The simplest hierarchical data format ever created. Just tabs and newlines. That's it.
TAML uses only two characters for structure: tabs for hierarchy and newlines for separation. No brackets, no braces, no colons, no quotes (except for empty strings), no hyphens. If you can hit the Tab key, you can write TAML.
What started as a playful jab at YAML's complexity has grown on us. After iterating on the spec and building parsers, we realized something: simplicity isn't just elegant—it's powerful. TAML eliminates the cognitive overhead of remembering complex markup rules. Tabs do all the work.
- 🎯 Minimal Markup: Only tabs and newlines—no brackets, braces, colons, quotes, or hyphens
- 📐 Tab-Based Hierarchy: Indentation defines structure; tabs separate keys from values
- 👀 Visual Clarity: Structure is immediately visible and keyboard-navigable
- 🧠 Simple Mental Model: One tab = one level deeper
- 📏 Flexible Alignment: Use as many tabs as you want between keys and values to align them in columns
- ⚡ Easy to Write: Less typing, less thinking about syntax
application MyApp
version 1.0.0
author Developer Name
server
host 0.0.0.0
port 8080
ssl true
database
type postgresql
connection
host db.example.com
port 5432
database myapp_db
features
user-authentication
api-gateway
logging
Here's a video where I explain some of the ideas about TAML: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wX5PMvSOVLk
key value
name John Doe
count 42
parent
child value
another_child value
items
first item
second item
third item
# User profile data
username alice
password ~
nickname ""
bio Hello world
~represents null (not set)""represents an empty string (explicitly empty)- Regular values need no quotes
- Lines starting with
#are comments
- Full Specification - Complete language specification with validation rules
- Examples - Real-world examples across different domains (web apps, APIs, cloud infrastructure, games, recipes, and more)
Full-featured parser and serializer with type inference and validation.
cd python
pip install -e .Features:
- Parse TAML to Python dictionaries and lists
- Serialize Python objects to TAML
- Type inference (numbers, booleans, null)
- Comprehensive test suite
Lightweight parser and serializer for JavaScript environments.
cd javascript
npm installFeatures:
- Parse TAML to JavaScript objects
- Serialize objects to TAML
- Browser and Node.js compatible
- Zero dependencies
Robust implementation with strict validation and excellent error reporting.
cd dotnet
dotnet buildFeatures:
- Strong typing support
- Strict validation with detailed error messages
- Serialization and deserialization
- Full test coverage
Syntax highlighting and language support for .taml files.
Features:
- 🎨 Syntax highlighting
- 💬 Comment support
- 📁 Code folding
- ⚙️ Auto-configuration for tabs
Real-time validation with error detection as you type.
Features:
- ✅ Real-time validation
- 🔴 Red squiggles for errors
⚠️ Yellow squiggles for warnings- 📋 Problems panel integration
- ⚙️ Configurable validation
- Read the spec: Check out TAML-SPEC.md to understand the syntax
- Try examples: Browse examples/ to see TAML in action
- Pick your language: Install the parser for your preferred language
- Set up your editor: Install the VSCode extension for syntax highlighting
| Feature | TAML | YAML | JSON | XML |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indentation | Tabs only | Spaces (usually 2 or 4) | Optional | Optional |
| Key-Value Separator | Tab character | Colon + space | Colon + space | Tags |
| Lists | Indented values | Dash + space | Brackets [] |
Repeated tags |
| Quotes | Only for empty strings ("") |
Complex quoting rules | Required for strings | Not needed |
| Closing Tags | None | None | Braces }, brackets ] |
Required </tag> |
| Comments | # prefix |
# prefix |
Not supported | <!-- --> |
| Multi-line Strings | Not supported | Multiple syntaxes | Escape \n |
Natural |
| Anchors/References | Not supported | Yes | Not supported | Not supported |
| Complexity | Minimal | High | Medium | High |
| Human Readability | Excellent | Good | Fair | Poor |
| Learning Curve | Minutes | Hours | Minutes | Hours |
TAML Philosophy: Less expressive by design. Simple problems shouldn't require complex solutions.
TAML excels at:
- Configuration Files: Application settings, environment configs
- API Documentation: Simple, readable endpoint definitions
- Data Exchange: When human readability matters more than machine efficiency
- Prototyping: Quick data structure sketches
- Teaching: Introducing hierarchical data concepts
- Accessibility: Tab-based navigation for keyboard users
TAML enforces strict rules to maintain consistency:
- ✅ Tabs only for indentation (no spaces)
- ✅ One tab per nesting level
- ✅ Keys and values cannot contain tabs
- ✅ Parent keys have no values on the same line
- ✅ Comments start with
#
See the Validation section in the spec for complete details.
TAML's visual identity is available in multiple formats for use in editors, documentation, and presentations.
Full Logo
Logo Illustration
Icon (SVG)
All assets are available in the img/ directory in various formats (PNG, SVG, WebP).
Contributions are welcome! Whether you're:
- Implementing TAML in a new language
- Improving existing implementations
- Adding editor support for other IDEs
- Creating examples
- Improving documentation
See individual implementation directories for license information.
- Specification
- Examples
- Python Implementation
- JavaScript Implementation
- .NET Implementation
- Editor Tools
TAML: Because sometimes less markup is more. 🚀