Common (Real-world) YINI Examples

Below are practical real-world configuration examples written in the YINI format, demonstrating how YINI handles structure, data types, and readability — without relying on indentation-based syntax.

New to YINI? Start with Learn the format or keep the Cheat Sheet open while reading.

Real-world configuration examples

The following full examples demonstrate how YINI scales from small configs to complete real-world setups.

💡 Note: YINI uses indentation only for human readability. Section markers (^, ^^, ^^^) define the section nesting.


Example: Web server configuration (sections, numbers, booleans)

/*

Features:
  - Section headers
  - Nested sections
  - Strings (single quotes)
  - Number values, booleans, nulls

*/

^ Server
host = '0.0.0.0'
port = 8080
enable_ssl = false
log_file = '/var/log/server.log'
max_connections = 200

    ^^ SSL
    enabled = false
    cert_path = null
    key_path = null

Example: User profile settings (objects, lists, and comments)

@yini

/*

Features:
  - Section nesting (up to 3 levels)
  - Strings (single/double quotes)
  - Strings, nulls, booleans
  - List

*/

^ profile
username = "robinkoda"
display_name = 'Robin Koda'
email = "robin@example.com"
avatar = null
is_active = true
roles = ["user", "editor"]
created_at = "2024-05-12T10:30:00Z"

    ^^ preferences
    theme = 'light'
    language = "en"
    notifications = true

        ^^^ editor
        font = "Fira Code"
        tab_width = 4
        autosave = on

Example: Build project configuration (real-world example)

/*

Features:
  - Sections
  - Nested sections
  - Lists
  - Strings (double quotes), booleans, 

*/

^ Build
entry = "src/index.ts"
output = "dist/"
source_map = true
minify = true
target = "ES2022"

    ^^ Plugins
    enabled = ["eslint", "prettier", "typedoc"]

    ^^ Env
    NODE_ENV = "production"
    API_URL = "https://api.example.com"
    DEBUG = false

Example: Environment configuration (real-world example)

^ Environment
# Overall environment definition
Version = 1.0

    # ------------------------------------------------------------------
    # Enabled tools
    ^^ Tools
    items = [
        { Tool: "PyPip_deps", Version: "2.1.0" },
        { Tool: "Python", Version: "3.9.12" },
        { Tool: "7zip", Version: "18.0.1" }
    ]

    # ------------------------------------------------------------------
    # Installed but currently disabled / not enabled tools
    ^^ Tools_not_enabled
    items = [
        { Tool: "Eclipse", Version: "javabundle14-cpp-2020-03-R-incubation-win32-x86_64" },
        { Tool: "Python", Version: "3.6.8-64-with-libs_rev2" },
        { Tool: "FOP", Version: "1.0.3.rev1" },
        { Tool: "Pandoc", Version: "2.17.1.1" },
        { Tool: "VisualCpp2015Redistributable", Version: "14.0.23026" },
        { Tool: "VisualCpp2019Redistributable", Version: "14.24.28127" },
        { Tool: "MatlabInstaller", Version: "2021b" }
    ]

Explore more examples:
• Core and practical YINI config examples. — short introductory examples
• Large YINI configuration examples. — full-scale configurations

Next steps