toon4s is the idiomatic Scala implementation of Token-Oriented Object Notation (TOON), a compact, LLM-friendly data format that blends YAML-style indentation with CSV-like tabular efficiency. Save 30-60% on LLM token costs while maintaining full JSON compatibility.

What makes toon4s different: Most libraries prioritize features over architecture.

• Pure functional core: Zero mutations, total functions, referentially transparent
• Type safety first: sealed ADTs, exhaustive pattern matching, zero unsafe casts, VectorMap for deterministic ordering
• Stack-safe by design: @tailrec-verified functions, constant stack usage, handles arbitrarily deep structures
• Modern JVM ready: Virtual thread compatible (no ThreadLocal), streaming optimized, zero dependencies (491KB core JAR)
• Production hardened: 500+ passing tests, property-based testing, Either-based error handling, security limits
• Railway-oriented programming: For-comprehension error handling, no exceptions in happy paths, composable with Cats/ZIO/FS2

Example: { "tags": ["jazz","chill","lofi"] } → tags[3]: jazz,chill,lofi (40-60% token savings)

• Key features & Scala-first benefits
• Benchmarks at a glance
• Architecture & design principles
• Installation
• Quick start (library)
• CLI usage
• Format crash course
• Rules & guidelines
• API surface
• Type safety & conversions
• Using TOON in LLM prompts
• Limitations & gotchas
• Syntax cheatsheet
• Development & quality gates
• License

toon4s is built on a layered architecture that separates concerns and enables composability:

flowchart TD
    USER["User code"] --> API["Public API layer"]
    API --> ENCODE["Encoder path"]
    API --> DECODE["Decoder path"]
    API --> VISITOR["Visitor path"]
    ENCODE --> PRIMITIVES["Primitives module"]
    ENCODE --> NORM["Normalize module"]
    ENCODE --> WRITER["EncodeLineWriter"]
    DECODE --> SCANNER["Scanner"]
    SCANNER --> PARSER["Parser layer"]
    PARSER --> CURSOR["Cursor + Validation"]
    CURSOR --> JSON["JsonValue ADT"]
    VISITOR --> TREEWALKER["TreeWalker"]
    TREEWALKER --> VISITORS["Visitor implementations"]
    VISITORS --> TRANSFORM["Streaming transform"]
    style USER fill:#e1f5ff,stroke:#0066cc,color:#000
    style API fill:#fff4e1,stroke:#cc8800,color:#000
    style ENCODE fill:#e1ffe1,stroke:#2d7a2d,color:#000
    style DECODE fill:#e1ffe1,stroke:#2d7a2d,color:#000
    style VISITOR fill:#e1ffe1,stroke:#2d7a2d,color:#000
    style JSON fill:#f0e1ff,stroke:#8800cc,color:#000
    style TRANSFORM fill:#f0e1ff,stroke:#8800cc,color:#000

Decode path (decode/):

• Scanner: Tokenizes TOON text into structured lines with indentation tracking
• Parser: Converts tokens to JsonValue ADT with strict/lenient modes
• Cursor: Stack-safe navigation through nested structures
• Validation: Depth, length, and size limit enforcement

Encode path (encode/):

• Encoders: Pure functions from JsonValue to TOON format
• Primitives: Low-level string quoting and primitive encoding
• Normalize: Array/object structure analysis for optimal layout selection

Visitor pattern (visitor/):

• TreeWalker: Universal adapter for external JSON libraries (Jackson, Circe, Play)
• Streaming Visitors: O(1) memory transformations (filter, repair, stringify)
• Composable: Chain multiple visitors in single pass

flowchart LR
    START["JsonValue"] --> ANALYZE["Normalize.analyze"]
    ANALYZE --> DECISION{"Array type?"}
    DECISION -->|" Uniform objects "| TABULAR["Tabular format"]
    DECISION -->|" Primitives "| INLINE["Inline format"]
    DECISION -->|" Mixed/nested "| LIST["List format"]
    TABULAR --> HEADER["Format header + rows"]
    INLINE --> DELIM["Join with delimiter"]
    LIST --> NESTED["Recursive encode"]
    HEADER --> OUTPUT["TOON string"]
    DELIM --> OUTPUT
    NESTED --> OUTPUT
    style START fill:#e1f5ff,stroke:#0066cc,color:#000
    style ANALYZE fill:#fff4e1,stroke:#cc8800,color:#000
    style DECISION fill:#f0e1ff,stroke:#8800cc,color:#000
    style TABULAR fill:#e1ffe1,stroke:#2d7a2d,color:#000
    style INLINE fill:#e1ffe1,stroke:#2d7a2d,color:#000
    style LIST fill:#e1ffe1,stroke:#2d7a2d,color:#000
    style OUTPUT fill:#90EE90,stroke:#2d7a2d,color:#000

flowchart LR
    INPUT["TOON string"] --> SCANNER["Scanner.scan"]
    SCANNER --> LINES["Structured lines"]
    LINES --> PARSE["Parser.parse"]
    PARSE --> VALIDATE["Validation"]
    VALIDATE -->|" Valid "| SUCCESS["Right(JsonValue)"]
    VALIDATE -->|" Invalid "| ERROR["Left(DecodeError)"]
    SUCCESS --> TYPED["Optional: Decoder[T]"]
    TYPED --> RESULT["T"]
    style INPUT fill:#e1f5ff,stroke:#0066cc,color:#000
    style SCANNER fill:#fff4e1,stroke:#cc8800,color:#000
    style LINES fill:#fff4e1,stroke:#cc8800,color:#000
    style PARSE fill:#fff4e1,stroke:#cc8800,color:#000
    style VALIDATE fill:#f0e1ff,stroke:#8800cc,color:#000
    style SUCCESS fill:#e1ffe1,stroke:#2d7a2d,color:#000
    style ERROR fill:#ffe1e1,stroke:#cc0000,color:#000
    style TYPED fill:#e1ffe1,stroke:#2d7a2d,color:#000
    style RESULT fill:#90EE90,stroke:#2d7a2d,color:#000

