1Cdl

1Cdl is a domain-specific language designed to describe data models, configurations, and workflows for software built on the 1C platform. The language aims to provide a compact, human-readable syntax for defining entities, fields, relationships, and business rules that the 1C engine can interpret and enforce. 1Cdl files typically bear the .cdl extension and can be versioned alongside application code. It is intended to complement existing 1C configuration scripts by offering a stable interchange format across development, testing, and production environments.

History and development of 1Cdl trace to the early 2020s within the 1C community, where users sought a more interoperable way to describe data and configurations. A reference compiler and a core schema for common 1C constructs were released to promote consistency across tools and projects. By the mid-2020s, several open-source projects and IDE plugins provided syntax highlighting, validation, and code completion for 1Cdl, helping teams adopt the language in larger deployments.

Design and syntax of 1Cdl favor declarative blocks with indentation-based structure. Core constructs include entity blocks that define data tables, field declarations that specify type and constraints, and relation blocks for one-to-many or many-to-many associations. Additional blocks cover validation rules, computed fields, and imports to modularize definitions. Primitive types include string, integer, decimal, boolean, date/time, and enums. Comments are supported and can be used to document design decisions and constraints.

Usage and tooling center on modeling application data and configurations, generating database schemas, and driving migrations. A typical workflow involves authoring 1Cdl definitions, compiling to an internal representation or JSON, and integrating the outputs into CI/CD pipelines for automated testing and deployment.

See also: 1C:Enterprise, configuration languages, data modeling and serialization formats.