02 — Serialization

Crous

Same data. Same bytes. Every time.

A deterministic binary document format built on a C core. No schema files. No code generation. Smaller than JSON in most real-world payloads — critical for content-addressable storage, caching, and audit logs.

encode.py

python

import crous

binary = crous.dumps({"name": "Alice", "scores": [98, 95, 100]})
# 42 bytes vs 76 bytes JSON

data = crous.loads(binary)

encode.js

node

const crous = require('crous')

const binary = crous.dumps({ name: "Alice", scores: [98, 95, 100] })
const data   = crous.loads(binary)

DeterministicC-coreNo SchemaSmaller than JSONPythonNode.jsStreamingZero-copy

Why deterministic matters

Two systems hashing the same payload always agree. Crucial for caching, content-addressable storage, distributed dedup, and audit trails.

No schema, no codegen

Crous reads any document. No .proto file. No build step. Add a field, ship it.

Streaming-friendly

Encode and decode chunked payloads without buffering the whole document.

Cross-language by design

Python and Node SDKs share the same wire format. Add new bindings against the C core.

639K ops/sec. 227 byte payloads. Zero schema files.

Explore Crous