Variable

Variable is a type-safe feature configuration system.

You define features in .var files, then generate typed access code so application code never relies on ad-hoc string keys.

Why Variable

• Type-safe flag access in application code
• Defaults are required and baked into generated code
• Stable wire IDs (u32) for feature/variable compatibility
• Binary snapshot tooling for transport and diagnostics

Quick Example

Define features once:

1: Feature Checkout = {
    1: enabled Boolean = true
    2: max_items Number = 50
    3: header_text String = "Complete your purchase"
}

Generate TypeScript:

variable generate --out ./src/generated features.var

Use strongly typed values:

import { VariableClient } from "@variable/runtime";
import { getCheckoutVariables } from "./generated/features.generated";

const client = new VariableClient();
const checkout = getCheckoutVariables(client);

checkout.enabled;      // boolean
checkout.max_items;    // number
checkout.header_text;  // string

Quick Start

1. Prerequisites

• Rust (1.85+)
• Node.js (for TypeScript consumers)

2. Build the CLI

git clone <repo-url> && cd variable
cargo build --release

Binary path:

./target/release/variable

3. Write a .var file

1: Feature Search = {
    1: enabled Boolean = false
    2: max_results Number = 25
    3: placeholder String = "Search..."
}

4. Generate code

variable generate --out ./src/generated search.var

5. Optional: create and inspect binary snapshots

variable encode --schema-revision 1 --manifest-revision 42 search.var > search.snapshot.bin
variable decode --pretty search.snapshot.bin

decode is diagnostics-focused JSON output. It is not intended to reconstruct source .var files.

CLI Commands

• variable generate --out <dir> <file.var>
• variable encode [--schema-revision N] [--manifest-revision N] [--generated-at-unix-ms N] [--source TEXT] <file.var>
• variable decode [--pretty] [--fail-on-error] <file.bin>

DSL Reference

A .var file is a flat list of feature blocks. IDs are explicit and required.

1: Feature Checkout = {
    1: enabled Boolean = true
    2: max_items Number = 50
}

2: Feature Search = {
    1: enabled Boolean = false
    2: query String = ""
}

Rules:

• Feature IDs are u32 and unique per file/invocation
• Variable IDs are u32 and unique within each feature
• Feature names are unique per file/invocation
• Variable names are unique within each feature
• Every variable must have a default value
• String escapes supported: \n, \t, \\, \"

Supported types:

Runtime Model

Generated code imports VariableClient from @variable/runtime.

• Defaults come from generated code
• Provider data can override defaults
• Missing values fall back to defaults

Current TS provider shape:

interface Provider {
  getManifest(): Record<string, Record<string, unknown>>;
}

Binary Protocol

Wire format v1 details are documented in:

• docs/binary-protocol-v1.md

variable-wire provides Rust encode/decode tooling used by the CLI.

Examples

• examples/ts/basic

Run:

cd examples/ts/basic
npm install
npm start

Repository Layout

variable-core/       parser, lexer, AST, validation
variable-codegen/    TypeScript generation
variable-wire/       binary protocol encode/decode tooling
variable-cli/        CLI (`generate`, `encode`, `decode`)
runtime/ts/          TypeScript runtime package (@variable/runtime)
examples/            runnable examples
fixtures/            sample .var inputs

Development

cargo test
cargo build --release
cargo insta review

License

MIT