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+# Coalpit
+
+Coalpit is a library for building command-line program
+interfaces. They are like command-line user interfaces, but for
+programs.
+
+Given a type, it derives instances to print and parse it as
+command-line arguments.
+
+The goal is to
+faciliate
+[the KISS principle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KISS_principle)
+preservation for interfaces between system components in certain
+(rather [unixy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy))
+architectures. Described in more detail in
+the
+[command-line program interface](https://defanor.uberspace.net/notes/command-line-program-interface.html) note.
+
+Not production-ready yet, merely a prototype.
+
+
+## Example
+
+There is an example in `Example.hs`, but here are some bits:
+
+```haskell
+data Y = Foo Bool Int
+       | Bar Int
+       | Baz
+data X = X String (Maybe Int) (Maybe [Int]) Y Y String
+$(deriveArgs ''Y)
+$(deriveArgs ''X)
+```
+
+`toArgs` serializes data into arguments, and `fromArgs` deserializes
+it: `X "test" Nothing (Just [1,2,3]) (Foo True 1) Baz "end"` ↔ `x
+"test" n j 1,2,3 foo t 1 baz "end"`.
+
+
+## TODO
+
+What it currently lacks, but what should be done, roughly in that
+order:
+
+* Proper parsing: use optparse-applicative, Parsec, or a custom
+  parser, but something with error handling and more flexible.
+* Named arguments (via records), not just positional ones.
+* Optional arguments: once the named ones will be there, `Maybe a`
+  could be handled nicer.
+* Help messages.
+* Documentation.