Values PassportThe file you keep, and what goes in it.

Your values, saved as a file you keep

Your file is small, nameless, and yours to keep. It holds how much eight values matter to you, from 0 to 5, and any hard rules you set, such as no peanuts or nothing from Nestlé. Any app that reads the format can rank choices with it, and none of them asks you for an account. The technical format is called an Open Values Passport.

Make yours in the app Read the format note Find group agreement

Format 0.110 shared value names40 shared rules, list 0.20 fields that identify you

Plate IFig. 1. The file, as the app writes it, with made-up numbers.

The whole file, one line at a time

This is what you get when you press Download your file in the app. Tap a line to see what it does. The second tab lists what an advertising profile would hold, and this file has nowhere to put any of it.

{
  "name":             never carried
  "email":            never carried
  "device_id":        never carried
  "purchase_history": never carried
  "location_trail":   never carried
  "inferred_traits":  never carried
  "social_graph":     never carried
}

Tap any line to see what it does.

The app builds the file in your browser and hands it to you. It is not uploaded anywhere, and there is no copy on a server for anyone to lose.

Green marks your own numbers and rules. The brown lines say which app wrote the file, and when.

your valueswhere it came from

Open yours in Notepad. It's about twenty lines. If your name is in there, that's a bug, and I want the email.

What's happening. A real file in the shape the app writes, with the numbers changed. Each line is a button; the note under the file says what that line does.

Why it matters. Your values are usually stored inside whichever app you gave them to, and stay behind when you leave. A file you keep can go into the next app or a group decision, and you can read every line of it first.

Devil's advocate. Nameless is not the same as secret. allergy:peanut is health information, and avoid:nestle says something about you too. The file is also unsigned, so you can edit it in a text editor and no app can tell. For a file that belongs to you, that is the point. Just don't post it publicly and expect it to stay anonymous.

Rabbit hole. The format note lists all ten shared value names and how an app maps its own labels onto them. The code that reads a file is passportApply, about fifteen lines in engine.js.

Plate IIThe four privacy rules, and how to check each one.

What the file will not do

Each rule below is something you can test yourself in a few minutes, without taking my word for it.

Rule	What it means	How to check
No identity	There is no field for a name, email, device, location or purchase history, so no app can read one out of the file.	Open the file in any text editor and read all of it.
No account required	The app makes the file on your device and reads one back from your device. You never sign in to do either.	Open your browser's network tab, press Download your file, and watch nothing leave.
No guessing	An app applies only the values it has a place for. A rule it does not know is skipped and counted, never guessed at.The tour's Free slider is left out of the file the tour writes, because the format has no shared name for it.	`passportApply` in engine.js also returns a list called dropped, which holds every value you rated 4 or 5 that the app had no place for. No app shows you that list yet.
Nothing erased	Loading a file can raise a weight or add a rule. It never lowers a weight or removes a rule you already had.	The same function keeps the higher of the two weights.

Plate IIIEvery page that writes or reads the file today.

Where the same file works

Six places so far. The values are the same everywhere; each app translates them into its own questions.

Where	What it does with your file
Conscious Consuming	Writes it with Download your file, reads one back, and tells you which values and rules it applied. 140+ everyday comparisons, from banks to bread.
The two-minute tour	Writes a short one with Keep these as a file, holding three values from its four sliders.
Kosplora	Reads it with Upload your file and uses it to choose learning resources.
Where to Message	Reads it to rank messaging apps, and says how many of your priorities it could use.
Group agreement	Reads several at once, shows where the group agrees and splits, and writes one file for the group.
Shared plan	Reads a person's or a group's file and suggests what to support or avoid, each with its reason. The group still decides.

Building an app that should read it? The format is in the format note, and the rules an app must keep are on the page for builders.