diff --git a/pkg/catalog/catalog.schema.json b/pkg/catalog/catalog.schema.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8339af2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/catalog/catalog.schema.json
@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+{
+    "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#",
+    "$id": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/monome/maiden/master/pkg/catalog/catalog.schema.json",
+    "title": "maiden catalog",
+    "description": "listing of maiden projects",
+    "type": "object",
+    "properties": {
+        "file_info": {
+            "description": "file format metadata",
+            "type": "object",
+            "properties": {
+                "kind": {
+                    "type": "string"
+                },
+                "version": {
+                    "type": "integer"
+                }
+            },
+            "required": [ "kind", "version" ]
+        },
+        "catalog_name": {
+            "type": "string"
+        },
+        "date": {
+            "type": "string"
+        },
+        "entries": {
+            "description": "individual project entries",
+            "type": "array",
+            "items": {
+                "type": "object",
+                "properties": {
+                    "project_name": {
+                        "type": "string"
+                    },
+                    "project_url": {
+                        "type": "string"
+                    },
+                    "description": {
+                        "type": "string"
+                    },
+                    "author": {
+                        "type": "string"
+                    },
+                    "home_page": {
+                        "type": "string"
+                    },
+                    "discussion_url": {
+                        "type": "string"
+                    },
+                    "tags": {
+                        "type": "array",
+                        "items": {
+                            "type": "string"
+                          },
+                          "minItems": 1,
+                          "uniqueItems": true
+                    },
+                    "version": {
+                        "type": "string"
+                    },
+                    "origin": {
+                        "type": "string"
+                    }
+                },
+                "required": [ "project_name", "project_url" ]
+            }
+        }
+    },
+    "required": [ "file_info", "catalog_name", "entries" ]
+}
diff --git a/pkg/catalog/source.schema.json b/pkg/catalog/source.schema.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..969f459
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/catalog/source.schema.json
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+{
+    "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#",
+    "$id": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/monome/maiden/master/pkg/catalog/source.schema.json",
+    "title": "maiden catalog source file",
+    "description": "details of maiden catalog to download",
+    "type": "object",
+    "properties": {
+        "file_info": {
+            "description": "file format metadata",
+            "type": "object",
+            "properties": {
+                "kind": {
+                    "type": "string"
+                },
+                "version": {
+                    "type": "integer"
+                }
+            },
+            "required": [ "kind", "version" ]
+        },
+        "source": {
+            "type": "object",
+            "properties": {
+                "name": {
+                    "type": "string"
+                },
+                "method": {
+                    "type": "string"
+                },
+                "parameters": {
+                    "type": "object"
+                }
+            },
+            "required": [ "name", "method", "parameters" ]
+        }
+    },
+    "required": [ "file_info", "source" ]
+}