ron-schema-validator
Schema validation for RON (Rusty Object Notation) files. Define the expected structure of your .ron data in a .ronschema file, then validate against it — catching type mismatches, missing fields, invalid enum variants, and more.
RON has no equivalent of JSON Schema. This project fills that gap.
Status: v0.1 MVP complete. Schema parser, RON parser, validator, and CLI are all functional with test coverage.
Schema Format
Schemas use a custom .ronschema format that mirrors the shape of the data it validates. Types replace values:
// config.ronschema
(
name: String,
version: Integer,
debug: Bool,
description: Option(String),
tags: [String],
window: (
width: Integer,
height: Integer,
),
)
A matching .ron data file:
// config.ron
(
name: "my-app",
version: 3,
debug: true,
description: Some("A sample application"),
tags: ["cli", "tools"],
window: (
width: 1920,
height: 1080,
),
)
Supported Types
| Type | Matches | Example |
|---|---|---|
String |
Quoted strings | "hello" |
Integer |
Signed integers (i64) | 42, -1 |
Float |
Floating-point values (f64) | 3.14 |
Bool |
Boolean literals | true, false |
Option(T) |
Some(value) or None |
Some(5), None |
[T] |
Homogeneous list | [1, 2, 3] |
| Inline struct | Nested (...) with named fields |
See example above |
| Enum reference | Bare identifier from a defined enum | Creature |
Enums
Define enums after the root struct. Variants are bare identifiers (not strings):
(
status: Status,
)
enum Status { Active, Inactive, Pending }
CLI Usage
ron-schema validate --schema config.ronschema target.ron
Pass a directory as the target to validate all .ron files within it:
ron-schema validate --schema card.ronschema cards/
Library Usage
The library crate (ron-schema) operates on &str — no file I/O, no formatting opinions.
use ;
let schema = parse_schema?;
let value = parse_ron?;
let errors = validate;
for error in &errors
Validation collects all errors rather than failing on the first — useful when batch-validating many files.
Project Structure
ron-schema-validator/
├── ron-schema/ ← library crate (zero external dependencies)
│ └── src/
│ ├── lib.rs ← public API re-exports
│ ├── span.rs ← Position, Span, Spanned<T>
│ ├── error.rs ← error types (schema, RON, validation)
│ ├── diagnostic.rs
│ ├── schema/ ← schema AST + parser
│ └── ron/ ← RON value types + parser
└── ron-schema-cli/ ← binary crate (clap)
└── src/
└── main.rs
Building
cargo build
cargo test
Requires Rust 2021 edition.
Roadmap
MVP (v0.1)
- Workspace and crate scaffolding
- Source location types (
Span,Position,Spanned<T>) - Error types (schema parsing, RON parsing, validation)
- Schema AST types
- RON value types
- Source line extraction for diagnostics
- Schema parser (
.ronschema→ AST) - RON data parser (
.ron→Spanned<RonValue>) - Validation engine
- CLI wiring (file I/O, error rendering, batch mode)
- Test coverage for all error kinds
Future (v1.0+)
- Type aliases (
type Cost = (...)) - Enum variants with associated data
- Tuple structs
- Map types (
{K: V}) - Schema composition / imports
- Custom validation rules (value ranges, string patterns)
- Optional field presence (
defaultvalues)
Design Decisions
| Decision | Rationale |
|---|---|
Custom .ronschema format |
Mirrors data shape, reads like Rust type definitions. More readable than embedding schema rules in RON. |
| Custom RON parser | The ron crate's Value type discards bare identifier names, making enum validation impossible. |
| All fields required by default | Mirrors Rust semantics. Option(T) controls the value, not whether the field can be absent. |
| Collect all errors | Primary use case is batch-validating many files. Users need all problems at once. |
| Zero library dependencies | The library crate has no external dependencies. |
License
MIT