Aether

A modern systems programming language with LLM-first design principles

Aether combines memory safety through an ownership system with S-expression syntax for enhanced metaprogramming capabilities. Designed for high-performance applications while maintaining safety, expressiveness, and AI-friendly code generation.

NOTE
This project is a demonstration of vibe coding intended to provide a trustworthy and verifiable example that developers and researchers can use. It is not intended
for use in a production environment.

This is not an officially supported Google product. This project is not
eligible for the Google Open Source Software Vulnerability Rewards
Program.

🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Rust toolchain (1.70+)
• LLVM 17+
• Git

Build and Install

git clone https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/Aether
cd Aether
cargo build --release

Hello World

(DEFINE_MODULE
  (NAME 'hello_world')
  (INTENT "Simple greeting program demonstrating Aether syntax")
  (CONTENT
    (DEFINE_FUNCTION
      (NAME 'main')
      (RETURNS INTEGER)
      (BODY
        (EXPRESSION_STATEMENT
          (CALL_FUNCTION 'printf' "Hello, Aether!\n"))
        (RETURN_VALUE 0)))))

Compile and run:

./target/release/aether compile examples/hello_world.aether
./hello_world

✨ Key Features

• 🛡️ Memory Safety: Ownership system with move, borrow, and shared semantics
• 🤖 LLM-First Design: Explicit intent annotations and structured syntax for AI comprehension
• ⚡ Performance: Zero-cost abstractions with LLVM backend
• 🌐 Web Ready: Built-in HTTP server capabilities and FFI networking
• 🔒 Verification: Contract-based programming with preconditions and postconditions
• 📝 S-Expression Syntax: Consistent, parseable structure for metaprogramming

📚 Documentation

• User Guide - Complete language tutorial and reference
• Language Reference - Comprehensive syntax and semantics
• Final Design - Core philosophy and architectural principles
• Examples - Working code examples and demonstrations
• Technical Docs - Implementation details and architectural documentation

🌐 Working Examples

HTTP Blog Server

Aether includes a complete, working HTTP server implementation:

# Compile the blog server
./target/release/aether compile examples/blog_listen.aether

# Run the server
./blog_listen &

# Test it
curl http://localhost:8080

See examples/README.md for all available examples including:

• ✅ Working HTTP blog servers with styled HTML
• 🚀 LLM-optimized web applications
• 🔧 FFI networking integration
• 📊 Resource management demonstrations

🛠️ CLI Commands

# Compile to executable
aether compile program.aether

# Type checking only
aether check program.aether

# Run directly
aether run program.aether

# View AST
aether ast program.aether

# View tokens
aether tokens program.aether

🏗️ Project Structure

├── src/           # Compiler source code
├── runtime/       # Runtime library (Rust)
├── stdlib/        # Standard library modules
├── examples/      # Example programs and demos
├── tests/         # Test suite
├── scripts/       # Build and development scripts
├── docs/          # Technical documentation
└── tutorials/     # Learning materials

🎯 Status

Production Ready - AetherScript is fully functional with:

• ✅ 360 unit tests passing
• ✅ Complete compiler pipeline (lexing → parsing → semantic analysis → LLVM codegen)
• ✅ Ownership system with move/borrow tracking
• ✅ HTTP server examples demonstrating real-world applications
• ✅ Comprehensive CLI with multiple commands
• ✅ Runtime library with memory management and networking

🤝 Contributing

1. Read the Final Design document
2. Check Technical Documentation for implementation details
3. Browse Examples to understand the language
4. See Build Scripts for development workflow

📄 License

This project is licensed under the Apache 2 License - see the LICENSE file for details.

🔗 Links

• Repository: https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/Aether
• Documentation: Complete docs in this repository
• Examples: Live HTTP server demos in /examples

Aether: Bridging human intention and machine execution through explicit, verifiable code.