flowchart TD
    EXTERNAL["External JSON<br/>(Jackson/Circe/Play)"] --> WALKER["TreeWalker.dispatch"]
    JSONVAL["JsonValue ADT"] --> WALKER
    WALKER --> VISITOR["Visitor trait"]
    VISITOR --> IMPL{"Implementation"}
    IMPL -->|" StringifyVisitor "| STRINGIFY["TOON string"]
    IMPL -->|" FilterKeysVisitor "| FILTER["Filtered JSON"]
    IMPL -->|" JsonRepairVisitor "| REPAIR["Repaired JSON"]
    IMPL -->|" ConstructionVisitor "| CONSTRUCT["JsonValue"]
    FILTER --> CHAIN["Chain visitors"]
    REPAIR --> CHAIN
    CHAIN --> ONEPASS["Single-pass transform"]
    style EXTERNAL fill:#e1f5ff,stroke:#0066cc,color:#000
    style JSONVAL fill:#e1f5ff,stroke:#0066cc,color:#000
    style WALKER fill:#fff4e1,stroke:#cc8800,color:#000
    style VISITOR fill:#f0e1ff,stroke:#8800cc,color:#000
    style STRINGIFY fill:#e1ffe1,stroke:#2d7a2d,color:#000
    style FILTER fill:#e1ffe1,stroke:#2d7a2d,color:#000
    style REPAIR fill:#e1ffe1,stroke:#2d7a2d,color:#000
    style CONSTRUCT fill:#e1ffe1,stroke:#2d7a2d,color:#000
    style ONEPASS fill:#90EE90,stroke:#2d7a2d,color:#000

toon4s achieves 2x performance through systematic optimization:

Allocation reduction:

• Pre-allocated StringBuilder capacity based on estimated output size
• Single-pass parsing (combined quote-finding + unescaping)
• Cached common header patterns (array lengths 0-10)
• VectorBuilder + while loops instead of functional chains

Hot path optimization:

• Character.isWhitespace() instead of String.trim() allocation
• Pattern matching for delimiter dispatch
• Early exit with iterator.forall for uniform array detection
• Hoisted constants outside loops

Memory efficiency:

• Streaming visitors with O(d) memory (depth-dependent, not size-dependent)
• Tail-recursive iteration for large arrays
• Stack-safe cursor navigation
• No intermediate allocations in visitor chains

Benchmark results (encode_object: 287 → 600 ops/ms, decode_tabular: 417 → 874 ops/ms):

• P0 quick wins: 20-30% gain
• P1 high impact: 45-70% gain
• P2 optimizations: 4-15% additional gain
• Total: ~2x improvement while maintaining functional purity

classDiagram
    class JsonValue {
<<sealedtrait>>
}
class JNull {
<<caseobject>>
}
class JBool {
+Boolean value
}
class JNumber {
+BigDecimal value
}
class JString {
+String value
}
class JArray {
+Vector~JsonValue~ values
}
class JObj {
+VectorMap~String,JsonValue~ fields
}
JsonValue <|-- JNull
JsonValue <|-- JBool
JsonValue <|-- JNumber
JsonValue <|-- JString
JsonValue <|-- JArray
JsonValue <|-- JObj
JArray --> JsonValue: contains
JObj --> JsonValue: contains
style JsonValue fill:#f0e1ff,stroke:#8800cc,color:#000
style JNull fill:#e1ffe1,stroke:#2d7a2d,color:#000
style JBool fill:#e1ffe1,stroke:#2d7a2d,color:#000
style JNumber fill:#e1ffe1,stroke:#2d7a2d,color:#000
style JString fill:#e1ffe1,stroke:#2d7a2d,color:#000
style JArray fill:#fff4e1,stroke:#cc8800,color:#000
style JObj fill:#fff4e1,stroke:#cc8800,color:#000

classDiagram
    class Visitor~R~ {
        <<trait>>
        +visitNull() R
        +visitBool(Boolean) R
        +visitNumber(BigDecimal) R
        +visitString(String) R
        +visitArray(Vector~R~) R
        +visitObject(VectorMap~String,R~) R
    }
    class TreeWalker {
        <<object>>
        +dispatch(JsonValue, Visitor) R
        +fromJackson(JsonNode, Visitor) R
        +fromCirce(Json, Visitor) R
    }
    class StringifyVisitor {
        +visitString(s) String
        +visitArray(items) String
    }
    class FilterKeysVisitor {
        +Set~String~ keysToKeep
        +visitObject(fields) JsonValue
    }
    class ConstructionVisitor {
        +visitNull() JsonValue
        +visitArray(items) JArray
    }
    class JsonRepairVisitor {
        +visitString(s) JsonValue
        +visitNumber(n) JsonValue
    }
    Visitor <|.. StringifyVisitor
    Visitor <|.. FilterKeysVisitor
    Visitor <|.. ConstructionVisitor
    Visitor <|.. JsonRepairVisitor
    TreeWalker --> Visitor: uses
    style Visitor fill:#f0e1ff,stroke:#8800cc,color:#000
    style TreeWalker fill:#fff4e1,stroke:#cc8800,color:#000
    style StringifyVisitor fill:#e1ffe1,stroke:#2d7a2d,color:#000
    style FilterKeysVisitor fill:#e1ffe1,stroke:#2d7a2d,color:#000
    style ConstructionVisitor fill:#e1ffe1,stroke:#2d7a2d,color:#000
    style JsonRepairVisitor fill:#e1ffe1,stroke:#2d7a2d,color:#000

sequenceDiagram
    participant User
    participant Encoder
    participant Normalize
    participant Primitives
    participant Writer
    User ->> Encoder: encode(JsonValue)
    Encoder ->> Normalize: analyze(array)
    Normalize -->> Encoder: StructuralInfo
    alt Tabular format
        Encoder ->> Encoder: extractHeader + rows
        Encoder ->> Writer: writeTabular
    else Inline format
        Encoder ->> Primitives: quoteAndEscape
        Encoder ->> Writer: writeInline
    else List format
        Encoder ->> Encoder: recursive encode
        Encoder ->> Writer: writeList
    end
    Writer -->> User: TOON string
    Note over Normalize, Writer: Zero allocations in hot path
    Note over Encoder: Pre-allocated StringBuilder

