Chara

A lightweight parser for layered character definitions using a simple line-based format.

Format

internal_name: Optional Display Name  # Inline comment
- Variant Name: image_path
- Another Variant: other_path
- None  # Disables layer

Both separators are colons: internal_name: display_name for a layer, variant_name: image_path for a variant. The display name and the image path are optional.

Usage

Add to your project:

[dependencies]
chara = "0.2"

Basic parsing:

use chara::CharacterDefinition;

let input = r"
base
- Default: base.png

expression: Mood
- Happy: happy.png
- Sad: sad.png
";

let def = CharacterDefinition::parse(input);

parse is lenient and never fails: malformed lines are skipped. Use try_parse to reject them instead — it returns a Result<_, ParseError> that reports the first structural problem with its line number (orphan variant, missing name, empty layer, duplicate name).

Features

• Zero dependencies
• First variant is default
• Empty path disables layer
• Preserves declaration order

Used by

• chara-server — HTTP server that renders .chara files as interactive character previews
• pukram-server — HTTP server rendering Pukram documents (stories, visual novels, character pages) as HTML

For AI coding agents

• Single public entry point with two explicit modes: lenient parse (infallible) and strict try_parse (returns ParseError). No hidden global state or config.
• ParseError is an exhaustive enum with line numbers and a Display message — no stringly-typed errors, no panics on bad input.
• Plain public data (CharacterDefinition → LayerGroup → LayerEntry); fields are owned Box<str>, declaration order is preserved, empty path means disabled.