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Quick Start

This page walks you through setting up your environment and writing your first Zymba programs. By the end you will be comfortable with the basic development workflow.

Prerequisites​

  • ZeyOS SDK installed and available as zeysdk
  • A ZeyOS instance to link against

Setting up​

Create an application​

Bash
zeysdk create myapp
cd myapp
Bash
zeysdk link --token YOUR_TOKEN --url https://cloud.zeyos.com/instance instance-name

Run your first script​

Test that everything works:

Bash
zeysdk run --zymba 'echo "Hello, Zymba!";'

Expected output:

Text
Output
  Hello, Zymba!

Language basics in 5 minutes​

Variables and types​

ZYMBA
$name = "Alice";           // String
$age = 30;                  // Integer
$price = 19.99;             // Float
$active = true;             // Boolean
$nothing = null;            // Null
$items = [1, 2, 3];         // Array
$config = [host: "localhost", port: 3306]; // Associative array

echo "$name is $age years old";

String concatenation​

Use . (dot) for concatenation — NOT +:

ZYMBA
$greeting = "Hello, " . $name . "!";
echo $greeting; // "Hello, Alice!"

// Or use string interpolation in double quotes:
echo "Hello, $name!"; // Same result
warning

+ always performs numeric addition. "Hello" + " World" evaluates to 0, not "Hello World".

Control flow​

ZYMBA
// if / else
if ($age >= 18) {
    echo "Adult";
} else {
    echo "Minor";
}

// unless (inverse of if)
unless ($active) {
    echo "Inactive";
}

// for loop
for ($i = 0; $i < 5; $i++) {
    echo "$i ";
}

// for-as (iterate array)
$colors = ["red", "green", "blue"];
for ($colors as $color) {
    echo "$color ";
}

// while loop
$count = 0;
while ($count < 3) {
    echo "$count ";
    $count++;
}

Functions​

ZYMBA
// Named function
function $add($a, $b) {
    return $a + $b;
}
echo $add(3, 4); // 7

// Anonymous function
$double = function($x) { return $x * 2; };
echo $double(5); // 10

// Default parameters
function $greet($name = "World") {
    echo "Hello, $name!";
}
$greet();        // "Hello, World!"
$greet("Bob");   // "Hello, Bob!"

Error handling​

ZYMBA
try {
    $data = @Var.fromJSON($input);
} catch ($e) {
    echo "Error: " . $e.getMessage();
}

Working with the standard library​

@Array — array operations​

ZYMBA
$numbers = [5, 2, 8, 1, 9];

$sorted  = @Array.sortAscByValues($numbers);
$big     = @Array.filter($numbers, function($n) { return $n > 4; });
$doubled = @Array.map($numbers, function($n) { return $n * 2; });

echo @Array.joinValues($sorted, ", "); // "1, 2, 5, 8, 9"

@String — string operations​

ZYMBA
$input = "  Hello, World!  ";

echo @String.trim($input);                      // "Hello, World!"
echo @String.toUpper($input);                   // "  HELLO, WORLD!  "
echo @String.contains($input, "World");         // true
echo @String.replace($input, "World", "Zymba");

@Date — date and time​

ZYMBA
echo @Date.format("Y-m-d");           // "2026-02-08"
echo @Date.format("H:i:s");           // "14:30:00"

$timestamp = @Date.now();
$tomorrow  = $timestamp + 86400;
echo @Date.format("Y-m-d", $tomorrow);

@Var — JSON​

ZYMBA
// Encode
$data = [name: "Alice", items: [1, 2, 3]];
$json = @Var.toJSON($data);

// Decode
$parsed = @Var.fromJSON('{"name":"Bob","age":25}');
echo $parsed.name; // "Bob"

A real-world example​

A complete service that processes an API request:

ZYMBA
include 'zymba:sql,var,http';

// Get request data
$input = @HTTP.getRequestBody();
$data  = @Var.fromJSON($input);

// Validate
unless ($data is object) {
    @HTTP.setStatusCode(400);
    echo @Var.toJSON([error: "Invalid JSON"]);
    return;
}

unless (exists $data.name) {
    @HTTP.setStatusCode(400);
    echo @Var.toJSON([error: "Name is required"]);
    return;
}

// Query database
$db  = @ZeyOS.selectDatabase();
$sql = @SQL.prepare(
    "SELECT ID, name, email FROM contacts WHERE name LIKE ?",
    "%" . $data.name . "%"
);
$results = $db.fetchAll($sql, true);

// Respond
@HTTP.setHeader("Content-Type", "application/json");
echo @Var.toJSON([
    count:   count $results,
    results: $results
]);

Running and testing​

Execute inline code​

Bash
zeysdk run --zymba '$x = 42; echo $x * 2;'

Execute from a file​

Define a service in zeyos.app.json, write the code in services/, then zeysdk push and invoke through ZeyOS.

Testing tips​

  1. Start with zeysdk run --zymba for quick experiments
  2. Test each function in isolation before combining
  3. Use @Console.log() for debug output
  4. Wrap risky operations in try/catch

See also​

  • Language Basics — complete reference on variables, types, and operators