Skip to main content

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 self-host mirror, 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 self-host mirror, the runtime, and the GC benchmark surface.

Contributor rules​

Use the contributor section when making syntax, tooling, docs, self-host, release, or policy 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
  • focused strict self-host CI coverage

The executable self-host path is canonicalized. Only deferred dump/printer cleanup remains outside full-tree strict self-host coverage.