sequenceDiagram
    participant User
    participant Decoder
    participant Scanner
    participant Parser
    participant Cursor
    participant Validator
    User ->> Decoder: decode(String)
    Decoder ->> Scanner: scan(input)
    Scanner -->> Decoder: Vector[StructuredLine]
    Decoder ->> Parser: parse(lines)
    Parser ->> Cursor: navigate structure
    loop For each line
        Cursor ->> Parser: peek + advance
        Parser ->> Parser: parseValue
    end
    Parser ->> Validator: validate limits
    alt Valid
        Validator -->> User: Right(JsonValue)
    else Invalid
        Validator -->> User: Left(DecodeError)
    end
    Note over Cursor: Stack-safe navigation
    Note over Parser: Single-pass parsing

graph TD
    API["Public API<br/>(Encoder/Decoder)"]
    CODEC["Codec Layer<br/>(ToonTyped)"]
    JSON["JsonValue ADT"]
    ENCODE["Encode module"]
    DECODE["Decode module"]
    VISITOR["Visitor module"]
    PRIMITIVES["Primitives"]
    NORMALIZE["Normalize"]
    SCANNER["Scanner"]
    PARSER["Parser"]
    CURSOR["Cursor"]
    VALIDATOR["Validator"]
    TREEWALKER["TreeWalker"]
    VISITORS["Visitor Impls"]
    ERROR["Error types"]
    BUILD["Builder pattern"]
    API --> ENCODE
    API --> DECODE
    API --> VISITOR
    API --> JSON
    CODEC --> ENCODE
    CODEC --> DECODE
    ENCODE --> PRIMITIVES
    ENCODE --> NORMALIZE
    ENCODE --> JSON
    DECODE --> SCANNER
    DECODE --> PARSER
    DECODE --> CURSOR
    DECODE --> VALIDATOR
    DECODE --> JSON
    PARSER --> CURSOR
    VISITOR --> TREEWALKER
    VISITOR --> VISITORS
    VISITORS --> JSON
    ERROR --> API
    BUILD --> API
    style API fill:#e1f5ff,stroke:#0066cc,color:#000
    style CODEC fill:#fff4e1,stroke:#cc8800,color:#000
    style JSON fill:#f0e1ff,stroke:#8800cc,color:#000
    style ENCODE fill:#e1ffe1,stroke:#2d7a2d,color:#000
    style DECODE fill:#e1ffe1,stroke:#2d7a2d,color:#000
    style VISITOR fill:#e1ffe1,stroke:#2d7a2d,color:#000

This is what sets toon4s apart: While most libraries compromise on architecture for convenience, toon4s demonstrates that you can have both production performance and functional purity. Every design decision prioritizes correctness, composability, and type safety-making toon4s a reference implementation for modern Scala projects.

Every function in toon4s is pure and total:

• Zero mutations: No vars / while loops

  • State threading pattern (pass state as parameters, return new state)
  • Accumulator-based tail recursion
  • Immutable builders (Vector, VectorMap)

• Total functions: No exceptions in happy paths

  • All encoders/decoders return Either[Error, Result]
  • Railway-oriented programming for error handling
  • Exhaustive pattern matching on sealed ADTs

• Referentially transparent: Same input → same output, always

  • No side effects in core logic
  • No global mutable state
  • Deterministic output (VectorMap preserves insertion order)

• Stack-safe recursion: functions with @tailrec

  • Compiler-verified tail call optimization
  • Can parse arbitrarily deep structures
  • Constant stack usage regardless of input size

Scala's type system is used to maximum effect

Key type safety features:

• sealed ADTs: Exhaustive pattern matching catches missing cases at compile time
• No unsafe casts: Zero asInstanceOf in production code (only 2 necessary casts with safety comments)
• VectorMap everywhere: Ensure deterministic field ordering
• Compile-time derivation: Scala 3 derives generates type class instances at compile time

State threading pattern

@tailrec
def collectFields(
                   targetDepth: Option[Int],
                   acc: Vector[(String, JsonValue)] // Accumulator instead of var
                 ): Vector[(String, JsonValue)] = {
  cursor.peek match {
    case None => acc
    case Some(line) if line.depth < baseDepth => acc
    case Some(line) =>
      val td = targetDepth.orElse(Some(line.depth))
      if (td.contains(line.depth)) {
        cursor.advance()
        val KeyValueParse(key, value, _) = decodeKeyValue(.
      ..)
        collectFields(td, acc :+ (key -> value)) // Recurse with new state
      } else acc
  }
}

Railway-oriented programming

// Either accumulation instead of var err: Error | Null = null
xs.foldLeft[Either[DecodeError, List[A]]](Right(Nil)) {
  (acc, j) =>
    for
      list <- acc // Short-circuit on first error
      a <- d(j) // Decode current element
    yield a :: list // Accumulate successes
}.map(_.reverse)

Visitor pattern for zero-overhead transformations

// Generic visitor trait with type parameter R (return type)
trait Visitor[R] {
  def visitNull(): R

  def visitBool(value: Boolean): R

  def visitString(value: String): R

  def visitArray(items: Vector[R]): R

  def visitObject(fields: VectorMap[String, R]): R
}

// TreeWalker dispatches to visitor without intermediate allocations
object TreeWalker {
  def dispatch[R](json: JsonValue, visitor: Visitor[R]): R = json match {
    case JNull => visitor.visitNull()
    case JBool(b) => visitor.visitBool(b)
    case JArray(items) => visitor.visitArray(items.map(dispatch(_, visitor)))
    case JObj(fields) => visitor.visitObject(fields.map((k, v) => k -> dispatch(v, visitor)))
  }
}

// Compose multiple visitors in single pass
val filtered = TreeWalker.dispatch(json, FilterKeysVisitor(Set("id", "name")))
val repaired = TreeWalker.dispatch(filtered, JsonRepairVisitor())

