Janus Documentation

Read like Python. Ship like systems. Built for AI agents.

Quick Start Philosophy Language Reference

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Get Started

Write your first Janus program in 5 minutes. Install, build, run.
[→ Get started](/learn/getting-started/) What problem does Janus solve, and why it's different from Rust, Go, Zig, or Python.
[→ Read the manifesto](/philosophy/manifesto/) From `:script` to `:sovereign` — six capability tiers that grow with your project.
[→ Explore profiles](/learn/profiles/) Syntax, types, control flow, error handling, generics, and the pipe operator.
[→ Learn the language](/learn/fundamentals/)

By Use Case

Ship a native binary from a single `.jan` file.
[→ Tutorial](/tutorials/cli-tool/) HTTP servers, async I/O, structured concurrency with nurseries and channels.
[→ :service profile](/learn/profiles/service/) Message-passing, actor state, persistent stores, tombstone compaction.
[→ :cluster profile](/learn/profiles/cluster/) No ambient authority, pledge/unveil, raw pointers, bare-metal targets.
[→ :sovereign profile](/learn/profiles/sovereign/)

Design & Architecture

Side effects as part of the function contract, not hidden convention.
[→ Tutorial](/tutorials/effects/) · [→ Reference](/reference/effects/) Content-addressed modules, signed capsule manifests, supply-chain identity by hash.
[→ Architecture](/architecture/hinge/) · [→ CLI Reference](/reference/hinge/) Every declaration gets a stable UUID. Code is a queryable semantic database.
[→ Architecture](/architecture/astdb/) Why names lie and hashes don't. The philosophical case for content identity.
[→ Read](/philosophy/sovereign-supply-chain/)

Philosophy & Positioning

Why Janus exists — the 15-year journey from frustration to forge.
[→ Read](/philosophy/manifesto/) Why hardcore Rust developers should care about Janus without abandoning Rust.
[→ Read](/philosophy/rust-is-the-control-group/) Honest three-way comparison. Where each wins, where each loses.
[→ Read](/philosophy/janus-odin-zig/) Beyond memory safety: authority, effects, termination, value predicates, and more.
[→ Read](/philosophy/eight-axis-provability/)

Reference

Complete syntax, semantics, and type system documentation.
[→ Read](/reference/language-reference/) `janus build`, `janus run`, `janus fmt`, `janus test`, and more.
[→ Read](/reference/cli/) std.cli, std.sync, std.net.http, std.compute, std.text, std.crypto, and more.
[→ Browse reference](/reference/) Every release with what landed, what changed, and what's next.
[→ Browse releases](/releases/)