vercel-labs--zerolang/docs/articles/examples.md

Start With Graph Examples

The Zerolang examples directory is the fastest way to understand what works today. Most examples are checked-in .graph inputs or graph-first packages with zero.graph stores. Sibling .0 files, when present, are human-readable projections for review.

Expected Usage

{
  "messages": [
    {
      "role": "user",
      "text": "make a tiny contacts api like the crm example"
    },
    {
      "role": "assistant",
      "text": "I’ll use the CRM example as the pattern and run the route checks."
    },
    {
      "role": "tools",
      "calls": [
        {
          "command": "zero query examples/crm-api --find route",
          "output": "routes: health, contacts list, contact by id, create, update, delete"
        },
        {
          "command": "zero patch /tmp/contacts-api.patch",
          "output": "program graph patch ok"
        },
        {
          "command": "zero run -- $'GET /health\\n\\n'",
          "output": "HTTP/1.1 200 OK"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Learning Order

Small programs:

• examples/hello.graph
• examples/add.graph
• examples/point.graph
• examples/result-choice.graph
• examples/fallibility.graph

Memory and ownership:

• examples/memory-primitives.graph
• examples/allocator-collections.graph
• examples/ownership-cleanup.graph
• examples/fixed-vec.graph

CLI and files:

• examples/cli-file.graph
• examples/cli-config.graph
• examples/file-copy.graph
• examples/readall-cli/
• examples/resource-cli/

Data and web:

• examples/std-data-formats.graph
• examples/json-api-client.graph
• examples/json-api-router.graph
• examples/crm-api/
• examples/std-http-json.graph
• examples/std-http-request.graph

Compiler and agent workflows:

• examples/compile-time-v1.graph
• examples/agent-repair-demo/
• examples/error-tour/
• examples/memory-package/
• examples/zero-hash/

Inspect And Run Examples

zero query examples/hello.graph
zero check examples/hello.graph
zero run examples/add.graph
zero build --emit exe --target linux-musl-x64 examples/add.graph --out .zero/out/add

Build And Size Examples

zero build --release tiny --target linux-musl-x64 examples/hello.graph --out .zero/out/hello-linux-musl
zero build --release tiny --target win32-x64.exe examples/hello.graph --out .zero/out/hello-win32
zero size --json --release tiny --target linux-musl-x64 examples/hello.graph

Size output reports retained helpers, section sizes, profile facts, target report data, and artifact size. Use it when an agent needs to explain why bytes were retained.

Native Workflow Coverage

The examples intentionally cover arguments and environment, filesystem resources, deterministic exit status, unhandled error exit paths, fixed-capacity storage, HTTP routing, JSON helpers, target status, and repair workflows.

Use them as prompts for agents and as smoke checks for humans reviewing a language change.