diff --git a/.github/workflows/docs-and-linting.yml b/.github/workflows/docs-and-linting.yml
index 5b2f82a64..733d08075 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/docs-and-linting.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/docs-and-linting.yml
@@ -9,8 +9,9 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     strategy:
       matrix:
-        # current Go releases plus the version in the go.mod are tested
-        go: ['go.mod', 'oldstable', 'stable']
+        # Current Go releases plus the versions in **/go.mod are tested.
+        # See also BUILD_SPEC_MODULE_ONLY below.
+        go: ['go.mod', 'schema/go.mod', 'oldstable', 'stable']
         # https://github.com/actions/setup-go/tree/v5#getting-go-version-from-the-gomod-file
         # https://github.com/actions/setup-go/tree/v5#using-stableoldstable-aliases
 
@@ -26,19 +27,21 @@ jobs:
 
       - uses: actions/setup-go@v5
         with:
-          go-version: ${{ matrix.go != 'go.mod' && matrix.go || null }}
-          go-version-file: ${{ matrix.go == 'go.mod' && 'go/src/github.com/opencontainers/image-spec/go.mod' || null }}
-          cache-dependency-path: go/src/github.com/opencontainers/image-spec/go.sum
+          go-version: ${{ !endsWith(matrix.go, 'go.mod') && matrix.go || null }}
+          go-version-file: ${{ endsWith(matrix.go, 'go.mod') && format('go/src/github.com/opencontainers/image-spec/{0}', matrix.go) || null }}
+          cache-dependency-path: go/src/github.com/opencontainers/image-spec/**/go.sum
 
       - name: Render and Lint
         env:
           GOPATH: /home/runner/work/image-spec/image-spec/go
           # do not automatically upgrade go to a different version: https://go.dev/doc/toolchain
           GOTOOLCHAIN: local
+          BUILD_SPEC_MODULE_ONLY: ${{ matrix.go == 'go.mod' }}
         run: |
           export PATH=$GOPATH/bin:$PATH
           cd go/src/github.com/opencontainers/image-spec
           make install.tools
+          go work init . schema
           go get -t -d ./...
           ls ../
           make
diff --git a/HACKING.md b/HACKING.md
index 7f4329281..785c5d110 100644
--- a/HACKING.md
+++ b/HACKING.md
@@ -13,6 +13,12 @@ Prerequisites:
 - Go - latest version is recommended, see the [go.mod](go.mod) file for the minimum requirement
 - make
 
+While developing features spanning `specs-go` and `schema`, to break the dependency cycle on an uncommitted work:
+
+```shell
+go work init . schema
+```
+
 The following make targets are relevant for any work involving the Go packages.
 
 ### Linting
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 509ebe8aa..ef825617a 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ header.html: .tool/genheader.go specs-go/version.go
 
 .PHONY: validate-examples
 validate-examples: schema/schema.go ## validate examples in the specification markdown files
-	go test -run TestValidate ./schema
+	cd schema && go test -run TestValidate .
 
 .PHONY: check-license
 check-license: ## check license headers in source files
@@ -91,6 +91,7 @@ lint: lint-go lint-md ## Run all linters
 lint-go: .install.lint ## lint check of Go files using golangci-lint
 	@echo "checking Go lint"
 	@GO111MODULE=on $(GOPATH)/bin/golangci-lint run
+	@[ "$$BUILD_SPEC_MODULE_ONLY" = true ] || { cd schema && GO111MODULE=on $(GOPATH)/bin/golangci-lint run; }
 
 .PHONY: lint-md
 lint-md: ## Run linting for markdown
@@ -99,7 +100,8 @@ lint-md: ## Run linting for markdown
 
 .PHONY: test
 test: ## run the unit tests
-	go test -race -cover $(shell go list ./... | grep -v /vendor/)
+	go test -race -cover ./...
+	[ "$$BUILD_SPEC_MODULE_ONLY" = true ] || { cd schema && go test -race -cover ./...; }
 
 img/%.png: img/%.dot ## generate PNG from dot file
 	dot -Tpng $^ > $@
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 9a45167ff..61c11935b 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -5,8 +5,4 @@ module github.com/opencontainers/image-spec
 // For example, updating this version to 1.19 first requires Go 1.21 to be released.
 go 1.18
 
