alt Hacker NewsSOML – A Config Format for Humans
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From the comments here I can infer that it has a schema and in turn I can extrapolate that this is as much "for humans" as many other config formats that are deterministically parseable.
A GUI is a config format for humans as it can you show what all of the configuration options are along with text that tells you what they do.
There are numerous inaccuracies in the “Why not TOML” section of the README. Here are a few:
> CVE-2026-44244 injected a [core] section into .git/config for code execution.
Git config is not TOML. It’s an ini-based bespoke syntax
> SOML needs quotes for a literal dot.
So does TOML, the dot notation is for nested keys. You use quotes for a literal dot.
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FWIW I like the decision to have a first class duration type.
From the title, I thought this was a specification for configuring humans. I don't quite know what that means, and I'm disappointed still not to know.
What I'm missing:
1. The readme doesn't make it clear what its "float" type is. A double, a decimal, implementation defined. I'm generally not a fan of restricting numbers to what a double can represent, like toml does.
2. It doesn't have a good way to model key-value pair like types such as tagged unions, polymorphic types, or function invocations. Simply allowing a key-value pair as a value (right associative) where the key is a string matching the keys of an object would fix this. Alternatively a function call syntax would fix this, which would also enable tuples as a concept distinct from arrays.
Looks nice!
It would be great if you had a simple website that allowed you to enter SOML and see the JSON side-by-side (similar to typescript playground https://www.typescriptlang.org/play/).
We already have TOML and it's great. I can seamlessly upgrade from ini to toml.
Can you add README sections for the schema and supported types?
> Top-level arrays. A TOML file is always a table, so a list of records needs a wrapper key.
I'm curious for example configs that are top-level lists?
See also: HUML [1]
Ironically the project seems LLM-generated.
I don't want to read Claude's interpretation of why your project matters. I want you to tell me directly.