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SODL

Getting Started

SODL (Specification Orchestration Definition Language) is a declarative language for expressing software architecture, intent, and constraints — designed specifically for AI-assisted code generation.

Prerequisites

Section titled “Prerequisites”
  • Node.js 20 or later
  • An AI coding tool: Cursor, Claude, or GPT-4

Installation

Section titled “Installation”

SODL is used as a specification language — no runtime installation needed. You write .sodl files and reference them as context in your AI coding tool.

To get syntax highlighting in your editor, install the SODL VS Code extension:

Terminal window
code --install-extension sodl-lang.sodl

Or clone the SODL language server from GitHub:

Terminal window
git clone https://github.com/sodlspace/sodl-impl-v1

Your first SODL spec

Section titled “Your first SODL spec”

Create a file called my-app.sodl at the root of your project:

system "MyApp":
  version = "0.1.0"
  stack:
    language  = "TypeScript"
    framework = "Next.js 15"
    styling   = "Tailwind CSS"


  intent:
    primary  = "Task management SaaS for small teams"
    outcomes = [
      "User can create and manage tasks",
      "Team members can be invited via email",
      "Dashboard with task overview"
    ]
    out_of_scope = ["Real-time collaboration", "Mobile apps"]


  module TaskModule:
    owns = ["Task CRUD operations"]
    artifacts = ["src/modules/tasks/"]


  module AuthModule:
    owns = ["User authentication and sessions"]
    artifacts = ["src/modules/auth/"]

Using the spec with Cursor

Section titled “Using the spec with Cursor”

Add your .sodl file as a Cursor rule or reference it in your prompts:

@my-app.sodl implement the TaskModule following all invariants

Cursor will use the spec to understand the project context, stack, and constraints before generating any code.

Using the spec with Claude

Section titled “Using the spec with Claude”

Paste your spec at the start of a conversation:

Here is my project specification:


[contents of my-app.sodl]


Please implement the TaskModule. Follow all constraints and invariants defined in the spec.

Next steps

Section titled “Next steps”