "monthlyRent": { "type": "money", "required": true }
  }
}

You can author artifacts in JSON, YAML, or using the TypeScript SDK.