Strategy pattern for encoding

// Different encoding strategies based on structure analysis
sealed trait EncodingStrategy

case object TabularStrategy extends EncodingStrategy

case object InlineStrategy extends EncodingStrategy

case object ListStrategy extends EncodingStrategy

// Normalize.analyze returns StructuralInfo with detected strategy
case class StructuralInfo(
                           strategy: EncodingStrategy,
                           commonFields: Option[List[String]],
                           isUniform: Boolean
                         )

// Encoder dispatches based on strategy
def encodeArray(arr: JArray): String = {
  val info = Normalize.analyze(arr)
  info.strategy match {
    case TabularStrategy => encodeTabular(arr, info.commonFields.get)
    case InlineStrategy => encodeInline(arr)
    case ListStrategy => encodeList(arr)
  }
}

Builder pattern with phantom types

// Type-safe builder using phantom types
sealed trait BuilderState

sealed trait Empty extends BuilderState

sealed trait WithDelimiter extends BuilderState

sealed trait Complete extends BuilderState

class OptionsBuilder[S <: BuilderState] private(config: Map[String, Any]) {
  // Only callable in Empty state
  def delimiter(d: Delimiter)(implicit ev: S =:= Empty): OptionsBuilder[WithDelimiter] =
    new OptionsBuilder(config + ("delimiter" -> d))

  // Only callable in WithDelimiter state
  def strictness(s: Strictness)(implicit ev: S =:= WithDelimiter): OptionsBuilder[Complete] =
    new OptionsBuilder(config + ("strictness" -> s))

  // Only callable in Complete state
  def build()(implicit ev: S =:= Complete): Options =
    Options(
      delimiter = config("delimiter").asInstanceOf[Delimiter],
      strictness = config("strictness").asInstanceOf[Strictness]
    )
}

// Usage (type-safe at compile time)
val opts = OptionsBuilder.empty
  .delimiter(Delimiter.Comma) // Must be first
  .strictness(Strictness.Strict) // Must be second
  .build() // Must be last

Typeclass pattern for derivation

// Encoder typeclass for type-safe serialization
trait Encoder[A] {
  def encode(value: A): JsonValue
}

// Decoder typeclass for type-safe deserialization
trait Decoder[A] {
  def decode(json: JsonValue): Either[DecodeError, A]
}

// Scala 3 automatic derivation
case class User(id: Int, name: String, email: String) derives Encoder, Decoder

// Usage (type-safe at compile time)
val user = User(1, "Alice", "[email protected]")
val json = Encoder[User].encode(user) // JsonValue
val decoded = Decoder[User].decode(json) // Either[DecodeError, User]

Adapter pattern for external libraries

// TreeWalker adapts external JSON libraries without conversion
object TreeWalker {
  // Jackson adapter
  def fromJackson[R](node: JsonNode, visitor: Visitor[R]): R = {
    if (node.isNull) visitor.visitNull()
    else if (node.isBoolean) visitor.visitBool(node.booleanValue())
    else if (node.isArray) {
      val items = node.elements().asScala.map(fromJackson(_, visitor)).toVector
      visitor.visitArray(items)
    }
    // ... dispatch to visitor directly without creating JsonValue
  }

  // Circe adapter
  def fromCirce[R](json: io.circe.Json, visitor: Visitor[R]): R = {
    json.fold(
      visitor.visitNull(),
      visitor.visitBool,
      n => visitor.visitNumber(BigDecimal(n.toString)),
      visitor.visitString,
      arr => visitor.visitArray(arr.map(fromCirce(_, visitor)).toVector),
      obj => visitor.visitObject(VectorMap.from(obj.toMap.map((k, v) => k -> fromCirce(v, visitor))))
    )
  }
}

// Usage: zero-copy transformation from Jackson to TOON
val jacksonNode: JsonNode = objectMapper.readTree(input)
val toonString = TreeWalker.fromJackson(jacksonNode, StringifyVisitor(Options.default))

Factory pattern for parser creation

// Parser factory with configuration
object Parser {
  def create(options: Options): Parser = {
    val validator = Validator(
      maxDepth = options.maxDepth,
      maxLength = options.maxLength,
      maxSize = options.maxSize
    )

    new Parser(
      strictness = options.strictness,
      validator = validator,
      delimiter = options.delimiter
    )
  }
}

Built for the future of JVM concurrency:

• Virtual thread ready: Zero ThreadLocal usage

  • Fully compatible with Java 21+ Project Loom
  • Can spawn millions of virtual threads without memory leaks
  • See core/src/main/scala/io/toonformat/toon4s/encode/Primitives.scala:60 for virtual thread design notes

• Streaming optimized: Constant-memory validation

  • Streaming.foreachTabular - process rows without full AST
  • Streaming.foreachArrays - validate nested arrays incrementally
  • Tail-recursive visitors with accumulator pattern

• Zero dependencies: 491KB core JAR

  • Pure Scala stdlib (no Jackson, Circe, Play JSON)
  • CLI only adds scopt + jtokkit
  • Minimal attack surface for security audits

toon4s proves you don't have to choose between performance and purity:

The result: A library that's both safer (pure FP, types) and faster to maintain (no surprises, composable).

This architecture makes toon4s ideal for:

• Production services - reliability and correctness are non-negotiable
• Functional stacks (Cats, ZIO, FS2) - pure functions compose without side effects
• Virtual thread workloads (Project Loom) - no ThreadLocal means no memory leaks
• High-throughput pipelines - ~660 ops/ms average with predictable, constant-memory streaming
• Type-safe domain modeling - sealed ADTs + derivation = compile-time guarantees

Bottom line: toon4s is what happens when you refuse to compromise. Use it for TOON encoding, or study it to learn how to build production-grade functional systems.

See also: SCALA-TOON-SPECIFICATION.md for encoding rules

See also: Encoding rules, Strict mode, Delimiters & headers

Be honest: token savings depend on your data. From our runs and community reports:

• Typical savings: 30-60% vs formatted JSON when arrays are uniform and values are short strings/numbers.
• Small example: { "tags": ["jazz","chill","lofi"] } → tags[3]: jazz,chill,lofi saved ~40-60% tokens across common GPT tokenizers.
• Deeply nested, irregular objects: savings narrow; sometimes JSON ties or wins. Measure in CI with --stats.
• Retrieval accuracy: some reports show JSON ≈ 70% vs TOON ≈ 65% on certain tasks. If accuracy matters more than cost, validate on your prompts.

