Introduction to Meld

Meld is a simple and constrained scripting language designed for use within markdown-like documents. It allows you to create dynamic content by interpreting special directive lines while preserving all other content as-is.

Core Concepts

Meld works by processing only lines that begin with directives (like @text, @run, etc.) while treating all other content as literal text. This makes it ideal for creating dynamic, templated documents.

Key Features

  • Simple, predictable syntax with clear boundaries
  • Focused on markdown integration and content generation
  • Support for variables, file imports, and command execution
  • Preserves existing content structure

Basic Example

@text name = "World"
@path docs = "$PROJECTPATH/docs"

Hello, {{name}}!

@embed [$docs/example.md]

@run [echo "Current time: $(date)"]

This example:

  1. Defines a text variable name with the value "World"
  2. Defines a path variable docs pointing to the project's docs folder
  3. Uses the text variable in a template string
  4. Embeds content from an external file
  5. Runs a shell command and includes its output

Next Steps