Deor
Deor is a small, highly-procedural, tabbed-block language that transpiles to Rust. It enforces near-book readability, explicit typing, and predictable control flow — with a rust block escape hatch for when you need the full language.
Its goal is a comfier entrance point to Rust: simple syntactical sugar, uniform composition rules, and so little room for debate that when there is debate, you just drop into rust {}.
Inspired by Python's opinionated readability, Go's lightweight base syntax, and Rust's type system.
Install
Prerequisites: Rust / rustc must be installed.
Unix — one-liner (no clone needed):
curl -sSf https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathanphoffman/DeorLang/main/setup/install.sh | sh
Unix — manual (if you prefer to inspect before running):
git clone https://github.com/nathanphoffman/DeorLang
cd DeorLang
bash setup/install.sh
Both options install the deor binary and standard library to ~/.deor/ and patch your .bashrc/.zshrc. Restart your shell (or run . ~/.deor/env) when done.
Windows (PowerShell)
git clone https://github.com/nathanphoffman/DeorLang
cd DeorLang
.\setup\install.ps1
Restart your terminal. The binary is added to your user PATH automatically.
Working on an existing Deor project
If you cloned a project that already uses Deor and just need the toolchain (the Deor programming language installed).
just install-deor
Or directly:
curl -sSf https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathanphoffman/DeorLang/main/setup/install-deor.sh | sh
Windows (PowerShell)
Invoke-Expression (Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathanphoffman/DeorLang/main/setup/install-deor.ps1" -UseBasicParsing).Content
This installs only the deor binary and sets up your PATH — it does not create or modify any project files.
Then reload your shell so the deor command is available:
. ~/.deor/env
Or restart your terminal.
Update
Pull the latest transpiler, standard library, and spec docs into an existing project:
Run this from inside your project directory and it will recompile ~/.deor/bin/deor and refresh the lib/ and deor_specification/ files in place:
curl -sSf https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathanphoffman/DeorLang/main/setup/update.sh | sh
To target a specific project path instead:
curl -sSf https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathanphoffman/DeorLang/main/setup/update.sh | sh -s -- /path/to/your/project
Windows (PowerShell) — run from a clone of the DeorLang repo:
cd DeorLang
.\setup\update.ps1
To target a specific project path instead:
.\setup\update.ps1 C:\path\to\your\project
Quick start
During install you'll be prompted for a folder to create your starter project in:
Where would you like to create your starter project? (default: /your/current/dir/hello-deor):
Hit enter to accept the default or type a custom path. A main.deor file will be placed there. Once your shell is reloaded, run it:
# Unix / macOS
cd hello-deor
deor main.deor main.rs && rustc main.rs -o main && ./main
# Windows
cd hello-deor
deor main.deor main.rs; rustc main.rs -o main.exe; .\main.exe
You should see:
Hello, world!
Working on the transpiler
The transpiler is written in Deor itself (self-hosted). Clone the repo, then install the prerequisites:
| Tool | Purpose |
|---|
| Rust | Compiling transpiled output |
| just | Running project commands |
| Node.js / npm | VS Code extension (optional) |
A prebuilt binary lives at output/out so you can run files immediately without rebuilding.
Run a Deor file
just run # runs examples/hello.deor
just run file=path/to/file.deor # runs a specific file
Rebuild the transpiler
just build-transpiler # transpile transpiler-deor/main.deor -> output/out.rs
just rebuild-binary # compile output/out.rs -> output/out
Or self-compile and run in one shot:
just run-deor
VS Code extension — syntax highlighting and diagnostics for .deor files:
just install-ext
After installing, reload VS Code (Ctrl+Shift+P → Reload Window).
