Skip to main content

Getting started

This section is for people who want to install Draton, run real commands, and understand the current preview boundaries without reading the whole architecture first.

Current product state​

Draton is past the syntax-stabilization phase and into the tooling phase.

What is already in place:

  • canonical syntax and strict mode
  • Rust compiler/tooling path as the source of truth
  • self-host executable/compiler path migration completed
  • early tooling suite under drat
  • GitHub release packages for supported preview targets

What is intentionally still limited:

  • the release line is still called an early preview
  • the docs are strict about canonical syntax and anti-drift policy
  • full-tree strict self-host CI is still limited by deferred dump/printer cleanup

The shortest path to a working project​

  1. Install Draton from a release archive or installer.
  2. Run drat --version.
  3. Run drat run examples/hello.dt.
  4. Read the quickstart.
  5. Read the language syntax overview.

What to expect from the language​

Draton code aims to stay explicit:

let name = input("Name: ")
println(f"Hello {name}")

The canonical surface is built around:

  • let
  • explicit return
  • import { ... } from ...
  • @type { ... }
  • class
  • layer

If you come from a language with many equally blessed styles, Draton will feel narrower by design.

Where to go next​