TOON - Token-Efficient Data Format for VS Code

Complete language support for TOON (Token-Oriented Object Notation) - a compact, LLM-friendly data format that reduces token usage by 30-60% compared to JSON.

Perfect for developers working with Large Language Models who want to minimize API costs while maintaining data clarity.

Features

🎨 Syntax Highlighting

Color-coded syntax for TOON files
Highlights array headers, field definitions, keys, values, and delimiters
Support for all TOON data types (strings, numbers, booleans, null)

✅ Real-time Validation

Automatic validation as you type
Error highlighting with detailed messages
Strict mode validation for array lengths and structure

🔧 Formatting

Format on save support
Configurable indentation
Support for comma, tab, and pipe delimiters
Optional length markers ([#3] vs [3])

📝 Code Snippets

Quick snippets for common TOON patterns
Inline arrays, tabular arrays, list arrays
Objects and key-value pairs

🔄 Conversion Commands

Convert TOON to JSON
Convert JSON to TOON

Installation

Search for "TOON" in the VS Code Extensions marketplace, or install directly:

code --install-extension vishalraut.vscode-toon

Usage

File Association

Files with .toon extension are automatically recognized.

Commands

TOON: Validate - Manually validate current TOON file
TOON: Convert to JSON - Convert TOON file to JSON
TOON: Convert from JSON - Convert JSON file to TOON

Access commands via Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P / Cmd+Shift+P)

Snippets

Type these prefixes and press Tab:

toon-array-inline - Inline primitive array
toon-array-tabular - Tabular array of objects
toon-array-list - List array
toon-object - Nested object
toon-kv - Key-value pair

Configuration

Configure the extension in VS Code settings:

{
  "toon.validation.enabled": true,
  "toon.format.indent": 2,
  "toon.format.delimiter": ",",
  "toon.format.lengthMarker": false
}

Settings

Setting	Type	Default	Description
`toon.validation.enabled`	boolean	`true`	Enable/disable validation
`toon.format.indent`	number	`2`	Number of spaces for indentation
`toon.format.delimiter`	string	`","`	Delimiter for arrays (`,`, `\t`, or `\\|`)
`toon.format.lengthMarker`	boolean	`false`	Add `#` prefix to array lengths

Examples

Inline Array

tags[3]: admin,ops,dev

Tabular Array

users[2]{id,name,role}:
  1,Alice,admin
  2,Bob,user

Nested Object

config:
  database:
    host: localhost
    port: 5432
  cache:
    enabled: true

Why TOON?

TOON (Token-Oriented Object Notation) is designed for developers working with LLMs who want to:

Save money on API costs by reducing token usage
Maintain clarity with human-readable structured data
Optimize prompts for better LLM performance

Token Savings: 30-60% reduction vs JSON on typical datasets

Learn more:

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please visit:

GitHub Repository
Issue Tracker <<<<<<< HEAD

Author

Created by Vishal Raut

f18728c0167ec827c52bec6054ab3a031c01cc31

TOON - Token-Efficient Data Format

vishal raut