Copper File Format

A human-readable, low-stress format for structured data and configuration

Copper, or .copr, is a lightweight data format designed to be pleasant for humans and simple for parsers. It replaces the punctuation maze of YAML, JSON, and XML with clean section headers, plain key-value pairs, and visual structure that mirrors how people actually write notes. It’s designed to be easy for humans to read and easy for machines to parse — a middle ground between free-form writing and data serialization.

Copper isn’t a markup language or a programming language. It’s a comment system for thought — a way to store structured ideas without nesting or syntax noise.

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Philosophy

• Human first: readable with a plain text editor.

• Flat, not nested: no hierarchies to get lost in.

• Collaborative: multiple people or AIs can work in the same file.

• Durable: text stays meaningful even without special tools.

• Extensible: structured enough for automation, simple enough for writing.

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File Concepts

Symbol	Purpose
[=Section=]	Section header. Use any number of = for decoration.
[Subsection]	Next topic. Sequential, never nested.
key: value	Simple data pair.
user@	Marks a person or agent. All following text belongs to them until another user@ appears.
user@<timestamp>	Later or asynchronous note from the same user.
{code} … {/code}	Multiline code cell.
{commands} … {/commands}	Machine-readable actions or instructions.
Plain text	Default content — free comments, reasoning, or conversation.

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Design Rules

1. No nesting. Each section is flat. If you need subtopics, start a new [Subsection].

2. Persistent authorship. Text remains under the current user@ until changed.

3. Explicit closures. Only braces {} use start/end markers. No ambiguous brackets.

4. Readable structure. Equal signs and blank lines are for clarity, not logic.

5. Commandable. Anything inside {commands} can drive scripts or build tools.

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Example

[=FlowOS Module Runtime=]
project: FlowOS
version: 1.1
created: 2025-10-27

GPT@
Podman integration tested; rootless mode confirmed.
{commands}
promote: runtime_container
{/commands}

Don@
Need to verify volume mount persistence.
{code}
podman volume inspect gameblock_data
{/code}

[UI Rendering]
========
This line of equals is only a visual divider.

GPT@
No nested structures; treat each topic as its own section.
{commands}
create: RendererBlock
{/commands}

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Why Copper

• Works as plain text on any platform.

• Perfect for AI/human co-authoring, journaling, or collaborative coding notebooks.

• Easily parsed with simple regex or line scanners — no parser generators needed.

• Compatible with version control; diffs are obvious.

• Converts cleanly to JSON, Markdown, or HTML if you ever need export.

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Future Goals

• Build Copper-aware editors and viewers.

• Add lightweight schema validation for {commands}.

• Provide official converters for Markdown and JSON.

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📜 License

Code (parsers, examples, tools):
MIT License © 2025 [Your Name]

Copper (.copr) format specification:
Released under Creative Commons Zero 1.0 Universal (CC0)

This means you can use Copper freely in open-source or commercial projects, modify it, and create your own parsers or extensions — no permission required.

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🧡 Acknowledgment

Copper is named after Copper, the developer’s cat — a very handsome boy and tireless supervisor of all late-night coding sessions.

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