csonh 1.0.1

CSONH - Concise Structured Object Notation for Humanity

CSONH - Concise Structured Object Notation for Humanity

A strict, data-only configuration format that's easy to read and write. Zero dependencies.

CSONH = JSON's clarity + YAML's readability + strict safety guarantees.

Quick Start

Python

import csonh

# From string
config = csonh.loads('''
server:
  host: 'localhost'
  port: 8080
  debug: yes
''')

# From file
with open('config.csonh', 'r') as f:
    config = csonh.load(f)

CoffeeScript / Node.js

CSONH = require('./csonh')

# From string
config = CSONH.parse '''
server:
  host: 'localhost'
  port: 8080
  debug: yes
'''

# From file (Node.js)
fs = require('fs')
source = fs.readFileSync('config.csonh', 'utf8')
config = CSONH.parse(source)

Installation

Direct Use (No Package Manager)

Python: Copy csonh.py to your project
CoffeeScript: Copy csonh.coffee to your project

Via Package Manager (Coming Soon)

Python: pip install csonh
Node.js: npm install csonh

Features

• Human-friendly: Indentation-based like Python/YAML
• Type-safe: Integers, floats, hex/binary/octal, booleans, null
• Comments: Line (#) and block (###...###)
• Multiline strings: Triple-quoted with auto-dedenting
• Strict: No code execution, no arithmetic, no surprises
• Zero dependencies: Single file, standard library only

Example

# Application configuration
app:
  name: 'MyApp'
  version: '1.2.3'

# Database settings
database:
  host: 'localhost'
  port: 5432
  pool:
    min: 2
    max: 10

# Feature flags
features: [
  'authentication',
  'caching',
  'logging'
]

# Environment-specific
production:
  debug: no
  workers: 8

development:
  debug: yes
  workers: 1

Result:

{
  'app': {'name': 'MyApp', 'version': '1.2.3'},
  'database': {'host': 'localhost', 'port': 5432, 'pool': {'min': 2, 'max': 10}},
  'features': ['authentication', 'caching', 'logging'],
  'production': {'debug': False, 'workers': 8},
  'development': {'debug': True, 'workers': 1}
}

What Makes CSONH Different

Safe by design:

• ❌ No string interpolation (#{})
• ❌ No arithmetic expressions
• ❌ No code execution
• ❌ No bareword values
• ✅ Just data

Precise behavior:

• Unambiguous parsing (unlike YAML)
• Complete specification
• Consistent across implementations

Language Support

• ✅ Python 3.7+ - csonh.py
• ✅ CoffeeScript/Node.js - csonh.coffee

Both implementations pass the same 120-test validation suite.

Documentation

Full specification: CSONH_STANDARD.md

License

MIT License - See LICENSE file

Contributing

CSONH 1.0 specification is final and stable. The format will not change.

Bug reports and implementation improvements are welcome via GitHub issues.

Credits

Developed in team collaboration with (in no particular order):

Claude (Anthropic), ChatGPT (OpenAI), and Gemini (Google)