JSON-Like Data Recipes¶

MRON can express the same broad kinds of tree-shaped data people often use JSON for, but in a syntax that stays closer to the Makrell family.

Recipe: nested objects¶

project {
    name "Makrell"
    homepage "https://makrell.dev"
    maintainers [
        {
            name "Hans-Christian Holm"
            role "author"
        }
    ]
}

This shows the most common object-style pattern: nested key/value groups with lists inside them.

Recipe: arrays of records¶

books [
    {
        title "That Time of the Year Again"
        year 1963
        author "Norton Max"
    }
    {
        title "One for the Team"
        year 2024
        author "Felicia X"
    }
]

Recipe: booleans, numbers, and strings together¶

stats {
    active true
    users 1250
    ratio 0.84
    note "Example document"
}

How to think about it¶

If you already know JSON, the easiest mental model is:

object members become key/value lines
arrays become square-bracket lists
nested objects become nested Makrell-shaped blocks

That gives you most of the benefit immediately.

Typical use cases¶

These recipes are useful when you want:

JSON-like configuration or data files
human-readable nested records
lists of similarly shaped objects