TinyLang Specification¶

TinyLang is a minimal demo markup language designed to showcase how to add language support to lang-check. It is intentionally trivial — just complex enough to demonstrate prose extraction, math exclusion, and structural commands.

File Extension¶

.tiny

Syntax¶

Prose Text¶

Any text that isn’t inside a special construct is prose and will be grammar-checked.

This is plain prose text that gets checked.

Headings¶

Lines starting with one or more # characters followed by a space:

# Heading 1
## Heading 2
### Heading 3

The heading text (after # ) is prose.

Bold and Italic¶

Bold: *text*
Italic: _text_

The text inside markers is prose (markers are stripped for checking).

Code Spans¶

Inline code: `code`

Code content is not prose and is excluded from checking.

Code Blocks¶

Fenced with ~~~ on their own lines:

~~~
fn main() {
    println!("hello");
}
~~~

Everything between ~~~ fences is excluded from checking.

Comments¶

Line comments starting with //:

// This is a comment — not checked

Comments are excluded from checking.

Math¶

Inline math: $expression$ Display math: $$expression$$

Math content is excluded from checking. Display math creates an exclusion zone (content replaced with spaces to preserve offsets, same as LaTeX \[...\] and Forester ##{...}).

Structural Commands¶

Commands starting with @ that take arguments in {...}:

@title{My Document}
@author{Jane Doe}
@date{2025-01-01}
@import{other-file}
@ref{section-id}
@tag{category}

Structural commands — arguments are identifiers/metadata, not prose:

@author, @date, @import, @ref, @tag, @id, @class

Prose commands — arguments contain prose to check:

@title, @note, @caption, @quote, @footnote
Any unknown @command defaults to prose

Links¶

Links use [text](url) syntax:

See [the documentation](https://example.com) for details.

The link text (the documentation) is prose. The URL is not.

Paragraphs¶

Paragraphs are separated by blank lines (\n\n). Text within a paragraph is merged into a single prose range for checking.

Example Document¶

@title{A Quick Demo}
@author{Jane Doe}
@date{2025-01-01}

# Introduction

This is a simple document writen in TinyLang. It demonstrates
the basic features of the markup langauge.

// TODO: expand this section

Here is some `inline_code` and a formula: $E = mc^2$.

## Code Example

Below is a code block:

~~~
function greet(name) {
    return "Hello, " + name;
}
~~~

The function above is *not* checked for grammer errors because
it is inside a code fence.

## Math Section

The quadratic formula is:

$$
x = \frac{-b \pm \sqrt{b^2 - 4ac}}{2a}
$$

This paragraph continues after the display math.

@note{Remember to review this section for _accuracy_ before publishing.}
@ref{appendix-a}

Tree-Sitter Node Types¶

Node	Description	Prose?
`source_file`	Root	—
`heading`	`# text`	Heading text is prose
`paragraph`	Block of text	Yes
`text`	Plain text runs	Yes
`bold`	`text`	Content is prose
`italic`	`_text_`	Content is prose
`code_span`	`code`	No
`code_block`	`~~~...~~~`	No
`comment`	`// ...`	No
`inline_math`	$...$	No
`display_math`	`$$...$$`	No (exclusion zone)
`command`	`@name{args}`	Depends on name
`command_name`	The `@identifier`	No
`command_arg`	`{content}`	Depends on parent
`link`	`[text](url)`	Text is prose, URL is not
`link_text`	Text inside `[...]`	Yes
`link_url`	URL inside `(...)`	No