Zirric is an experimental programming language with a reference implementation in Go.
This documentation focuses on how the language feels to use, how the tooling is
shaped, and where to dig deeper into the implementation.

It favors small, explicit building blocks: declarations over inheritance,
annotations over interfaces, and expression-oriented control flow. The standard
library is written in Zirric itself, and the language is designed so Zirric code
is easy to reason about.

Experimental

Zirric is evolving quickly. Expect incomplete features, shifting syntax, and
ongoing proposals. Use the proposals as the authoritative roadmap.

Zirric in a nutshell

annotation Countable {
    @Returns(Int)
    length(@Has(Countable) value)
}
@Countable({ v -> v.length })
data Bag {
    items
    length
}
@Returns(Result)
func summarize(@Bag bag) {
    let length = Countable(bag).length(bag)
    return if length > 0 {
        Ok(length)
    } else {
        Err("empty")
    }
}

Start here

Language references

The core language surface is documented in the syntax references:

When you want more depth or future-facing design notes, read the
Zirric Evolution Proposals.

Runtime and packages

Zirric ships with a standard library written in Zirric itself under stdlib/ and
a package system called Cavefile.

Tooling

Tooling documentation lives in the Tooling section. Start with the
Tree-sitter grammar if you want syntax highlighting in editors.

Working on Zirric

If you are hacking on the compiler or VM, the repository README explains the
build and test workflow. The docs/ folder is built with docmd and outputs to
site/.

NextGuides