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Draton docs overview

This site is the authoritative manual for the Draton language and its toolchain.

If you are new to Draton, use this order:

  1. Getting started overview
  2. Install
  3. Quickstart
  4. Language syntax overview
  5. CLI and tooling overview

If you are contributing to the language or compiler, use this order:

  1. Language manifesto
  2. Canonical syntax rules
  3. Contributor language rules
  4. Language architecture
  5. Compiler architecture

What Draton is​

Draton is a compiled, statically typed, tooling-first language. Its design is intentionally narrow in the places that most languages let drift:

  • readability comes first
  • code expresses behavior
  • @type expresses contracts
  • canonical syntax has one preferred shape
  • class defines structure
  • layer groups capabilities
  • the toolchain is part of the language experience, not an optional extra

Those rules are not cosmetic. They are the boundaries that keep the language, the compiler, the tooling, and the docs aligned.

Documentation map​

Getting started​

Use the getting-started section for installation, early preview boundaries, and a runnable first project.

Language​

Use the language section to understand the syntax surface, contract model, control flow, structural model, and system builtins.

Tooling​

Use the tooling section to understand drat build, drat run, drat fmt, drat lint, drat task, and drat lsp.

Compiler and runtime​

Use the compiler and runtime section to understand the Rust frontend, the workspace layout, the Inferred Ownership memory model, and the remaining runtime services.

Contributor rules​

Use the contributor section when making syntax, tooling, docs, release, policy, or future self-host rewrite changes.

Current readiness​

Draton has stabilized its canonical syntax and ships an early tooling preview with:

  • compiler and CLI
  • formatter
  • linter
  • task runner
  • language server
  • strict syntax enforcement

The Rust frontend/tooling path remains the authoritative compiler implementation. An in-tree self-host rewrite now exists under compiler/, but it is still a parity and bootstrap track rather than the public toolchain path.