The Open Receipt Format (ORF) is an open, extensible data standard for digital receipts that unifies global receipt practices while preserving local compliance requirements.
Our mission is to create a vendor-neutral, extensible specification for digital receipts that supports global tax regimes, industry practices, and future innovation while remaining human-readable and machine-verifiable.
It is Not a replacement for national tax standards Not a rendering format (PDF / print / HTML)
It is A semantic interchange format
Composable, optional, and jurisdiction-aware
A privacy-first, open standard for digital receipts
250 billion paper receipts are printed annually worldwide. They:
- Contain toxic BPA and can't be recycled ♻️
- Fade within weeks, making returns difficult
- Cost merchants $500-2,000/year in paper and printer maintenance
- Are easily lost, creating tax/accounting headaches
Current "digital receipt" solutions require:
- Creating accounts at every store
- Uploading sensitive purchase data to the cloud
- Using proprietary apps that don't interoperate
Open Receipt Format (ORF) is an open, standardized JSON format that enables:
✅ Privacy-first design - Receipts stored locally on user's device
✅ Interoperability - Any app can read any ORF receipt
✅ Merchant-friendly - Easy to generate from existing POS systems
✅ Future-proof - Extensible schema supports new features
{
"orf_version": "1.0",
"receipt_id": "a3f2b1c0-...",
"merchant": {
"name": "The Coffee Shop",
"location": {
"city": "San Francisco",
"postal_code": "94102"
}
},
"items": [
{
"name": "Cappuccino",
"quantity": 1,
"unit_price": 4.50,
"total_price": 4.50
}
],
"totals": {
"subtotal": 4.50,
"tax": 0.41,
"total": 4.91
},
"transaction": {
"timestamp": "2024-12-28T09:15:00Z",
"currency": "USD"
}
}📖 Read the Full Specification
📋 See Example Receipts
🔧 Implementation Guide (coming soon)
We're building this in the open and welcome contributions:
- 💬 Join the Discussion - Share ideas and ask questions
- 🐛 Report Issues - Found something unclear?
- 🤝 Contribute - Help improve the spec
- ⭐ Star this repo - Show your support!
Consumer Apps:
- The Ledger - Reference implementation
- Your app here - submit a PR!
POS Integrations:
- Coming soon
The ORF specification is maintained by a volunteer working group:
- Mike Aguilar - Founder & Spec Lead
- Open positions - Join us!
The Open Receipt Format specification is released under CC0 1.0 Universal - completely open, no restrictions.
Implementation code (libraries, tools) may use different licenses as appropriate.
Website: openreceiptformat.org (coming soon)
Contact: [email protected] (coming soon)
- Public specification (GitHub)
- Semantic versioning
- RFC-style proposal process
- Country working groups
- Clear IP policy CC0 1.0 Universal LICENSE
Why ORF is different:
- Modular compliance instead of lowest-common-denominator
- Namespaced regulatory compatibility
- Explicit lifecycle and trust model
- Neutral, open governance