Atxt

Atxt is a lightweight, open-source text-based data format and associated tooling designed for simple data interchange and configuration. It emphasizes human readability and a small, predictable surface area to facilitate parsing across programming languages. The format is designed to be easy to write by hand and straightforward for machines to parse, offering a minimal syntax for representing hierarchical data without the verbosity of some alternative formats.

Atxt documents are written in plain text and use indentation to express nesting. Data is organized as named values, with support for maps, sequences, and scalar types such as strings, numbers, and booleans. The specification also allows comments and supports multi-line strings, aiming to strike a balance between readability and expressiveness. In common use, Atxt serves as a configuration language for software projects and as a lightweight data interchange format for small payloads.

A number of reference implementations and third-party libraries exist in multiple programming languages, making it possible to read and write Atxt from a variety of environments. The format is typically compared with JSON, YAML, and TOML, with proponents highlighting its simplicity and readability, while critics point to a relatively small ecosystem of tooling and documentation.

See also: JSON, YAML, TOML.