Use the CLI or the benchmark runner to measure your payloads:

# Option A: CLI (quick)
toon4s-cli --encode payload.json --stats --tokenizer o200k -o payload.toon

# Option B: JMH runner (reproducible set)
sbt jmhDev # quick JMH runs
sbt jmhFull # heavy JMH runs

Throughput (JMH heavy, macOS M‑series, Java 21.0.9, Temurin OpenJDK; 5 warmup iterations × 2s, 5 measurement iterations × 2s):

Benchmark                          Mode  Cnt     Score   Error   Units
EncodeDecodeBench.decode_list     thrpt    5   784.240 ± 3.439  ops/ms
EncodeDecodeBench.decode_nested   thrpt    5   570.729 ± 0.844  ops/ms
EncodeDecodeBench.decode_tabular  thrpt    5   874.285 ± 3.410  ops/ms
EncodeDecodeBench.encode_object   thrpt    5   600.403 ± 1.240  ops/ms

Latest results with PR #42, #43 & #44 optimizations (2025-12-10) Represents ~2x performance improvement over PR #43 baseline through systematic hot-path optimization

Performance highlights:

• Tabular decoding: ~874 ops/ms - optimized for CSV-like structures
• List decoding: ~784 ops/ms - fast array processing
• Nested decoding: ~571 ops/ms - efficient for deep object hierarchies
• Object encoding: ~600 ops/ms - consistent encoding performance

Note: numbers vary by JVM/OS/data shape. Run your own payloads with JMH for apples‑to‑apples comparison.

• Token savings: format‑driven and therefore similar across implementations. Expect ~30-60% on uniform/tabular data. Example: { "tags": ["jazz","chill","lofi"] } → tags[3]: jazz,chill,lofi.
• Accuracy: prompt‑ and data‑dependent. Community reports: JSON ≈ 70%, TOON ≈ 65% on some tasks. Measure on your prompts before switching.
• Throughput: toon4s encode throughput is on par with JToon on small/mid shapes (JMH: ~520 ops/ms). Decoding is implemented and fast in toon4s (tabular ~838 ops/ms, list ~745 ops/ms, nested ~538 ops/ms). If/when JToon adds decoding, compare like‑for‑like.
• Scala ergonomics: typed derivation (3.x), typeclasses (2.13), sealed ADTs, VectorMap ordering, streaming visitors, zero‑dep core.
• Guidance: use toon (TS) for Node stacks, JToon for Java codebases, toon4s for JVM. Token savings are equivalent; choose by ecosystem fit.

Savings are model/tokenizer-sensitive; treat ranges as guidance, not guarantees.

See also: Token benchmarks

// build.sbt
libraryDependencies += "com.vitthalmirji" %% "toon4s-core" % "0.1.0"

Prefer CLI only? Ship the staged script (diagram below):

sbt cli/stage                            # builds ./cli/target/universal/stage/bin/toon4s-cli
./cli/target/universal/stage/bin/toon4s-cli --encode sample.json -o sample.toon

import io.toonformat.toon4s._

val payload = Map(
  "users" -> Vector(
    Map("id" -> 1, "name" -> "Ada", "tags" -> Vector("reading", "gaming")),
    Map("id" -> 2, "name" -> "Bob", "tags" -> Vector("writing"))
  )
)

val toon = Toon.encode(payload, EncodeOptions(indent = 2)).fold(throw _, identity)
println(toon)
// users[2]{id,name,tags}:
//   1,Ada,[2]: reading,gaming
//   2,Bob,[1]: writing

val json = Toon.decode(toon).fold(throw _, identity)
println(json)

• Works with Scala 3.3.3 and Scala 2.13.14 (tested in CI).
• Accepts Scala collections, Java collections, java.time.*, Option, Either, Product (case classes, tuples), and IterableOnce.
• Deterministic ordering when encoding maps via VectorMap.
• Scala 3 derivation: codec.Encoder and codec.Decoder derive for case classes. Prefer typed ToonTyped.encode[A: Encoder] / ToonTyped.decodeAs[A: Decoder] over Any-based methods.

# Encode JSON -> TOON with 4-space indentation and tab delimiters
toon4s-cli --encode data.json --indent 4 --delimiter tab -o data.toon

# Decode TOON -> JSON (strict mode on by default; pass lenient if needed)
toon4s-cli --decode data.toon --strictness lenient -o roundtrip.json

Available flags:

Use --stats to measure token impact. Choose a tokenizer with --tokenizer (e.g., o200k).

TOON borrows two big ideas:

1. Indentation for structure (like YAML)
2. Headers for uniform arrays (like CSV/TSV)

flowchart LR
    scala["Scala data\nMap / Case Class / Iterable"]
    norm["Normalize\n(JsonValue)"]
    encoder["Encoders\n(pure)"]
    toon["TOON text\n(headers)"]
    llm["LLM prompt\n(token-efficient)"]
    scala --> norm --> encoder --> toon --> llm
    style scala fill:#e1f5ff,stroke:#0066cc,color:#000
    style norm fill:#f0e1ff,stroke:#8800cc,color:#000
    style encoder fill:#fff4e1,stroke:#cc8800,color:#000
    style toon fill:#e1ffe1,stroke:#2d7a2d,color:#000
    style llm fill:#ffe1e1,stroke:#cc0000,color:#000

Example:

orders[2]{id,user,total,items}:
  1001,ada,29.70,[3]{sku,qty,price}:
                      A1,2,9.99
                      B2,1,5.50
                      C3,1,4.22
  1002,bob,15.00,[1]: gift-card

• orders[2] says “array length 2”.
• {id,user,...} declares columns for the following rows.
• Nested arrays either go inline ([3]: gift-card,store-credit) or open their own blocks.

Full spec reference: toon-format/spec.

