What is Nano Markup?
Nano Markup is a minimal indentation-based data format. It represents exactly three value types: strings, mappings, and sequences.
FAQ
Questions about Nano Markup.
Short answers for people comparing Nano Markup with JSON, YAML, TOML, and other readable data formats.
For a first look, try the tutorial and examples. For implementation details, read the specification.
Answers
The practical details
Is Nano Markup a YAML alternative?
It can be, when you need a smaller readable data format and do not need YAML features such as anchors, tags, merges, or scalar type inference.
How is Nano Markup different from JSON?
Nano Markup is easier to write as plain text because it avoids braces, commas, and most quoting. JSON is better for universal machine interchange and APIs.
How is Nano Markup different from TOML?
TOML includes typed scalar values and table syntax. Nano Markup keeps a smaller tree model and leaves typed interpretation to applications.
Does Nano Markup support comments?
Yes. Comments are part of the language syntax and are ignored when decoding the data tree.
Does Nano Markup infer numbers, booleans, null, or dates?
No. Scalar values are strings. This avoids surprising type conversions and keeps implementations consistent.
What languages support Nano Markup?
Stable implementations are available for Python, Go, JavaScript, TypeScript, Dart, and Java.
Is Nano Markup stable?
Yes. Nano Markup 1.0.0 is the first stable language specification. Stable releases are immutable, with known issues recorded as errata.