Basic Syntax

WCL (Wil’s Configuration Language) is a block-structured configuration language. Every WCL file is composed of two kinds of top-level declarations: attributes and blocks. Both may be nested to arbitrary depth inside block bodies.

Attributes

An attribute binds a name to a value using =:

name = "acme-app"
port = 8080
debug = false

The left-hand side must be a valid identifier (letters, digits, and underscores — no hyphens). The right-hand side is any expression. See Attributes for the full set of value types.

Blocks

A block groups related attributes and nested blocks under a type name:

server {
  host = "0.0.0.0"
  port = 8080
}

Blocks may carry an inline ID (written with hyphens) and inline arguments:

server web-1 8080 "production" {
  host = "0.0.0.0"
  port = 443
}

See Blocks for the complete syntax including decorators, partials, and reserved block types.

Nesting

Block bodies can contain other blocks, creating a tree:

application {
  name    = "my-service"
  version = "1.0.0"

  database {
    host = "db.internal"
    port = 5432

    pool {
      min = 2
      max = 10
    }
  }

  server {
    host = "0.0.0.0"
    port = 8080
  }
}

There is no practical limit on nesting depth.

A Complete Minimal File

// Service configuration

service #api {
  name    = "api-gateway"
  version = "2.1.0"
  enabled = true

  listen {
    host = "0.0.0.0"
    port = 8080
  }
}

Comments

WCL supports line comments (// ...), block comments (/* ... */), and doc comments (/// ...). See Comments for details.

What’s Next

• Attributes — value types, expressions, and duplicate rules
• Blocks — IDs, inline arguments, decorators, partials, reserved types
• Data Types — the full primitive and composite type system
• Expressions — operators, precedence, function calls, lambdas