Spudlang is the language used to write .spud files. It is a small, line-oriented imperative language designed for one job: ask a series of questions and create files based on the answers.

A .spud file executes top-to-bottom. Questions and actions can be freely interleaved, and filesystem writes are deferred to the end of the run, so a partial run never leaves a half-written project on disk.

ask project_name "Project name?" string
ask use_tests "Include a test suite?" bool default false
 
let slug = lower(trim(project_name))
 
mkdir "{slug}" as project
mkdir project/"src"
mkdir project/"tests" when use_tests
 
file project/"README.md" content "# " + project_name
file project/"src/main.cpp" from "templates/main.cpp"

This reference describes the language as it stands today. The CLI reference covers the commands that operate on .spud and .spp files. The getting started guide walks through writing and running a first template.

Reference

Lexical Structure (comments, line continuation, identifiers, keywords, literals)
Types and Expressions (types, operators, function calls, and {expr} interpolation)
Path Expressions (path expressions, aliases, and the rules for using each)
Statements (every statement: ask, let, mkdir, file, copy, repeat, if, include, run)
Scoping and Conditions (variable scoping, repeat and if scope, alias scoping, and condition normalisation)

Guides

Best Practices (how to write idiomatic, maintainable templates)
Pitfalls (known footguns and how to avoid them)
Examples (fully-worked examples from minimal to full-featured)

Conventions used in this reference

Code samples are valid spudlang and assume any referenced asset (a from source path, an installed template named on include) is reachable when the template runs. Where a feature has known limitations, the reference describes what the language does today rather than what is planned.