Getting Started

Thinai is a domain-specific modeling language for domain-driven design. The guides on this site introduce the language and its current syntax. Thinai is in alpha; syntax and language-service behavior may still change between releases.

Requirements

• Visual Studio Code 1.91 or newer for the editor extension
• Node.js 22 or newer for the CLI and the language package

The editor extension bundles the language server. You do not need a separate language-server installation to use Thinai in VS Code.

Install the editor extension

Install the pre-release version from the Visual Studio Marketplace:

code --install-extension thinai-lang.vscode-thinai --pre-release

You can also search for Thinai in the Extensions view and select Install Pre-Release Version. The extension provides diagnostics, completion, navigation, formatting, and import quick fixes for .tni files.

Open a folder that contains .tni files. The extension activates on .tni files and builds the model from the file and its imports.

Install the CLI

npm install -g thinai-cli@alpha
thinai-cli --version

You can also run it without a global install:

npx thinai-cli@alpha --version

Use the CLI

The CLI generates a JavaScript summary, exports the model graph, produces task-scoped context slices, reports model impact, validates models, and runs a read-only MCP server.

# Generate the JavaScript summary
thinai-cli generate path/to/model.tni

# Export the model graph
thinai-cli inspect path/to/model.tni --out model.json

# Get one aggregate or context and its dependencies
thinai-cli context path/to/model.tni Aggregate:Ordering.Order --format md

# Report elements affected by a change
thinai-cli impact path/to/model.tni ValueObject:Ordering.Order.OrderId --json

# Validate the source file and its transitive imports
thinai-cli validate path/to/model.tni

# Start a read-only MCP server
thinai-cli mcp path/to/model.tni

Pass --destination <dir> to choose the generation output directory.

The CLI validates the source file and its transitive imports. It does not discover separate files that import the source file. Use the VS Code extension or another workspace-aware client when you need to validate the complete import-connected model, including importers.

See agent workflow for the model-first workflow and MCP tools.

Use the language package

npm install thinai-language@alpha

The package exports the language services used by the CLI and the editor extension.

Examples

The Order Fulfillment example is a complete multi-file model that exercises imports, modules, context maps, events, and published query contracts. The Language Tour is a compact syntax and visibility tour.

Source and support

The Thinai source repository is private during the alpha. Report bugs and feature requests in the public issue tracker. See alpha notes and limitations before relying on the extension for production work.

Learn the language

Start with the language model for strategic DDD concepts, then read tactical modeling and events and behavior.