TERSE state language
# Hello World(valid terse; for Show HN) I'm terse(greetings) ## Container "A container may have one text block, single or multi-line" Object(Semi-colon separated attributes; variables_like: 123; "Traditional unicode strings allowed here too.") Another object with a name(multiple objects under a container) ## Further description of TERSE """ TERSE is a unified way to store state, with a defined way to query and mutate it that has been relentlessly refined for overall simplicity and token efficiency not just at rest, but in operation. We realized state access was a low-level, common pattern that keeps getting reinvented. It goes deeper than just AI memory. Consider that Anthropic memory and others are a bunch of markdown files and in some respects, they got it right... simpler is better. So REALLY the problem is settling on a format that is flexible to cover 95% of a domain. We can do so MUCH better than Markdown; TERSE is opinionated on that but it has very good reasons. By being a line-ordered and line-identifiable structure (with special treatment for free-form blocks like this), now the whole state can be idempotently re-declared. Literally, this text of this post is a TERSE state declaration that an AI or you could make. Or, duh, just copy this to a .terse file! So let's say you did that. To query this state: > ? Hello World To copy this whole state somewhere: > # My new container > ? Hello World //inline queries physically expand into the declaration Directives are a [tail] with composable set of operations. For example, let's clean that up.. I declare thee removed! > # My new container [REMOVED] // all contents too! There's more. TERSE makes it exceeding easy for the AI to do stuff with state. The MCP has one main op where these two things are sent *together* 1) state declarations 2) state queries (post-application of declarations and results unioned) BTW, to query all state, wait for it... > ? // Not that you want do this often! TERSE has a full object model for (de)serialization. A reference Python implementation of the full specification is also included. """ ## Example apps included(to help get you started; in the monorepo) ### TERSE MCP("store anything you want locally for your AI") ### TERSE Memory(a generalist; modify your own) ### TERSE Brain "A Karpathy-brain compatible API but with TERSE as the backing store. 1/6th token use and 1/8th the number of tool calls!" ### Misc TERSE Browser(query-response UI; great for testing) VS Code syntax highlighter(vsix included) ## Reminders Terse is pre-release(alpha)