TAML Language Support for Visual Studio

Download this extension from the Visual Studio Marketplace or get the CI build.

Full language support for TAML (Tab Annotated Markup Language) files in Visual Studio.

What is TAML?

TAML is a minimal, tab-based markup language designed for simplicity and readability:

• Tab-based hierarchy - One tab per indentation level (no spaces)
• Tab-separated key-values - Keys and values separated by a single tab
• Special values - ~ for null, "" for empty string
• Comments - Lines starting with #
• Human-readable - Clean, consistent formatting
• LLM-optimized - Reduces token count for AI interactions

Example

# User configuration
name	John Doe
email	john@example.com
settings
	theme	dark
	notifications	true
	bio	""
	nickname	~

Features

Syntax Highlighting

Full syntax highlighting support for .taml files that follows the official TAML specification. Colors distinguish between:

• Keys - Property names
• String values - Regular text values
• Boolean values - true and false (highlighted distinctly)
• Numeric values - Integers and decimals (e.g., 42, -3.14)
• Null values - The ~ character
• Empty strings - ""
• Comments - Lines starting with #

Error Detection

Real-time syntax validation with inline error messages and warnings displayed in the Error List window. Hover over any error to see detailed information about what went wrong. Detects issues per the TAML specification:

• Space indentation (TAML requires tabs)
• Mixed tabs and spaces
• Inconsistent indentation (skipped levels)
• Orphaned lines (indented after key-value pair)
• Parent key with value and children
• Empty keys

Document Formatting

Format your TAML documents with Edit > Advanced > Format Document (Ctrl+K, Ctrl+D) or format just a selection with Format Selection (Ctrl+K, Ctrl+F). The formatter ensures consistent tab-based indentation and proper key-value alignment.

Sort Keys

Place your cursor on any key that has child keys and use the lightbulb menu (Ctrl+.) to sort child keys alphabetically. This helps maintain consistent ordering in configuration files.

JSON Conversion

Right-click in a TAML file to access the TAML context menu with conversion options:

• Copy as JSON - Converts the entire TAML document to JSON and copies it to the clipboard
• Paste JSON as TAML - Pastes JSON from the clipboard and converts it to TAML format

Navigation Bar

The editor navigation bar shows a hierarchical dropdown of all keys in your document. Click any key to jump directly to it. Keys with children are displayed with indentation to show the document structure.

Outlining/Code Folding

Collapse and expand nested sections using the outlining (code folding) feature. Keys with nested children can be collapsed to hide their contents.

Options

Configure the extension behavior via Tools > Options > TAML > General.

Validation

Formatting

Getting Started

Simply open any .taml file in Visual Studio, and the extension will automatically provide syntax highlighting and error detection.

Requirements

• Visual Studio 2022 (17.0 or later)
• Supports both x64 and ARM64 architectures

Learn More

• TAML Specification - Official format specification
• TamlTokenizer NuGet Package - The .NET library powering this extension

How can I help?

If you enjoy using the extension, please give it a ★★★★★ rating on the Visual Studio Marketplace.

Should you encounter bugs or have feature requests, head over to the GitHub repo to open an issue if one doesn't already exist.

Pull requests are also very welcome, as I can't always get around to fixing all bugs myself. This is a personal passion project, so my time is limited.

Another way to help out is to sponsor me on GitHub.