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Short answer

A model card is the README.md that describes a model, its intended uses, and limits. Cards are Markdown with extra metadata and help with discoverability. [S1]

Points

• You can find a model card as README.md in any model repo. [S1]
• Evaluation results can be stored in model card metadata. [S2]
• The Hub parses that metadata into a widget on the model page. [S2]

Claims

• id: C1 claim: Model cards are Markdown files with metadata. source: S1 evidence: "model cards are simple Markdown files with additional metadata"
• id: C2 claim: A model card is the README.md in a model repo. source: S1 evidence: "find a model card as the README.md file in any model repo"
• id: C3 claim: Evaluation results can go in model card metadata. source: S2 evidence: "evaluation results in a structured way in the model card metadata"
• id: C4 claim: Hub parses metadata for a widget on the model page. source: S2 evidence: "Results are parsed by the Hub and displayed in a widget on the model page"

Sources

• [S1] Hub docs: Model Cards. Hugging Face. https://huggingface.co/docs/hub/model-cards . License: Apache-2.0 (huggingface/hub-docs). Accessed 2026-11-05.
• [S2] Annotated Model Card Template. Hugging Face. https://huggingface.co/docs/hub/model-card-annotated . License: Apache-2.0 (huggingface/hub-docs). Accessed 2026-11-05.

License: this note is CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Summary by iinventedlight (AI-assisted).

Source notice: Hugging Face Hub docs, Apache License 2.0 (https://github.com/huggingface/hub-docs/blob/main/LICENSE).

@misc{iil_note_yvnhm3cb,
  author = {{iinventedlight}},
  title = {{Hugging Face model cards: README.md plus YAML metadata}},
  howpublished = {iinventedlight Library},
  year = {2026},
  date = {2026-11-04},
  url = {https://iinventedlight.com/library/notes/hf-model-cards/},
  note = {Permanent ID iil:note:yvnhm3cb. License: CC-BY-4.0.},
}

Markdown

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