See also: Encoding rules

• Strict indentation: use spaces (tabs rejected when strict=true). Indent levels must be multiples of DecodeOptions.indent.
• Quotes only when required: strings with spaces, delimiters, or structural characters need ".." wrapping.
• Array headers carry lengths: headers include the declared row count; strict mode validates it. Keep them intact in prompts to cross-check model output.
• Delimiters: choose comma (default), tab (token-efficient), or pipe (human-friendly). The delimiter is encoded in the header, so consumers know what to expect.
• Uniform rows: tabular arrays must have consistent field counts; strict mode enforces this.

Quoting vs. unquoted strings (encoder rules):

flowchart TD
    s["string value"] --> check1{empty or trimmed != value?}
    check1 -- yes --> q[quote]
    check1 -- no --> check2{contains colon / delimiter?}
    check2 -- yes --> q
    check2 -- no --> check3{structural or control chars?}
    check3 -- yes --> q
    check3 -- no --> check4{boolean/null or numeric-like?}
    check4 -- yes --> q
    check4 -- no --> u[unquoted]
    style s fill:#e1f5ff,stroke:#0066cc,color:#000
    style q fill:#ffe1e1,stroke:#cc0000,color:#000
    style u fill:#e1ffe1,stroke:#2d7a2d,color:#000
    style check1 fill:#f0e1ff,stroke:#8800cc,color:#000
    style check2 fill:#f0e1ff,stroke:#8800cc,color:#000
    style check3 fill:#f0e1ff,stroke:#8800cc,color:#000
    style check4 fill:#f0e1ff,stroke:#8800cc,color:#000

See also: Encoding rules

Most teams only interact with Toon.encode, Toon.decode, and JsonValue pattern matching. Lower-level modules stay internal unless you are extending the format.

See also: JsonValue ADT, Encoding model, Decoding rules

Preferred (Scala 3): typed APIs with type classes.

import io.toonformat.toon4s._
import io.toonformat.toon4s.codec.{Encoder, Decoder}

case class User(id: Int, name: String) derives Encoder, Decoder

val s: String = Toon.encode(User(1, "Ada")).fold(throw _, identity)
val u: User = ToonTyped.decodeAs[User](s).fold(throw _, identity)

Fallbacks:

• Decoding always yields the JsonValue ADT; pattern-match it if you prefer.
• SimpleJson.toScala yields Any for quick-and-dirty interop.

Why another TOON for JVM/Scala?

• Ergonomics: native Scala APIs and derivation reduce boilerplate versus Java/TS bindings in Scala codebases.
• Footprint: zero-dep core minimizes transitive risk compared to libraries built atop general JSON stacks.
• Streaming: visitors let you validate/model-check row counts without paying for full tree allocation.
• Parity: same token savings as JToon/toon because the format drives savings, not the implementation.
• Throughput: competitive decode throughput (see JMH); encode throughput is solid and easy to reason about.

See also: Encoding model, JsonValue ADT

flowchart TD
    raw["LLM response"]
    parse["SimpleJson.parse"]
    json["JsonValue\n(JObj/JArray…)"]
    mapScala["Pattern match /\ncustom decoder"]
    domain["Domain model\n(case class, DTO)"]
    raw --> parse --> json --> mapScala --> domain
    style raw fill:#e1f5ff,stroke:#0066cc,color:#000
    style parse fill:#fff4e1,stroke:#cc8800,color:#000
    style json fill:#f0e1ff,stroke:#8800cc,color:#000
    style mapScala fill:#ffe1e1,stroke:#cc0000,color:#000
    style domain fill:#e1ffe1,stroke:#2d7a2d,color:#000

Prompt scaffolding idea:

System: You are a precise data validator.
User:
Please read the following TOON payload describing purchase orders.
Return JSON with fields {id, total, status} for every order with total > 100.
Validate row counts against the headers.

Then attach:

orders[3]{id,total,status}:
  101,250.10,pending
  102,89.00,fulfilled
  103,140.00,review

Why it helps:

• Array headers give you a checksum (“model must return 3 rows”).
• Tabular headers reduce hallucinations (model sees explicit columns).
• Reduced tokens = cheaper prompts; faster iteration = cheaper eval runs.

For response validation, decode the model output using Toon.decode (if the LLM responds in TOON) or rehydrate JSON responses and compare lengths/keys.

See also: Delimiters & headers, Strict mode

What we didn't compromise on: toon4s prioritizes correctness, type safety, and functional purity over convenience. All limitations below are honest tradeoffs we made consciously-not shortcuts.

These are inherent to the TOON specification, not toon4s:

• Irregular arrays: When rows differ in shape, TOON falls back to YAML-like list syntax; token savings shrink. This is by design-tabular encoding requires uniform structure.
• Binary blobs: TOON doesn't support binary data (spec limitation). Encode as Base64 strings manually before passing to toon4s.

These are conscious design decisions:

• Full AST decode (v0.1.0): Toon.decode() and Toon.decodeFrom() read entire input into memory before parsing. This ensures:

  • Pure functions: Decode returns Either[DecodeError, JsonValue] with complete error context
  • Type safety: Full AST enables exhaustive pattern matching and sealed ADT validation
  • Referential transparency: No hidden state, no streaming cursors to manage

  For large files (>100MB), we provide streaming alternatives that maintain purity:

  • Streaming.foreachTabular - tail-recursive row-by-row validation (constant memory)
  • Streaming.foreachArrays - validate nested arrays incrementally (stack-safe)
  • Both use pure visitor pattern (no side effects, accumulator-based)

  Full streaming decode (incremental parsing of entire documents) is planned for v0.2.0 while maintaining functional purity (likely using FS2/ZIO Stream integration).

• Deterministic ordering: We use VectorMap instead of HashMap because predictable field ordering matters more than raw lookup speed. This aids debugging, testing, and spec compliance.

• No mutation: Immutability with tailrec. Trade: ~20% throughput decrease. Gain: zero race conditions, zero hidden state, composable functions.

• No external dependencies (core): Zero deps means you can't use Jackson/Circe codecs directly. Trade: manual integration. Gain: 491KB JAR, zero CVEs, zero conflicts.

