I'm terse(greetings)
Container #
"A container may have one text block, single or multi-line"
Object(Semi-colon separated attributes; variables_like: 123; "Traditional unicode strings allowed here too.") Another object with a name(multiple objects under a container)
Further description of TERSE #
"""
TERSE is a unified way to store state, with a defined way to query and mutate it that has been relentlessly refined for overall simplicity and token efficiency not just at rest, but in operation.
We realized state access was a low-level, common pattern that keeps getting reinvented. It goes deeper than just AI memory. Consider that Anthropic memory and others are a bunch of markdown files and in some respects, they got it right... simpler is better.
So REALLY the problem is settling on a format that is flexible to cover 95% of a domain. We can do so MUCH better than Markdown; TERSE is opinionated on that but it has very good reasons.
By being a line-ordered and line-identifiable structure (with special treatment for free-form blocks like this), now the whole state can be idempotently re-declared. Literally, this text of this post is a TERSE state declaration that an AI or you could make. Or, duh, just copy this to a .terse file!
So let's say you did that. To query this state:
? Hello World
To copy this whole state somewhere:
My new container #
? Hello World //inline queries physically expand into the declaration
Directives are a [tail] with composable set of operations. For example, let's clean that up.. I declare thee removed!
My new container [REMOVED] // all contents too! #
There's more. TERSE makes it exceeding easy for the AI to do stuff with state.
The MCP has one main op where these two things are sent together
-
state declarations
-
state queries (post-application of declarations and results unioned) BTW, to query all state, wait for it...
? // Not that you want do this often!
TERSE has a full object model for (de)serialization. A reference Python implementation of the full specification is also included.
"""
Example apps included(to help get you started; in the monorepo) #
TERSE MCP("store anything you want locally for your AI")
TERSE Memory(a generalist; modify your own)
TERSE Brain
"A Karpathy-brain compatible API but with TERSE as the backing store. 1/6th token use and 1/8th the number of tool calls!"
Misc
TERSE Browser(query-response UI; great for testing) VS Code syntax highlighter(vsix included)
Reminders #
Terse is pre-release(alpha)
Comments URL: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49045760](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49045760)
Points: 1