AI eXchange Optimized Notation — a compact symbolic language that compresses natural language into token-efficient expressions for AI communication. Uses ASCII-only operators for optimal BPE tokenization.
Sigils are applied conditionally — only to tokens found in the known entity/concept/verb databases. Unknown tokens are emitted bare (no sigil) to save BPE tokens. Consecutive bare tokens are merged with hyphens into compounds.
| Sigil | Name | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| @ | Entity / Agent | A named actor, system, or proper noun: @sun, @OpenAI |
| # | Concept / Abstract | An idea, category, or domain: #gravity, #justice |
| ~ | Process / Action | A verb, transformation, or operation: ~emit, ~learn |
| ? | Query / Unknown | An open question or unresolved value: ?cause, ?result |
| ! | Negation | Negated token: !evidence, !data |
| ^ | Temporal | A time reference or duration: ^now, ^T-2d, ^T+1mo |
| $ | Scalar | A measurable value or magnitude: $high, $3.14, $low |
| Op | Name | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| -> | Causes | “leads to” |
| <- | Result of | “caused by” |
| :. | Therefore | “conclusion” |
| bc | Because | “premise/reason” |
| && | And | “conjunction” |
| || | Or | “disjunction” |
| A. | For all | “universal” |
| E. | Exists | “existential” |
| : | Type/impl | type annotation |
| = | Set value | assignment |
| + | Add | add member |
| - | Remove | remove member |
| < | Inherits | extends/inherits |
| Marker | Level | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| !! | Certain | Verified fact, no doubt |
| ! | High | Strong supporting evidence |
| ~ | Moderate | Plausible, some uncertainty |
| * | Low | Weak evidence or guess |
| ** | Speculative | Hypothetical or extrapolated |
| ? | Unknown | Insufficient data to assess |
^now — current moment^T-Nd — N days past (e.g. ^T-7d = one week ago)^T+Nd — N days future (e.g. ^T+30d = next month)^A.t — all time / always true^span[A,B] — time range from A to BCommand verbs use the > prefix:
>doc >impl >fix >test >rev >ref >opt >plan >dep >add >rm >up >mv >cfg >mig
>db >api >ci >sec >err >log >bench >lint >merge >explain
Syntax: >verb subject[:scope][->target]
Query types use the ? prefix:
?how ?why ?best ?what ?diff ?when ?where ?can ?cmp ?alt ?err ?perf
Syntax: ?type subject[:scope][->target]
| Syntax | Meaning |
|---|---|
| @Type+.field | Add field |
| @Type-.field | Remove field |
| @Type.x=$v | Set field value |
| @Type.x:T | Set field type |
| @Type:impl(@Trait) | Implement trait |
| @Child<@Parent | Inherit / extend |
| +use(module) | Add import |
| -use(module) | Remove import |
AXON v1.1 introduces tiered abbreviation levels. Each level is inclusive of all lower levels. The default is L0.
The baseline abbreviation dictionary, universally understood by developers.
| Full | Abbr | Full | Abbr | Full | Abbr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| object | obj | function | fn | component | comp |
| documentation | docs | implementation | impl | authentication | auth |
| application | app | configuration | cfg | environment | env |
| development | dev | production | prod | repository | repo |
| parameter | param | argument | arg | reference | ref |
| variable | var | constant | const | directory | dir |
| dependency | dep | dependencies | deps | performance | perf |
| optimization | opt | database | db | message | msg |
| request | req | response | res | middleware | mw |
| specification | spec | information | info | property | prop |
| attribute | attr | expression | expr | condition | cond |
| temporary | tmp | template | tpl | maximum | max |
| minimum | min | number | num | string | str |
| boolean | bool | integer | int | character | char |
| subscription | sub | notification | notif | generation | gen |
| operation | op | administrator | admin | previous | prev |
| current | curr | source | src | destination | dest |
| original | orig | description | desc | infrastructure | infra |
| transaction | txn | synchronous | sync | asynchronous | async |
| memory | mem | iteration | iter | executable | exec |
| execution | exec | navigation | nav | initialization | init |
| connection | conn | communication | comm | certificate | cert |
| technology | tech | management | mgmt | calculate | calc |
| callback | cb | render | rnd | inline | inl |
Broader vocabulary for networking, OS, data, DevOps, and general development.
