TooNet

High-performance .NET serialization library for TOON (Token-Oriented Object Notation) format.

Overview

TooNet is a .NET 9.0+ library that provides efficient serialization to TOON format, a token-optimized alternative to JSON designed for Large Language Model (LLM) input. TOON achieves 30-60% token reduction compared to JSON while maintaining human readability.

Features

• Token Efficiency: 30-60% reduction in token usage compared to JSON
• High Performance: Zero-allocation hot paths using modern .NET patterns
• Flexible Delimiters: Support for comma, tab, and pipe delimiters
• Smart Array Formatting: Automatic selection between inline, tabular, and list formats
• UTF-8 Native: Direct UTF-8 byte operations for optimal performance
• Streaming Support: Handle large documents with streaming APIs

Installation

dotnet add package TooNet

Quick Start

using TooNet;

// Simple object serialization
var user = new User { Id = 123, Name = "Ada", Active = true };
string toon = TooNetSerializer.Serialize(user);
// Output:
// id: 123
// name: Ada
// active: true

// Serialization with options
var options = new TooNetSerializerOptions
{
    DefaultDelimiter = Delimiter.Tab,
    ArrayMode = ArrayFormatMode.Tabular
};
byte[] utf8 = TooNetSerializer.SerializeToUtf8Bytes(data, options);

// Stream serialization for large data
await TooNetSerializer.SerializeAsync(stream, largeObject);

TOON Format

TOON uses indentation-based structure with minimal syntax:

user:
  id: 123
  name: Ada Lovelace
  tags[3]: programming,mathematics,computing
  projects[2]{name,year}:
    Analytical Engine,1843
    Notes on Babbage,1842

Performance

TooNet achieves high performance through:

• Direct UTF-8 byte operations
• ArrayPool buffer management
• Vectorized operations for delimiter detection
• Pre-computed indentation buffers
• Zero allocations in hot paths

Building from Source

dotnet build
dotnet test
dotnet pack

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.