Reference

Keywords

Generated from LANGUAGE.md at bf2cba0, 2026-08-22.

Articles (Context-Dependent)#

Keyword	Usage
`a`, `an`	Declares new variable with type
`the`	References existing variable

Statement Starters#

Keyword	Purpose
`Print`	Output
`Set`, `Create`	Variable declaration
`If`, `When`	Conditional
`While`	Loop
`For`	Iteration
`To`	Function definition
`Return`	Return value
`Increment`	Add 1 to variable
`Decrement`	Subtract 1 from variable
`Break`	Exit loop
`Continue`	Skip to next iteration
`Exit`	Terminate program with exit code
`Append`	Add element to list
`Create`, `Change`, `Remove`/`Delete`	Directories, device nodes, symlinks, chdir (see Directories, Mounting, and Process Control)
`Mount`, `Unmount`/`Umount`	Mount/unmount filesystems
`Pivot`	`pivot_root` - switch the root filesystem
`Execute`	`execve` - replace the process image
`Shutdown`/`Poweroff`, `Reboot`/`Restart`, `Halt`	`reboot(2)` - power off/restart/halt the machine
`fork`, `reap`	Process control expressions - `fork(2)`/`wait4(2)`
`Send signal`	`kill(2)` - send a signal to a process (`child` aliases `process`)

Flag Schema#

Keyword	Purpose
`Flag`	Declare a command-line flag schema (`a flag called ...`)
`Parse`	Trigger command-line flag parsing (`Parse flags.`)
`Required`	Mark a flag as required
`Default`	Supply a default value for a flag

Connectors#

Keyword	Purpose
`with`	Function parameters, function arguments
`called`, `named`	Variable naming
`of`, `to`, `on`	Function arguments
`and`	Multiple uses (see below)
`or`	Logical OR
`but`	Conditional chaining
`then`	After condition
`otherwise`, `else`	Alternative branch
`from`, `to`	Range bounds

The `and` Keyword#

The word and has multiple context-dependent meanings:

Context	Example	Meaning
Logical operator	`if x and y then`	Boolean AND of two conditions
Function parameters	`with a number called x and a number called y`	Separates parameter declarations
Function arguments	`'add' of 3 and 5`	Separates argument values
Subject list terminator	`x, y, and z are true`	Final item in comma-separated list before `are`

Disambiguation:

When and appears after a comma and before are, it's a list terminator
When and appears between two conditions (no comma), it's a logical operator
When and follows with/of/to/on, it separates arguments

Reserved Aliases#

A few alternate spellings are also reserved because the compiler recognizes them as aliases for canonical keywords:

Alias	Canonical keyword	Context
`ms`	`milliseconds`	Time duration units (`Wait 500 ms.`)
`message`	`text`	Type name (`a message called ...` is treated as `text`)
`string`	`text`	Type name (already listed in the type synonyms)

These cannot be used as variable names. The diagnostic names the spelling you wrote and notes which canonical keyword it aliases — so a number called ms is ... reports 'ms' as an alternate spelling of 'milliseconds', not the internal canonical name.

Every keyword listed in the tables above is likewise reserved as a variable name. Two that are easy to hit by accident are worth calling out: the flag-schema keyword flag (a flag called ...) and the property keyword empty (x's empty). Writing a number called flag is 1. or a number called empty is 1. is rejected with the same "reserved keyword" diagnostic. (As with any reserved word, you can still quote the name — 'flag', 'empty' — if you genuinely need it.)

Two classes of special word#

Not every word with a special meaning is reserved. Vox distinguishes:

Reserved keywords — banned as bare names everywhere, because they would be ambiguous anywhere: statement starters, operators (times, add), type names, connectors.
Contextual keywords — claimed only in the position where they mean something, and ordinary identifiers everywhere else: start/begin/ stop/finish for timers, send for signals, waiting in without waiting, available in is available, the things words, the property word name, and the property word count — claimed after a possessive marker and in the the argument count / the environment variable count phrases, so a number called count is 0. compiles while arguments's count keeps its meaning. The same treatment extends to the whole possessive/phrase family: capacity (also the with capacity N / of capacity N buffer phrase), raw, all (also the all the numbers from/between … range), first, last, second (also the Wait 1 second. unit — Set second to 1. Wait second seconds. compiles and waits one second), size and its synonym length (also with size N and N bytes in size), and version (the Library <name> version "…" and see <lib> version "…" headers). Each is a bare variable name everywhere except its one fixed grammatical position; arguments's first and a number called first is 0. both work in the same program.

The test for which class a word belongs in: if every position where the word means something is grammatically identifiable, it is contextual; only a word that would be ambiguous in ordinary positions is reserved.

Contextual Keywords (Things)#

Three words the things feature claims only inside their construct, and treats as ordinary identifiers everywhere else — the same treatment send/begin/stop get for timers. None of them is a reserved variable name, so a number called thing is 1. and To do. (a function named do) both compile.

Word	Claimed in	Elsewhere
`thing`	`A thing called <name> has ...` (a definition)	ordinary identifier
`has`	the verb of a thing definition	ordinary identifier
`do`	`To do the <type>'s <member>` (a member definition)	ordinary identifier

A fourth, the, gains a second reading in this company: in To do the point's 'placed at' it pairs with a known identifier (the type), where a point's 'placed at' calls a maker that brings a new point into being. See the article rule.