Silk is an unreleased low-level systems language built around explicit memory and execution control, typed failures, replaceable service requirements, deterministic cleanup, and tooling-friendly semantics. The repository is a strict TypeScript, ESM-only monorepo containing the stage-0 compiler, runtime-facing libraries, editor tooling, and language-pressure programs.
Silk currently compiles one source program through a lossless frontend, module and type analysis, HIR, ownership and cleanup planning, specialization, and MIR. Runtime artifacts—native executables and WebAssembly modules—are emitted through LLVM. Target-sensitive compile-time constants are resolved separately by static evaluation while the program is being analyzed.
The implemented bootstrap language includes modules and visibility, scalar families, typed scalar
constants, structs, fixed arrays, runtime slices, structural unions and exhaustive matching,
generics, first-class callables and pipelines, mutation, structured loops, recursion, affine
ownership, shared and exclusive borrowing, deterministic Drop, explicit allocation, static text
and byte data, and typed Effect computations with explicit service requirements. Canonical
Result, Effect, and Vector operations are ordinary navigable Silk source rather than
compiler-recognized library names. Portable semantic logging is likewise source-defined:
Effect.log and its level-specific aliases submit one complete borrowed string and a closed
LogLevel through an explicit replaceable Logger, with stdout and deterministic in-memory
providers supplied by the standard library.
Portable whole-file interaction is source-defined as well: normalized provider-absolute Path
values and a seven-operation mutable FileSystem service can be implemented by application-owned
native, browser, Wasm, or test providers without introducing ambient storage or host imports.
- Getting started — build a first project and learn the core language through compiler-checked programs.
- Language reference — prescriptive syntax, type, ownership, Effect, declaration, and control-flow rules with supporting evidence.
- Ownership, Effects and services, and Fibers — focused explanations of Silk's central model.
- Alpha status — implemented scope, supported targets, and compatibility boundaries.
- Standard library and diagnostics — generated lookup references.
This is still an alpha language. APIs may break freely. Cooperative single-threaded Fibers are implemented; parallelism, multithreading, networking, a package registry, broad FFI, and self-hosting remain future work chosen from executable evidence rather than compatibility commitments.
@silklang/compiler— the stage-0 compiler, LLVM backend, compile-time static evaluator, embedded Silk standard library, and supported analysis facade.@silklang/cli— project initialization, checking, multi-target builds, native execution, formatting, and documentation generation throughsilk.@silklang/llvm— Effect-native LLVM IR construction and deterministic text and bitcode emission.@silklang/editor-support— portable CodeMirror integration, TextMate grammar, semantic editor projections, and the<silk-snippet>custom element.@silklang/lsp— project-aware diagnostics, hover, navigation, completion, inlay hints, symbols, and canonical formatting over stdio.@silklang/docgen— CommonMark documentation models, semantic links, highlighting, doctesting, deterministic JSON, and static-site rendering.silk-language— the private Cursor/VS Code extension app.
The compiler is exercised by seven familiar algorithms plus Silk-written lexer and bounded stack VM pressure programs. A shared native acceptance corpus pins runtime outcomes independently, while LLVM IR, object, C-fixture, and LLVM-to-Wasm tests cover their authoritative target boundaries.
Current specifications live under openspec/specs; active changes live under
openspec/changes, and completed design records live under
openspec/changes/archive.
CI uses standard GitHub-hosted ubuntu-24.04 (x86-64), ubuntu-24.04-arm (ARM64), and
macos-15 (Apple Silicon) runners. Both repository CI and
selfhost CI are maintained on main, so shared workflow
changes land there before synchronization into selfhost. The selfhost workflow runs only
for selfhost pushes and pull requests targeting the selfhost or native stack branches.
CI can use the standalone bootstrap compiler
stored as a GitHub Actions artifact from passing main commits: download silk.mjs and run it
with Node 24 or Bun.
pnpm install
pnpm dev
pnpm build
pnpm checkpnpm dev runs package compilers in watch mode alongside the documentation app. pnpm build
creates a dependency-ordered production build of every workspace package and app.
Effect-returning tests use it.effect from @effect/vitest; pure tests use ordinary it with
assert.
MIT © 2026 Julia Ortiz