• Locale-specific numbers: Encoder always uses . decimal separators (spec requirement). Normalize inputs beforehand.
• CLI tokenizer: TokenEstimator currently defaults to CL100K_BASE (GPT-4/3.5). Model-specific differences apply (easily configurable).

Philosophy: We refuse shortcuts that compromise type safety (Any, asInstanceOf), purity (var, while, null), or correctness (exceptions in happy paths). If a feature can't be implemented purely, we defer it until we find the right abstraction.

• CLI flag rename: --strict is deprecated; use --strictness strict|lenient. The old flag still works with a warning for now.
• Length markers: legacy [#N] headers are no longer emitted; headers remain [N]{...} with delimiter hints (e.g., [2|]{...}). Decoders stay lenient toward existing [#N] inputs.
• Row depth: tabular arrays that are the first field in list-item objects now emit rows at depth +2 (v3 layout). Decoders remain lenient to legacy depths.
• Path expansion & key folding: available via --expand-paths safe and --key-folding safe; defaults remain off for backward compatibility.

sbt scalafmtCheckAll   # formatting
sbt +test              # Scala 2.13 and 3.3 suites
./smoke-tests/run-smoke.sh

Releases are fully automated, but you must complete the prerequisites in docs/releasing.md (namespace approval + PGP key upload) before the GitHub Actions workflows can publish to Maven Central.

GitHub actions runs:

1. Quick checks: scalafmt + +compile on Ubuntu.
2. Matrix tests: Linux/macOS/Windows × Scala 2.13 & 3.3, with test-report artifacts when a shard fails.
3. Smoke: CLI round trip script on Ubuntu.
4. All checks pass “gate” job.

• Quick run (single iteration, small windows):

sbt "jmh/jmh:run -i 1 -wi 1 -r 500ms -w 500ms -f1 -t1 io.toonformat.toon4s.jmh.EncodeDecodeBench.*"

• Typical run:

sbt "jmh/jmh:run -i 5 -wi 5 -f1 -t1 io.toonformat.toon4s.jmh.EncodeDecodeBench.*"

Or use aliases:

sbt jmhDev   # quick check
sbt jmhFull  # heavy run

• Intent: publish indicative throughput numbers for common shapes (tabular, lists, nested objects) under reproducible settings.
• Harness: JMH via sbt-jmh 0.4.5. Single thread (-t1), single fork (-f1).
• Quick config: -i 1 -wi 1 -r 500ms -w 500ms (fast sanity; noisy but useful for local checks).
• Heavy config: -i 5 -wi 5 -r 2s -w 2s (more stable). CI runs this set with a soft 150s guard.
• Reporting: CI also emits JSON (-rf json -rff /tmp/jmh.json) and posts a summary table on PRs.
• Machine baseline (indicative): macOS Apple M‑series (M2/M3), Temurin Java 21, default power settings.
• Guidance: close heavy apps/IDEs, plug in AC power, warm JVM before measurement. Numbers vary by OS/JVM/data shapes-treat them as relative, not absolute.

For Apache Spark-style workloads processing millions of rows, toon4s provides a composable visitor pattern that eliminates intermediate allocations:

import io.toonformat.toon4s.visitor._

// Compose: Repair LLM output → Filter sensitive keys → Encode
val visitor = new JsonRepairVisitor(
  new FilterKeysVisitor(
    Set("password", "ssn", "api_key"),
    new StringifyVisitor(indent = 2)
  )
)

// Single pass, zero intermediate trees
val cleanToon: String = Dispatch(llmJson, visitor)

Visitor composition flow:

flowchart LR
    JSON["JsonValue Tree"] --> DISPATCH["Dispatch"]
    DISPATCH --> REPAIR["JsonRepairVisitor"]
    REPAIR --> FILTER["FilterKeysVisitor"]
    FILTER --> STRINGIFY["StringifyVisitor"]
    STRINGIFY --> OUTPUT["TOON String"]
    style JSON fill:#e1f5ff,stroke:#0066cc,color:#000
    style DISPATCH fill:#fff4e1,stroke:#cc8800,color:#000
    style REPAIR fill:#f0e1ff,stroke:#8800cc,color:#000
    style FILTER fill:#f0e1ff,stroke:#8800cc,color:#000
    style STRINGIFY fill:#f0e1ff,stroke:#8800cc,color:#000
    style OUTPUT fill:#e1ffe1,stroke:#2d7a2d,color:#000

Performance comparison:

flowchart TD
    subgraph WITHOUT["Without visitors - O(n) space"]
        W1["parse(row)"] --> W2["Tree 1"]
        W2 --> W3["filter(tree1)"]
        W3 --> W4["Tree 2"]
        W4 --> W5["encode(tree2)"]
        W5 --> W6["String"]
    end

    subgraph WITH["With visitors - O(d) space"]
        V1["Dispatch(row, visitor)"] --> V2["Single Pass"]
        V2 --> V3["String"]
    end

    style W2 fill:#ffe1e1,stroke:#cc0000,color:#000
    style W4 fill:#ffe1e1,stroke:#cc0000,color:#000
    style W6 fill:#e1ffe1,stroke:#2d7a2d,color:#000
    style V1 fill:#f0e1ff,stroke:#8800cc,color:#000
    style V2 fill:#fff4e1,stroke:#cc8800,color:#000
    style V3 fill:#e1ffe1,stroke:#2d7a2d,color:#000

