ADR 0009 Scripts Are Open

ADR-0009: script is an open list, checked with a warning

Source of truth: this wiki page.

• Status: Accepted
• Date: 2026-09-29

Context

A deck's language.script names its writing system. It decides whether a card needs a reading (romanisation) shown under its target, and it will guide rendering. The validator treated it as a closed enum of eleven names, so Bengali, Gujarati and Telugu, three of the five starter languages, could not declare their script honestly (#27). They would have had to say other.

A closed list also breaks the project's promise: a language is data, never code. If adding Amharic needs a change to a Python constant first, a new language is not only deck files.

The app's parser already accepts any script name.

Decision

The validator keeps a list of the scripts it knows, now including the major Indic ones (bengali, gujarati, gurmukhi, odia, telugu, tamil, kannada, malayalam, sinhala). A lowercase name that is not on the list is accepted with a warning. A value that is not a lowercase name (a number, an empty string, Bengali) is still an error.

LanguageInfo.needsReading is unchanged: every script except latin, cyrillic and greek expects a reading. An unknown script therefore gets the cautious answer.

Consequences

• A contributor can add a language in a script the validator has never heard of without touching code. The warning tells a reviewer to check the name, and to add it to the list if it is real.
• A typo such as devanagri passes with a warning instead of failing. That is the cost of an open list. The warning names the known scripts, so the typo is easy to spot.
• The parser and the validator stay in step: the parser never rejects a deck the validator accepts.

See also: Contributing · ADR-Index · Home