Getting Started

Quick Start

Dragonstone is both an interpreted and compiled, high-level, object-oriented programming language. It uses .ds or .dragonstone for scripts, .eds for embedded use, and .forge for package manifests.

Install Run

Dragonstone File Extensions

.ds or .dragonstone

Standard source files for scripts and applications.

.eds

Embedded scripts for integrations and tooling.

.forge

Manifest used by the Forge package manager.

Forge Package Manager

A typical Dragonstone project includes a .forge TOML file where you list metadata like name, version, authors, and dependencies. Think of it as the single source of truth for your project.


# forge.toml
[package]
name = "your_project_name"
version = "0.1.0"
authors = "your_name_here"

Installing Dragonstone

  1. Download the latest release for your platform. From the download page or via GitHub and for full instructions.
  2. Add the Dragonstone binary to your PATH (if building from source).
  3. Verify the install by running dragonstone --version.

Using the Interpreter

Run a script directly to get instant feedback while prototyping.


dragonstone run hello.ds

Using the Compiler

Compile for production or distribution when you want a standalone binary. You can also pass the --target flag to specify your desired target such as bytecode or llvm.


To build:


dragonstone build hello.ds

Or to build and run:


dragonstone build-run hello.ds

Select between native (interpreter) or core (compiler) backends.


dragonstone run --backend native examples/hello_world.ds

By default, dragonstone will use native (interpreter), however, you can change it anytime.


export DRAGONSTONE_BACKEND=native dragonstone run examples/hello_world.ds

Or export the flag once for the CLI:


export DRAGONSTONE_BACKEND=native

To run files in terminals where Dragonstone has not been added to evn path (and terminals like Bash):


./bin/dragonstone.exe run examples/hello_world.ds

Helpful Extensions

  • (Coming Soon...)