Zig-superset systems language with event continuations, mandatory branch handling, phantom typing, and purity tracking. Pre-alpha — 'only ever been compiled on a single computer.' AI-First framing intentionally tongue-in-cheek.
Camp: Unclassified
Author: Author anonymous (korulang)
Implementation language: Koru (metacircular, bootstrapped through Zig)
Compilation target: Zig (then native via Zig's backends)
Licence: Unknown
First seen: December 2025
Maturity: early implementation
Koru is a Zig-superset systems language. Every .kz file is valid Zig; Koru constructs are marked by a ~ leader. The distinctive design move is event continuations with mandatory branch handling — events declare their inputs and possible output branches in advance, and invoking an event requires explicitly handling each branch. Phantom typing tracks compile-time resources; purity is tracked; the compiler is metacircular (Koru compiles to Zig). The "AI-First" claim is architectural (event boundaries aid AI reasoning) rather than machinery-based — no SKILL.md, AGENTS.md, MCP server, or structured-JSON diagnostics ship. The compiler itself was authored using Claude Opus 4.1–4.5 and Sonnet 4.5.
Koru is a pre-alpha Zig-superset systems programming language. Every .kz file is valid Zig; Koru constructs are marked by a ~ leader. The distinctive design move is event continuations with mandatory branch handling — events declare their inputs and possible output branches in advance, and invoking an event requires explicitly handling each branch. Phantom typing tracks compile-time resources; purity is tracked through the type system; the compiler is metacircular (Koru compiles to Zig). The author is anonymous behind the korulang GitHub org and Twitter account; the project's site lists Claude Opus 4.1–4.5 and Sonnet 4.5 as the models that authored the compiler itself.
The site's tagline is intentionally tongue-in-cheek: "The Hyper-Performant AI-First Postmodern Zero-Cost Fractal Metacircular Phantom-Typed Auto-Disposing Monadic Event Continuation Language with Semantic Space Lifting and Event Taps." Underneath the buzzword cascade, the README is candid about state: "Pre-Alpha — Koru is pre-alpha. It has only ever been compiled on a single computer. Use and testing at your own risk." No SKILL.md, AGENTS.md, MCP server, or structured-JSON diagnostics ship. The closest planned agent-facing surface is the Compiler Control Protocol (CCP), described as "soon" — a Koru-internal proposal, not the Model Context Protocol.
The catalogue includes Koru as a marker of the position where "AI-First" became a tagline trope. The architectural claim (event boundaries provide bounded contexts that aid AI reasoning) is a real design move; the buzzword-cascade tagline is real satire; and the catalogue's unclassified bucket exists for projects whose camp placement isn't yet evidenced by shipped agent-authoring machinery. Companion to Valea and Spec: a real project with substantive design, candidly aware of its pre-alpha state, where the "AI-First" claim is a language-architecture argument rather than a tooling commitment. The pre-alpha disclosure quoted above is the editorial centre of gravity — the rest of the entry exists to give it context.
Last modified 21 June 2026