Radix 0.21.0

Install this version#

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Release notes#

Compact release spanning 37 commits over 4 days. The main themes are: a new target capability validation system that catches feature incompatibilities before codegen, norma stdlib expansion with JSON/YAML/TOML serialization and namespace import semantics, cross-target codegen fixes across Rust, Zig, Fab, and TypeScript outputs, and a test harness with SQLite-backed recording and feature-matrix reporting.

Scale#

Major tracks#

Target capability validation#

A new feature-gate system that validates language-feature compatibility against each compilation target before codegen runs. Emits structured errors with file:line:col positions and actionable suggestions.

• Design document: Proposes feature-gate validation for catching target incompatibilities (async on Zig, generators on Rust, exceptions on Go) (96e52827f)
• Support-level model: Splits support vs lowering, defines emulation/mismatch policy (6115bc40d)
• Phase 1 infrastructure: Core TARGET_SUPPORT matrix, AST feature detector, validation logic with structured error reporting, and 28 baseline tests (9b93966c9)
• Feature-detector bug fixes: Fixes for FacBlockStatement, ProbandumStatement, and TemptaStatement AST iteration that reduced test failures from 187 to 57 (ef2179fb8, 6d8b37aa4, af8a8c003)
• Pipeline integration: Validation wired into the codegen pipeline — invalid programs fail before any target generator runs (32675a2f7)
• Phase 3+4 (testing + docs): Feature×target matrix tests, interaction tests, compatibility matrix documentation (targets.md) (589c29c9c)
• Emulated support level: throw/tryCatch and object destructuring marked as emulated for Rust/Zig/CPP, reducing false-positive validation errors (78e9f274d)
• Python destructuring emulated: Python target added to emulated destructuring, aligning with existing handling (b473aa4dc)
• Test suite cleanup: Unsupported feature/target combinations now actively skipped via capability validation (74a0f3e60)

Norma stdlib: JSON, YAML, TOML and namespace imports#

• Serialization libraries: json.fab (with pretty-printing and indexed access), yaml.fab (multi-document support), toml.fab (datetime support) — each with a consistent Latin API (solve/pange/type-checkers) (c6d0e1fc6)
• `forma.fab` removed: Superseded by the three format-specific libraries (5b05f561a)
• Namespace import semantics (Phase 1): NamespaceType in the semantic type system, ex "norma/json" importa * ut json import support, and member-access resolution through the norma registry (abc7a4b35)
• Genus declaration for `json.fab`: Enables json.solve() namespace calls via the registry (0a0b3470f)
• Codegen for namespace calls: All targets (TS, PY, RS, ZIG, CPP, FAB) emit registry-mapped calls, using a shared norma-namespace.ts helper (ca024cb54)

Cross-target codegen fixes#

• Rust: Added LegeExpression support (stdin via std::io::Read) and @externa function declarations emitting extern "C" blocks (50ba08284)
• Zig: @externa functions emit extern fn declarations; constructors and methods reject @externa (c2200a4d5)
• Fab codegen: Fixed to output parseable Faber syntax — # comments, and/or/vel operators, removed unnecessary parentheses (d3eb1663e, 0ac370601)
• TypeScript: Hex escape sequences in scriptum calls to avoid backtick and ${} template-literal conflicts (1d09a55f8)
• Rivus Zig compatibility: Replaced + string concatenation with scriptum() calls in littera.fab files (46e5f05db)
• Rivus adfirma: Fixed quote-escaping bug by using .muta() for global replacement (12bd1e988)
• build-exempla: Uses file paths for faber (module resolution), stdin for rivus/artifex (9c5515edc)

Test harness with SQLite recording#

• Extracted shared test utilities (compile, match, YAML loading) into fons/proba/shared.ts (9fbb550a8)
• SQLite-backed harness: Schema tracks compiler, source, codegen status, verify status per feature/target/test — CLI runners for execution and feature-matrix reporting (9fbb550a8)
• `test:report` script: Runs tests, records to DB, generates feature-support matrix with failure details (b4623cfe5, 7411af224)

Repository restructure and process#

• Renamed `faber-romanus` → `faber`: GitHub repository and local directory renamed; probationes research harness split into a separate faber-trials repo (c5e95cd26)
• OpenAI dependency removed: No longer needed after the probationes split (693514098)
• Agents restructured: Moved from .claude/agents/ to agents/ directory with standalone CLI runner documentation; generic agents live in ~/github/ianzepp/agents/ (517e33c70)
• AGENTS.md updated: Workflow patterns from experience — phase decomposition, recon before assignment, parallel execution with lock collision, review gate, triage flow (dbbe05863)

Other changes#

• Compiler streaming API design doc: JSONL protocol for long-lived compiler processes with synchronous output ordering (0e24a6e76)
• Fix parser tests using obsolete <</>> bitwise-shift syntax — migrated to sinistratum/dextratum keywords (2bc7d3ece)
• Fix norma constants (PI, E, TAU) failing to translate — preserved empty params arrays in the JSON registry (1fb3fbe32)
• Fix norma stdlib zero-argument function translations (float, uuid, nunc, etc.) (da410b717)
• Add opifex to generic agents list, document issue-worker workflow (04d208c6d)
• Document test:report command in AGENTS.md (669b9c875)

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