| Full | Abbr | Full | Abbr | Full | Abbr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| protocol | proto | address | addr | network | net |
| socket | sock | bandwidth | bw | latency | lat |
| throughput | tput | packet | pkt | process | proc |
| thread | thd | scheduler | sched | filesystem | fs |
| allocation | alloc | register | reg | permission | perm |
| collection | coll | element | elem | index | idx |
| length | len | count | cnt | buffer | buf |
| sequence | seq | frequency | freq | column | col |
| record | rec | aggregate | agg | accumulator | acc |
| container | ctr | kubernetes | k8s | namespace | ns |
| instance | inst | deployment | deploy | monitoring | mon |
| observability | obs | replication | repl | endpoint | ep |
| controller | ctrl | serialization | ser | pagination | page |
| validation | val | constructor | ctor | destructor | dtor |
| exception | exc | library | lib | package | pkg |
| interface | iface | algorithm | algo | architecture | arch |
| version | ver | revision | rev | extension | ext |
| definition | def | declaration | decl | statement | stmt |
| annotation | annot | utility | util | debug | dbg |
| profiling | prof | benchmark | bench | migration | migr |
| integration | integ | refactoring | refac |
Common English words shortened for maximum compression in technical discourse.
| Full | Abbr | Full | Abbr | Full | Abbr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| between | btw | without | w/o | because | bc |
| example | ex | different | diff | difference | diff |
| important | imp | multiple | mult | available | avail |
| required | reqd | optional | opt | alternative | alt |
| comparison | cmp | approximately | approx | especially | esp |
| including | incl | regarding | re | typically | typ |
| specific | spec | generally | gen | additional | addl |
| automatic | auto | independent | indep | separate | sep |
| immediately | immed | distributed | distrib | concurrent | concur |
| horizontal | horiz | vertical | vert | duplicate | dup |
| strategy | strat | mechanism | mech |
Single-character and extreme shortenings for expert users. Overrides lower-tier abbreviations for maximum compression.
| Full | Abbr | Full | Abbr | Full | Abbr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| function | f | variable | v | object | o |
| string | s | number | n | integer | i |
| boolean | b | return | ret | value | val |
| error | err | result | res | context | ctx |
| message | m | data | d | type | t |
| event | evt | handler | h | service | svc |
| server | srv | client | cli | command | cmd |
| channel | ch | signal | sig | method | m |
| module | mod | resource | rsc | identifier | id |
| manager | mgr | factory | fac | provider | prov |
| consumer | cons | producer | prod | subscriber | sub |
| publisher | pub | listener | lsnr | observer | obs |
When using AXON in a system prompt, specify the level:
Use AXON v1.1 with abbreviation level L1.
When no level is specified, L0 (default) is assumed.
[QUANTIFIER] [SUBJECT sigil+name] [OPERATOR] [OBJECT sigil+name] [CONFIDENCE] [TEMPORAL]
Parentheses group sub-expressions. Multi-word tokens use hyphens. Bare (unsigiled) consecutive tokens merge into hyphenated compounds.
@ prefix# prefix (unknown words get NO sigil)~ prefix (unknown verbs get NO sigil)$ prefix-> or <-&& || :. bc! prefixA. E.@ tokens -> named entities# tokens -> concepts or abstract nouns~ tokens -> verbs (conjugate naturally)$ tokens -> numeric values or scalar descriptors-> -> “causes” / “leads to”<- -> “is caused by” / “results from”:. -> “therefore” / bc -> “because”! prefix -> “not” / “no [noun]” / “absence of”A. -> “all” / “every” / E. -> “there exists”&& -> “and” / || -> “or”AXON can also be used to compress LLM responses. Include this directive in the system prompt:
Respond using AXON notation where applicable: sigils (@entity #concept ~verb),
operators (-> <- :. bc), abbreviations (database->db, component->comp, function->fn).
Strip filler. Be terse.
This is complementary to prompt-side compression — AXON compresses the input, response compression reduces the output.
| Natural Language | AXON |
|---|---|
| The sun probably emits ultraviolet radiation. | @sun ~emit* #uv-radiation |
| All living things require energy to survive. | A.@organism #energy -> #survival!! |
| Climate change caused by CO2 leads to temperature rise. | @co2 #emission -> #climate-change -> #temperature ~rise!! |
| There is no evidence that this treatment works. | !#evidence :. !~work #treatment |
| The model will probably predict the outcome in 30 days. | @model ~predict* #outcome ^T+30d |
| fix the bug in the authentication service | >fix bug:auth-service |
| what is the best way to implement caching | ?best impl-caching |
| add a field email to User | @user+.email |
| explain database connection pooling | >explain db-conn-pooling |