The RDF Working Group and the JSON-LD Community Group published the Candidate Recommendation of JSON-LD 1.0, and JSON-LD 1.0 Processing Algorithms and API. This signals the beginning of the call for implementations for JSON-LD 1.0.

JSON-LD harmonizes the representation of Linked Data in JSON by describing a common JSON representation format for expressing directed graphs; mixing both Linked Data and non-Linked Data in a single document. The syntax is designed to not disturb already deployed systems running on JSON, but provide a smooth upgrade path from JSON to JSON-LD. It is primarily intended to be a way to use Linked Data in Web-based programming environments, to build interoperable Linked Data Web services, and to store Linked Data in JSON-based storage engines.

The JSON-LD 1.0 specification describes the JSON-LD language in a way that is useful to authors. It also provides the core grammar of the language for implementers. The JSON-LD 1.0 Algorithms and API specification describes useful Algorithms for working with JSON-LD data. It also specifies an Application Programming Interface that can be used to transform JSON-LD documents in order to make them easier to work with in programming environments like JavaScript, Python, and Ruby.