Kvaml

Kvaml is a lightweight data serialization language intended to represent structured information as key-value pairs. It is designed for configuration, metadata management, and simple data interchange, with an emphasis on readability and predictable parsing.

Kvaml uses indentation to convey hierarchy and colon-separated key-value pairs to store values. Primitive data types include strings, numbers, booleans, and null. Complex values are formed from nested mappings and sequences; lists are expressed as dash-prefixed items under a key. Comments are supported using a hash character. The format aims to avoid common quoting ambiguities and to remain human-friendly for edits.

For example, a kvaml document might look like:

title: Kvaml Overview

version: 1

settings:

enabled: true

threshold: 0.75

servers:

- host: server1.example.com

port: 8080

- host: server2.example.com

port: 8081

Kvaml is described in community discussions as a practical alternative to YAML and TOML for configuration tasks. There is no universally accepted formal standard, and implementations vary by language, with emphasis on deterministic parsing and easy round-tripping of data.