-require (
-	github.com/opencontainers/go-digest v1.0.0
-	github.com/russross/blackfriday v1.6.0
-	github.com/santhosh-tekuri/jsonschema/v5 v5.3.1
-)
+require github.com/opencontainers/go-digest v1.0.0
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index dcb5a93b0..30f45e97f 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -1,6 +1,2 @@
 github.com/opencontainers/go-digest v1.0.0 h1:apOUWs51W5PlhuyGyz9FCeeBIOUDA/6nW8Oi/yOhh5U=
 github.com/opencontainers/go-digest v1.0.0/go.mod h1:0JzlMkj0TRzQZfJkVvzbP0HBR3IKzErnv2BNG4W4MAM=
-github.com/russross/blackfriday v1.6.0 h1:KqfZb0pUVN2lYqZUYRddxF4OR8ZMURnJIG5Y3VRLtww=
-github.com/russross/blackfriday v1.6.0/go.mod h1:ti0ldHuxg49ri4ksnFxlkCfN+hvslNlmVHqNRXXJNAY=
-github.com/santhosh-tekuri/jsonschema/v5 v5.3.1 h1:lZUw3E0/J3roVtGQ+SCrUrg3ON6NgVqpn3+iol9aGu4=
-github.com/santhosh-tekuri/jsonschema/v5 v5.3.1/go.mod h1:uToXkOrWAZ6/Oc07xWQrPOhJotwFIyu2bBVN41fcDUY=
diff --git a/schema/defs-descriptor.json b/schema/defs-descriptor.json
index 056a7999f..6d1506232 100644
--- a/schema/defs-descriptor.json
+++ b/schema/defs-descriptor.json
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 {
   "description": "Definitions particular to OpenContainer Descriptor Specification",
+  "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-04/schema#",
   "definitions": {
     "mediaType": {
       "id": "https://opencontainers.org/schema/image/descriptor/mediaType",
diff --git a/schema/go.mod b/schema/go.mod
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c8664c9b0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/schema/go.mod
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+module github.com/opencontainers/image-spec/schema
+
+go 1.21
+
+require (
+	github.com/opencontainers/go-digest v1.0.0
+	github.com/opencontainers/image-spec v1.1.1
+	github.com/russross/blackfriday/v2 v2.1.0
+	github.com/santhosh-tekuri/jsonschema/v6 v6.0.2
+)
+
+require golang.org/x/text v0.14.0 // indirect
diff --git a/schema/go.sum b/schema/go.sum
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0607fc501
--- /dev/null
+++ b/schema/go.sum
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+github.com/dlclark/regexp2 v1.11.0 h1:G/nrcoOa7ZXlpoa/91N3X7mM3r8eIlMBBJZvsz/mxKI=
+github.com/dlclark/regexp2 v1.11.0/go.mod h1:DHkYz0B9wPfa6wondMfaivmHpzrQ3v9q8cnmRbL6yW8=
+github.com/opencontainers/go-digest v1.0.0 h1:apOUWs51W5PlhuyGyz9FCeeBIOUDA/6nW8Oi/yOhh5U=
+github.com/opencontainers/go-digest v1.0.0/go.mod h1:0JzlMkj0TRzQZfJkVvzbP0HBR3IKzErnv2BNG4W4MAM=
+github.com/russross/blackfriday/v2 v2.1.0 h1:JIOH55/0cWyOuilr9/qlrm0BSXldqnqwMsf35Ld67mk=
+github.com/russross/blackfriday/v2 v2.1.0/go.mod h1:+Rmxgy9KzJVeS9/2gXHxylqXiyQDYRxCVz55jmeOWTM=
+github.com/santhosh-tekuri/jsonschema/v6 v6.0.2 h1:KRzFb2m7YtdldCEkzs6KqmJw4nqEVZGK7IN2kJkjTuQ=
+github.com/santhosh-tekuri/jsonschema/v6 v6.0.2/go.mod h1:JXeL+ps8p7/KNMjDQk3TCwPpBy0wYklyWTfbkIzdIFU=
+golang.org/x/text v0.14.0 h1:ScX5w1eTa3QqT8oi6+ziP7dTV1S2+ALU0bI+0zXKWiQ=
+golang.org/x/text v0.14.0/go.mod h1:18ZOQIKpY8NJVqYksKHtTdi31H5itFRjB5/qKTNYzSU=
diff --git a/schema/spec_test.go b/schema/spec_test.go
index 5cf849005..a12034f27 100644
--- a/schema/spec_test.go
+++ b/schema/spec_test.go
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ import (
 	"testing"
 
