kairo

The Kairo Programming Language

Kairo is a statically typed compiled general purpose language, built for systems programming and high-performance applications. Designed with native bi-directional C++ interoperability in mind. Kairo aims to combine the power and control of low-level languages with the safety and clarity of high-level design.

The goals of Kairo

• Safe, and productive programming language.
• Allow for low-level programming with fine-grained control.
• Native bidirectional C and C++ interoperability.
• Include a portable, well-structured standard library.
• Encourage clear, maintainable, and reviewable code through strong, expressive semantics.
• An alternative to C, C++ or work alongside them.
• No runtime, no garbage collector, no hidden costs - safety through visibility, not restriction.

Current Status

The Stage 0 compiler (written in C++) is functional and can compile Kairo albeit not all the features that stage1 has, you can download it from the release page, works, but has quite a few bugs, stage0 issues will not be fixed unless critical. Development of the Stage1 compiler, written in Kairo itself, is in progress.

[!WARNING] Documentation is technically complete now matching, stage1 and what it can do once built, but the compiler is still in development and not ready for production use. If you want to help with documentation, please reach out to us on Discord

Why Kairo?

Think of programming languages like making coffee

• C and C++ hands you all the ingredients and equipment, every knob and button live. No recipe, no instructions. You'll have to learn and make something, what you make is on you.
• Rust provides you with all the ingredients, fancy equipment, and a precise recipe with every step measured. The coffee comes out reliably good, and the recipe catches mistakes before you brew.
• Kairo gives you ingredients, equipment, and recipes, and the kitchen is wired into the C and C++ kitchens next door. Borrow their beans and machines, and send finished coffee back through the same door.

Design Rationale

• We liked the simplicity of Python's syntax but wanted more.
• We wanted the performance and control of C and C++.
• We admired Rust's safety features but, at times, found them cumbersome.
• We liked Rust's Meta-programming and Trait system.
• We liked Zig's approach to interoperability.
• We wanted a powerful module system.
• We wanted a robust standard library.
• We wanted a language that would work drop-in with any existing C or C++ codebases.
• We wanted all; So we created Kairo.

Kairo is built to slot directly into C and C++ ecosystems, offering a fresh syntax and features, without abandoning decades of code.

Getting Started

Download a release: grab a prebuilt binary from the releases page.

Build from source: see BUILD.md - covers the quick install script, manual setup, PATH configuration, the VSCode extension, and debugging.

Code reference: since the docs are still catching up, the Compiler directory is compiling Stage 0 code.

License

Kairo is licensed under the Attribution 4.0 International License. See the LICENSE for more details.

AI Usage Disclosure

Read The Full Post Here. TLDR: Lang design, Compiler, and Architecture are 100% human. No AI-generated code in the compiler and language design stage1 or stage0. Docs have AI usage; mostly used for polishing.

Acknowledgements

We want to thank all our contributors pushing Kairo forward.