Effect System Reference

Overview

The effect system is a compile-time capability mechanism. Every function declares what side effects it may perform via ![effect, ...] annotations on its signature, and the compiler currently enforces these declarations based on direct usage of effectful operations (e.g., filesystem, printing, HTTP). A function that directly performs any operation requiring effect E must declare E; failing to do so is a compile error, not a warning. Call-graph–transitive enforcement based on callee signatures is planned but not yet implemented. This makes direct side effects explicit, auditable, and verifiable without runtime overhead.

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Canonical Effects

Effect	Token	Grants Access To	Enforced Today	Examples
IO	io	Filesystem, console output, logging, decorators like @logExecution	Yes	print(), print.err(), fs.readFile(), fs.writeFile(), console.*
Network	net	HTTP, WebSocket, serve	Yes	http.get(), http.post(), websocket.*, serve
Model	model	AI library invocation (sfn/ai, post-1.0)	No (planned)	Intended for sfn/ai; callee-signature/transitive enforcement is not implemented today
GPU	gpu	Tensor and accelerator operations	No (parsed only)	Tensor ops, @gpu blocks, GPU memory
Random	rand	Random number generation	No (parsed only)	rand.*
Clock	clock	Time operations	Partial	sleep(), runtime.sleep()

The tokens unsafe, read, and mut are also recognized by the parser for FFI and ownership annotations but are not part of the capability-surface set enforced by the effect checker today.

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Syntax

Effect annotations appear after the parameter list and optional return type, before the function body.

// No effects declared — guaranteed pure
fn pure_fn(x: int) -> int {
    return x * 2;
}

// Single effect
fn log_value(x: int) ![io] {
    print("{{x}}");
}

// Multiple effects
fn fetch_and_log(url: string) ![io, net] {
    let response = http.get(url);
    print(response.body);
}

// Full signature with return type and multiple effects
fn fetch_order(url: string) -> string ![io, net, model] {
    // ...
    return "";
}

Effect tokens are comma-separated within ![...]. Order within the list is not significant.

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Enforcement Rules

1. A function that directly calls an operation requiring effect E must declare E.
2. Call-graph–transitive enforcement (where calling function A must declare every effect that callee B declares) is planned but not yet implemented. The current checker enforces direct-usage rules only.
3. Test blocks follow the same rules as functions — a test that performs IO must declare ![io].
4. Closures inherit the effect scope of their enclosing function; a closure defined inside an ![io] function may call IO operations without redeclaring the effect.
5. Missing effects are a compile error, not a warning. The build will not proceed.
6. The compiler emits missing-effect diagnostics with textual hints describing how to update the function signature; automatic signature rewrite fix-its are planned tooling.

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API Surface Per Effect

io effect

Required for all filesystem access, console output, structured logging, and IO-dependent decorators.

API	Notes
print(value)	Write to stdout
print.err(value)	Write to stderr
print.warn(value)	Write warning to stderr
fs.readFile(path)	Read file contents
fs.writeFile(path, content)	Write file contents
fs.appendFile(path, content)	Append to a file
fs.exists(path)	Check file existence
fs.writeLines(path, lines)	Write an array of lines
log.info(), log.warn(), log.error(), log.debug()	Structured logging via sfn/log
console.info(), console.log(), console.error()	Legacy console aliases
@logExecution	Decorator that emits IO

net effect

Required for all outbound network calls, WebSocket connections, and binding to a port.

API	Notes
http.get(url)	HTTP GET request
http.post(url, body)	HTTP POST request
websocket.connect(url)	Open a WebSocket connection
websocket.send(conn, msg)	Send a message on a connection
websocket.recv(conn)	Receive a message from a connection
serve(handler)	Bind and serve an HTTP handler

model effect

Required for any function that calls a library function (such as one from the planned sfn/ai capsule) whose signature declares ![model]. Today ![model] acts as a capability gate for direct use of model-capable APIs; full call-graph–transitive enforcement based on callee signatures is planned but not yet implemented. The model, prompt, tool, and pipeline block keywords have been removed from the language; the ![model] effect remains as the capability gate.

API	Notes
Library functions carrying ![model]	Any function that calls into AI library code must declare ![model]
sfn/ai capsule	Post-1.0 library providing model invocation, tool dispatch, and provider adapters

// A library function that carries ![model] in its signature
fn ai_call(model_name: string, input: string) -> string ![model] {
    // implemented in sfn/ai capsule (post-1.0)
    return "";
}

// Any caller must also declare ![model]
fn summarize(text: string) -> string ![model] {
    return ai_call("summarizer", text);
}

clock effect

Partially enforced. Time-based suspension is enforced today; wall-clock reads are planned.

API	Notes
sleep(ms)	Suspend for ms milliseconds — enforced
runtime.sleep(ms)	Alias for sleep — enforced
Wall-clock access	Planned — not yet enforced

gpu effect (parsed, not yet enforced)

Declared in signatures and parsed by the compiler but not yet checked at call sites.

API	Notes
Tensor operations	Element-wise ops, matmul, reductions
@gpu accelerator blocks	Blocks targeting GPU execution
GPU memory operations	Allocation and transfer

rand effect (parsed, not yet enforced)

Declared in signatures and parsed by the compiler but not yet checked at call sites.

API	Notes
rand.int()	Random integer
rand.float()	Random float in [0, 1)
rand.choice(list)	Random element from a list
rand.shuffle(list)	Shuffle a list in place

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Diagnostic Format

When a required effect is missing, the compiler emits an error with a textual hint:

error[effects.missing]: function `process` uses `![net]` operation but does not declare net
  --> src/main.sfn:12:5
   |
   = hint: add `net` to the effect list of `process`

Diagnostic fields:

Field	Description
Error code	effects.missing — missing effect declaration
Calling function	The function whose signature is incomplete
Effect required	The specific effect token that must be added
Source location	File and approximate location of the diagnostic
Hint	Textual description of the required signature change (automatic rewrite fix-its are planned)

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Effect Minimization

Declare the narrowest set of effects possible. Functions that mix pure computation with effectful operations are harder to test and reason about. The recommended pattern is to push effects toward the boundary of the program (entry points, request handlers, CLI commands) and keep domain logic pure.

// Preferred: pure logic separated from IO
fn compute_total(items: Item[]) -> float {
    return array_reduce(items, 0.0, fn(acc: float, i: Item) -> float {
        return acc + i.price;
    });
}

fn print_total(items: Item[]) ![io] {
    let total = compute_total(items);
    print("{{total}}");
}

Pure functions with no effect annotations:

• Are eligible for memoization and inlining by the optimizer.
• Can be called from any context, including tests, without capability grants.
• Signal clearly to readers that no side effects occur.

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Future: Hierarchical Effects

This feature is planned and not yet active.

In a future release, effects will compose hierarchically. The top-level tokens (io, net, etc.) will become namespaces for fine-grained sub-effects:

Planned Sub-effect	Parent	Meaning
io.fs.read	io	Read-only filesystem access
io.fs.write	io	Write filesystem access
io.console	io	Console and terminal output
net.http	net	HTTP client and server
net.ws	net	WebSocket
model.infer	model	Model inference
model.embed	model	Embedding generation

Until hierarchical effects ship, all sub-effects collapse to their parent token. A function requiring io.fs.read today must declare io. The syntax ![io.fs.read] is reserved for the future and will be rejected by the current compiler.

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Cross-References

• Tutorial: The Effect System
• Language Specification: §7 Effect System
• Capsule capability grants: Capsules & Packages