FuncScript is a pure functional expression language and runtime. It layers onto a conventional host application to give it runtime programmability, so product teams can ship configuration-driven behavior without constant redeploys. Common uses include letting end users define custom business rules inside their own domain.
- Expression-oriented language with blocks, lambdas, pattern-like switches, string templates, lists, and key-value collections.
- Batteries-included standard library covering math, logic, text, list processing, OS helpers, HTML utilities, and JSON conversion.
- Ships as a lightweight runtime so configuration can define behavior instead of scattered feature flags.
- Ergonomic .NET embedding via
FuncScript.Engine.Evaluate(...), strongly typed error reporting, and deterministic formatting utilities. - Extensible through custom
IFsFunctionimplementations or ad-hoc variables injected withDefaultFsDataProvider. - Extra packages for SQL Server and NetTopologySuite geometries, plus an experimental JavaScript interpreter port.
- Let administrators express workflow rules (routing, approvals, state transitions) directly in configuration.
- Model pricing, scoring, and validation rules that change faster than release cycles.
- Generate derived fields and mappings in ETL or integration pipelines without shipping new code.
- Power in-product calculators and what-if tools where end users control the formulae.
FuncScript/- core library targeting .NET 6.0; contains the parser, runtime, standard library, and data model.FuncScript.Cli/- minimal .NET 8 CLI (funcscriptcli) that evaluates expressions from the command line.FuncScript.Example/- interactive console sample that demonstrates the REPL-style usage of the runtime.FuncScript.Sql/- optional extension with SQL/geometry helpers and type normalization for ADO.NET results.FuncScript.Test/- NUnit-based test suite covering parsing, evaluation, errors, and formatting.js-port/- in-progress JavaScript port plus editor experiments and examples.
Install the .NET 8 SDK; it includes the .NET 6 tooling required by the library projects.
Restore and build the solution:
dotnet restore FuncScript.sln
dotnet build FuncScript.sln# Evaluate a simple expression
dotnet run --project FuncScript.Cli -- "(2 + 3) * 4"
# Evaluate a block with variables and built-in helpers
dotnet run --project FuncScript.Cli -- "{ rate:0.13; net:(gross)=>gross*(1-rate); eval net(12500); }"Inject globals, evaluate an expression, and format the result:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using FuncScript;
using FuncScript.Model;
var globals = new DefaultFsDataProvider(new List<KeyValuePair<string, object>>
{
new KeyValuePair<string, object>("taxRate", 0.15),
new KeyValuePair<string, object>("format", (Func<object,string>)(value => string.Format("{0:#,#0.00}", value)))
});
var expression = "{ net:(gross)=>gross*(1-taxRate); eval format(net(gross)); }";
var context = new ObjectKvc(new { gross = 5200 });
var result = FuncScript.Engine.Evaluate(new KvcProvider(context, globals), expression);
var output = new StringBuilder();
FuncScript.Engine.Format(output, result);
Console.WriteLine(output);The runtime normalizes .NET values so that primitive types, lists, key-value collections, GUIDs, byte arrays, and delegates translate seamlessly to script data.
Scripts are case-insensitive, expression-oriented, and intentionally small. Core constructs:
- Blocks:
{ items:[1,2,3]; eval Sum(items); } - Lambdas:
(x)=>x*xor(row, index)=>{ ... } - String templates:
f"Hello {name}!" - Strings: standard
'single'/"double"literals or triple-quoted"""multi-line"""blocks when you need verbatim text - Collections: lists
[1, 2, 3]and records{name:"Ada", skills:["math","logic"]} - Control:
If,Switch,Case, andfaultfor structured errors - Functions:
Map,Reduce,Filter,Distinct,Take,JoinText,Format,TicksToDate,point, and many more - Operators:
/promotes to floating point when needed,divenforces integer-only division (accepting only 32/64-bit integers), and==is a synonym for=when comparing values - Comments:
//inline and/* ... */multi-line comments wherever whitespace is allowed
Use eval to emit the final value from a block. return remains for backward compatibility but will be phased out.
See FuncScript/TestFormula.text for a fuller payroll example built with mapping and HTML string templates.
Custom functions are regular .NET classes implementing IFsFunction. Example hex formatter:
public class HexFunction : IFsFunction
{
public string Symbol => "hex";
public int MaxParsCount => 1;
public CallType CallType => CallType.Prefix;
public int Precedence => 0;
public object Evaluate(IFsDataProvider context, IParameterList parameters)
{
var value = Convert.ToInt64(parameters.GetParameter(context, 0));
return $"0x{value:X}";
}
public string ParName(int index) => "value";
}Create a parameterless constructor, reference the assembly, and DefaultFsDataProvider.LoadFromAssembly(...) will auto-register the symbol (including optional aliases via FunctionAliasAttribute).
FuncScript.Sql adds converters for Sql* types and NetTopologySuite geometries plus GIS helpers such as point(x, y). Reference the project alongside the core library to normalize database values and geometry types before exposing them to scripts.
The js-port/ folder contains a progressively feature-complete JavaScript interpreter that mirrors the .NET runtime. See js-port/AGENTS.md and js-port/port-progress.md for implementation notes and status; it is useful when you need FuncScript behavior inside browser-based tools.
Run the NUnit suite to keep parsing, evaluation, and formatting changes backwards compatible:
dotnet test FuncScript.slnIssues and pull requests are welcome. If you plan substantial language or runtime changes, open an issue first so we can align on approach.
The language manual lives under docs/ and is powered by MkDocs Material.
# install MkDocs dependencies into .venv-docs/
make docs-install
# preview changes locally with live reload
make docs-serve
# build the static site into ./site/
make docs-buildThe manual covers the language overview, practical examples, and a reference hub for functions and types. Add pages inside docs/, update navigation in mkdocs.yml, and CI (.github/workflows/docs.yml) will rebuild the site on main. Vercel uses the same build and is the canonical host for https://funcscript.org.
The repository includes vercel.json plus scripts/vercel-build.sh, which Vercel calls to reproduce the GitHub Pages bundle. The script installs MkDocs, builds the React-based FuncScript Studio demo with PUBLIC_PATH=./, runs mkdocs build --clean --site-dir public, and copies the demo into public/web/funcscript-studio/ so the static site can serve everything from the same origin.
To publish updates to https://funcscript.org:
- Install the Vercel CLI (
npm i -g vercel) and authenticate (vercel login). - Run
vercel linkfrom the repo root and select (or create) the FuncScript docs project. - Deploy with
vercel deploy --prod --confirm(the CLI picks upvercel.jsonand runs the custom build). - Point the apex domain at Vercel by creating an
Arecord forfuncscript.orgthat targets76.76.21.21, and (optionally) aCNAMEforwww.funcscript.orgthat targetscname.vercel-dns.com. - Attach the domain inside Vercel (
vercel domains add funcscript.org) so certificates are issued automatically.
Once linked, you can enable Vercel's GitHub import for automatic deploys from main, or keep running vercel deploy --prod after reviewing changes locally.
- Tewelde Ma. Tegegne (teweldemat@gmail.com)
Released under the MIT License. See LICENSE for details.