Dispatch algorithm (how visitor traversal works):

flowchart TD
    START["Dispatch(json, visitor)"] --> MATCH{Pattern match JsonValue}
    MATCH -->|" JString(s) "| VS["visitor.visitString(s)"]
    MATCH -->|" JNumber(n) "| VN["visitor.visitNumber(n)"]
    MATCH -->|" JBool(b) "| VB["visitor.visitBool(b)"]
    MATCH -->|" JNull "| VNULL["visitor.visitNull()"]
    MATCH -->|" JArray(elems) "| ARR["Map over elements:\nDispatch(elem, visitor)"]
    MATCH -->|" JObj(fields) "| OBJ["visitor.visitObject()"]
    ARR --> VARR["visitor.visitArray(results)"]
    OBJ --> LOOP{"For each (key, value)"}
    LOOP --> VKEY["objVisitor.visitKey(key)"]
    VKEY --> VVAL["objVisitor.visitValue()"]
    VVAL --> REC["Dispatch(value, newVisitor)"]
    REC --> VVALRES["objVisitor.visitValue(result)"]
    VVALRES --> LOOP
    LOOP -->|" Done "| DONE["objVisitor.done()"]
    VS --> RETURN["Return T"]
    VN --> RETURN
    VB --> RETURN
    VNULL --> RETURN
    VARR --> RETURN
    DONE --> RETURN
    style START fill:#e1f5ff,stroke:#0066cc,color:#000
    style MATCH fill:#fff4e1,stroke:#cc8800,color:#000
    style VS fill:#f0e1ff,stroke:#8800cc,color:#000
    style VN fill:#f0e1ff,stroke:#8800cc,color:#000
    style VB fill:#f0e1ff,stroke:#8800cc,color:#000
    style VNULL fill:#f0e1ff,stroke:#8800cc,color:#000
    style ARR fill:#f0e1ff,stroke:#8800cc,color:#000
    style OBJ fill:#f0e1ff,stroke:#8800cc,color:#000
    style VARR fill:#f0e1ff,stroke:#8800cc,color:#000
    style LOOP fill:#fff4e1,stroke:#cc8800,color:#000
    style VKEY fill:#f0e1ff,stroke:#8800cc,color:#000
    style VVAL fill:#f0e1ff,stroke:#8800cc,color:#000
    style REC fill:#fff4e1,stroke:#cc8800,color:#000
    style VVALRES fill:#f0e1ff,stroke:#8800cc,color:#000
    style DONE fill:#f0e1ff,stroke:#8800cc,color:#000
    style RETURN fill:#e1ffe1,stroke:#2d7a2d,color:#000

ObjectVisitor lifecycle (zero-overhead secret):

sequenceDiagram
    participant D as Dispatch
    participant V as Visitor[T]
    participant OV as ObjectVisitor[T]
    participant DS as Downstream Visitor
    Note over D, DS: Processing JObj({"name": "Ada", "age": 30})
    D ->> V: visitObject()
    V ->> OV: Create ObjectVisitor
    OV -->> D: Return objVisitor

    loop For each field
        D ->> OV: visitKey("name")
        Note over OV: Store key, no allocation yet
        D ->> OV: visitValue()
        OV ->> DS: Return new visitor for value
        D ->> DS: Dispatch(JString("Ada"), visitor)
        DS -->> D: Return result: T
        D ->> OV: visitValue(result)
        Note over OV: Forward (key, T) to downstream
    end

    D ->> OV: done()
    OV -->> D: Return final T
    Note over D, DS: Zero intermediate trees - results flow directly!

Key visitors:

• StringifyVisitor - Terminal visitor producing TOON strings
• ConstructionVisitor - Terminal visitor reconstructing JsonValue trees
• FilterKeysVisitor - Intermediate visitor removing sensitive fields
• JsonRepairVisitor - Fixes malformed LLM JSON (converts string "true" → JBool, normalizes keys, etc.)
• StreamingEncoder - Streams directly to Writer for large datasets
• TreeWalker[T] - Universal adapter for encoding from Jackson JsonNode, Circe Json, Play JSON, etc. without JsonValue conversion
• TreeConstructionVisitor[T] - Universal adapter for decoding to Jackson JsonNode, Circe Json, etc. without JsonValue intermediate
• VisitorConverter[T] - Typeclass for converting domain models to JsonValue with .toJsonValue syntax

Performance: O(n) time, O(d) space where d = depth. Perfect for processing millions of rows with constant memory.

Jackson/Circe interop (zero-overhead, typeclass pattern):

import io.toonformat.toon4s.visitor.TreeWalkerOps._

// Setup: copy JacksonWalker adapter from TreeWalker scaladocs
implicit val walker: TreeWalker[JsonNode] = JacksonWalker

// Encode: Jackson JsonNode → TOON (zero JsonValue intermediate)
val jacksonNode: JsonNode = objectMapper.readTree(apiResponse)
val toon: String = jacksonNode.toToon(indent = 2)
val filtered: String = jacksonNode.toToonFiltered(Set("password"), indent = 2)

// Decode: TOON → Jackson JsonNode (zero JsonValue intermediate)
val factory = JsonNodeFactory.instance
val jacksonNode: JsonNode = Toon.decode(toonString)
  .map(Dispatch(_, JacksonConstructionVisitor(factory)))
  .fold(throw _, identity)

See TreeWalker and TreeConstructionVisitor scaladocs for complete Jackson/Circe adapter examples (copy-paste ready).

See also: io.toonformat.toon4s.visitor package docs and Li Haoyi's article.

• Tabular rows only:

import io.toonformat.toon4s.decode.Streaming

val reader = new java.io.StringReader(
  """
users[2]{id,name}:
  1,Ada
  2,Bob
""".stripMargin)
Streaming.foreachTabular(reader) { (key, fields, values) =>
  // key = Some("users"), fields = List("id","name"), values = Vector("1","Ada") then Vector("2","Bob")
}

• Nested arrays with path:

val reader2 = new java.io.StringReader(
  """
orders[1]{id,items}:
  1001,[2]{sku,qty}:
    A1,2
    B2,1
""".stripMargin)
Streaming.foreachArrays(reader2)({ (path, header) =>
  // path: Vector("orders") when header key is bound
})({ (path, header, values) =>
  // values: Vector("A1","2"), then Vector("B2","1")
})

When to use streaming

• Validate/model‑check tabular sections quickly (row counts, required columns) without allocating a full AST.
• Pipe rows directly to sinks (CSV writers, database ingesters, online aggregation) for large payloads.
• Pre‑filter/transform rows on the fly before passing trimmed data to LLMs.
• Keep full Toon.decode for non‑tabular or when you need the entire tree (e.g., complex nested edits).

MIT - see LICENSE.