 	"github.com/opencontainers/image-spec/schema"
-	"github.com/russross/blackfriday"
+	"github.com/russross/blackfriday/v2"
 )
 
 var (
@@ -120,9 +120,12 @@ type renderer struct {
 	fn func(text []byte, lang string)
 }
 
-func (r *renderer) BlockCode(out *bytes.Buffer, text []byte, lang string) {
-	r.fn(text, lang)
-	r.Renderer.BlockCode(out, text, lang)
+func (r *renderer) RenderNode(w io.Writer, node *blackfriday.Node, entering bool) blackfriday.WalkStatus {
+	if node.Type == blackfriday.CodeBlock {
+		lang := bytes.TrimRight(node.Info, "\t ")
+		r.fn(node.Literal, string(lang))
+	}
+	return r.Renderer.RenderNode(w, node, entering)
 }
 
 type example struct {
@@ -174,7 +177,7 @@ func extractExamples(rd io.Reader) ([]example, error) {
 
 	var examples []example
 	renderer := &renderer{
-		Renderer: blackfriday.HtmlRenderer(0, "test test", ""),
+		Renderer: blackfriday.NewHTMLRenderer(blackfriday.HTMLRendererParameters{}),
 		fn: func(text []byte, lang string) {
 			examples = append(examples, parseExample(lang, string(text)))
 		},
@@ -184,9 +187,9 @@ func extractExamples(rd io.Reader) ([]example, error) {
 	// the side-effect of calling back for each code block.
 	// TODO(stevvooe): Consider just parsing these with a scanner. It will be
 	// faster and we can retain file, line no.
-	blackfriday.MarkdownOptions(p, renderer, blackfriday.Options{
-		Extensions: blackfriday.EXTENSION_FENCED_CODE,
-	})
+	_ = blackfriday.Run(p,
+		blackfriday.WithRenderer(renderer),
+		blackfriday.WithExtensions(blackfriday.FencedCode))
 
 	return examples, nil
 }
diff --git a/schema/validator.go b/schema/validator.go
index 6c823b588..e32367346 100644
--- a/schema/validator.go
+++ b/schema/validator.go
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ import (
 
 	digest "github.com/opencontainers/go-digest"
 	v1 "github.com/opencontainers/image-spec/specs-go/v1"
-	"github.com/santhosh-tekuri/jsonschema/v5"
+	"github.com/santhosh-tekuri/jsonschema/v6"
 )
 
 // Validator wraps a media type string identifier and implements validation against a JSON schema.
@@ -83,11 +83,16 @@ func (v Validator) validateSchema(src io.Reader) error {
 		if file.IsDir() {
 			continue
 		}
-		specBuf, err := specFS.ReadFile(file.Name())
+		specFile, err := specFS.Open(file.Name())
 		if err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("could not read spec file %s: %w", file.Name(), err)
 		}
-		err = c.AddResource(file.Name(), bytes.NewReader(specBuf))
+		defer specFile.Close()
+		spec, err := jsonschema.UnmarshalJSON(specFile)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("could not decode spec file %s: %w", file.Name(), err)
+		}
+		err = c.AddResource(file.Name(), spec)
 		if err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("failed to add spec file %s: %w", file.Name(), err)
 		}
@@ -96,7 +101,7 @@ func (v Validator) validateSchema(src io.Reader) error {
 			return fmt.Errorf("spec file has no aliases: %s", file.Name())
 		}
 		for _, specURL := range specURLs[file.Name()] {
-			err = c.AddResource(specURL, bytes.NewReader(specBuf))
+			err = c.AddResource(specURL, spec)
 			if err != nil {
 				return fmt.Errorf("failed to add spec file %s as url %s: %w", file.Name(), specURL, err)
 			}
@@ -110,8 +115,7 @@ func (v Validator) validateSchema(src io.Reader) error {
 	}
 
 	// read in the user input and validate
-	var input interface{}
-	err = json.NewDecoder(src).Decode(&input)
+	input, err := jsonschema.UnmarshalJSON(src)
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("unable to parse json to validate: %w", err)
 	}