Zith

A statically typed, compiled, general-purpose language with compile-time ownership tracking and zero-cost abstractions.

Status: Active development — not production-ready. You can follow us in Discord if you want to colaborate or see the progress

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What Makes Zith Different

Zith uses Node Resource Analysis (NRA) — a compile-time pass that enforces ownership, borrowing, and memory safety without a borrow checker or garbage collector. No lifetime annotations, no runtime pauses, no hidden cost. The compiler proves your memory is safe before the program runs, and the syntax stays clean.

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Quick Start

zithc new hello-world
cd hello-world
zithc run

from std/io/console;

fn main() {
    @println("Hello, World!");
}

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Examples

Ownership + Chain Flow

lend gives exclusive temporary mutation. view gives read-only access. The -> operator pipes data left-to-right, and ! propagates errors out of the chain automatically.

fn scale(p: lend Point, factor: f32) {
    p.x *= factor;
    p.y *= factor;
}

fn process(data: view Config) -> Response! {
    getData()
        -> parse(..)!
        -> scale(.., 2.0)
        -> save(..)!
}

C Interop

Include a C header and all functions become available immediately. No bindings to write, no FFI layer to maintain.

import "openssl/ssl.h";

let ctx = SSL_CTX_new(method);   // all C functions available as raw fn

Flow Functions

Structured goto with compile-time verification. Markers define jump targets, docks invoke them — the compiler ensures correctness.

flow fn run(data: Stream): void {
    marker Process(chunk: Chunk, count: i32) {
        transform(chunk);
    }

    for ( i = 0, item in data ) {
        dock { jump Process(item, i); }
        i += 1;
    }
}

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Language Highlights

Memory & Ownership

• NRA — compile-time ownership tracking without a borrow checker
• unique, share, view, lend, belong — zero-cost memory qualifiers
• scene — arena-based memory regions for data-oriented designs

Type System

• struct, component (POD), enum (C-style, struct-backed, ADT), union (tagged)
• Traits (nominal) vs interfaces (structural)
• Capabilities — Copy, Arithmetic, Error, Share, Trust, and more

Control Flow

• when — pattern matching with ranges, types, and destructuring
• flow fn / marker / dock / jump — structured goto with compile-time verification
• -> — chain flow operator for left-to-right pipelines

Error Handling

• ?T (optional) / T! (result) — zero-cost, return-based
• or — fallback chains: !load() or backup() or default
• fail blocks — scoped error recovery

Compile-Time

• comptime — compile-time bindings and const blocks
• const fn — functions forced to resolve at compile time
• Reflection via @ intrinsics

Extensibility

• Words — custom operators (prefix, infix, suffix)
• Contexts — scoped DSL injection
• Macros — hygienic, raw, and tag macros

Interop & Platform

• C interop — automatic .h binding, manual semantic annotation
• ZIR — portable intermediate format
• Multi-target — VM execution or native compilation via LLVM

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Install

Package Managers

Scoop:

scoop bucket add zithc https://github.com/GalaxyHaze/Zith.git
scoop install zithc

Homebrew:

brew tap galaxyhaze/zithc
brew install zithc

Install Scripts

Linux / macOS:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/GalaxyHaze/Zith/rewrite/scripts/install.sh | bash

Pass --musl for a statically linked musl build, or a version tag (e.g. v0.0.1).

Windows (PowerShell):

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/GalaxyHaze/Zith/rewrite/scripts/install.ps1 | iex

WebAssembly:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/GalaxyHaze/Zith/rewrite/scripts/install-wasm.sh | bash

Build from Source

git clone https://github.com/GalaxyHaze/Zith.git
cd Zith
cmake -S . -B build
cmake --build build -j

Requires CMake 3.15+, a C++17 compiler (GCC/Clang/MSVC), and optionally LLVM for native backend support.

Verify:

zithc --help

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CLI Commands

Command	Description
zithc build	Build the project
zithc build -m release	Release build
zithc check	Syntax and type checking without compilation
zithc compile <file>	Compile to ZBC bytecode
zithc execute <file.zbc>	Run a compiled bytecode file
zithc run	Build and run in one command

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Documentation

• Language Specification
• Full docs
• API headers

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Contributing

• Issue Tracker
• Discussions

See the Build from Source section to get a local development environment set up.

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License

MIT License