Project

toml-merge

0.0
No release in over 3 years
โ˜ฏ๏ธ Intelligently merges TOML files by analyzing their AST structure with tree-sitter, preserving key organization and resolving conflicts based on structural similarity.
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
 Dependencies

Development

~> 1.0, >= 1.0.3
~> 1.0, >= 1.0.6
~> 13.0
~> 1.0, >= 1.0.4
~> 1.0, >= 1.0.2

Runtime

~> 1.1
~> 4.1
~> 1.1, >= 1.1.9
 Project Readme
๐Ÿ“ NOTE
RubyGems (the GitHub org, not the website) suffered a hostile takeover in September 2025.
Ultimately 4 maintainers were hard removed and a reason has been given for only 1 of those, while 2 others resigned in protest.
It is a complicated story which is difficult to parse quickly.
Simply put - there was active policy for adding or removing maintainers/owners of rubygems and bundler, and those policies were not followed.
I'm adding notes like this to gems because I don't condone theft of repositories or gems from their rightful owners.
If a similar theft happened with my repos/gems, I'd hope some would stand up for me.
Disenfranchised former-maintainers have started gem.coop.
Once available I will publish there exclusively; unless RubyCentral makes amends with the community.
The "Technology for Humans: Joel Draper" podcast episode by reinteractive is the most cogent summary I'm aware of.
See here, here and here for more info on what comes next.
What I'm doing: A (WIP) proposal for bundler/gem scopes, and a (WIP) proposal for a federated gem server.

Galtzo FLOSS Logo by Aboling0, CC BY-SA 4.0 ruby-lang Logo, Yukihiro Matsumoto, Ruby Visual Identity Team, CC BY-SA 2.5 kettle-rb Logo by Aboling0, CC BY-SA 4.0

โ˜ฏ๏ธ Toml::Merge

Version GitHub tag (latest SemVer) License: MIT Downloads Rank Open Source Helpers CodeCov Test Coverage Coveralls Test Coverage QLTY Test Coverage QLTY Maintainability CI Heads CI Runtime Dependencies @ HEAD CI Current CI Truffle Ruby Deps Locked Deps Unlocked CI Supported CI Test Coverage CI Style CodeQL Apache SkyWalking Eyes License Compatibility Check

if ci_badges.map(&:color).detect { it != "green"} โ˜๏ธ let me know, as I may have missed the discord notification.


if ci_badges.map(&:color).all? { it == "green"} ๐Ÿ‘‡๏ธ send money so I can do more of this. FLOSS maintenance is now my full-time job.

OpenCollective Backers OpenCollective Sponsors Sponsor Me on Github Liberapay Goal Progress Donate on PayPal Buy me a coffee Donate on Polar Donate at ko-fi.com

๐ŸŒป Synopsis

toml-merge provides intelligent merging of TOML files by parsing them into tree-sitter AST nodes and comparing structural elements. It supports:

  • Smart key matching - Keys and tables are matched by their structural signatures
  • Table matching - Tables are matched using a multi-factor scoring algorithm that considers key similarity, value overlap, and position
  • Freeze blocks - Mark sections with comments to preserve them during merges
  • Configurable merge strategies - Choose whether template or destination wins for conflicts, or use a Hash for per-node-type preferences with node_splitter (see ast-merge docs)
  • Full TOML support - Works with all TOML 1.0 features including inline tables, arrays of tables, and dotted keys

The *-merge Gem Family

This gem is part of a family of gems that provide intelligent merging for various file formats:

Gem Format Parser Backend(s) Description
tree_haver Multi MRI C, Rust, FFI, Java, Prism, Psych, Commonmarker, Markly, Citrus Foundation: Cross-Ruby adapter for parsing libraries (like Faraday for HTTP)
ast-merge Text internal Infrastructure: Shared base classes and merge logic for all *-merge gems
prism-merge Ruby Prism (via tree_haver) Smart merge for Ruby source files
psych-merge YAML Psych (via tree_haver) Smart merge for YAML files
json-merge JSON tree-sitter-json (via tree_haver) Smart merge for JSON files
jsonc-merge JSONC tree-sitter-jsonc (via tree_haver) โš ๏ธ Proof of concept; Smart merge for JSON with Comments
bash-merge Bash tree-sitter-bash (via tree_haver) Smart merge for Bash scripts
rbs-merge RBS RBS Smart merge for Ruby type signatures
dotenv-merge Dotenv internal (dotenv) Smart merge for .env files
toml-merge TOML tree-sitter-toml (via tree_haver) Smart merge for TOML files
markdown-merge Markdown Commonmarker / Markly (via tree_haver) Foundation: Shared base for Markdown mergers with inner code block merging
markly-merge Markdown Markly (via tree_haver) Smart merge for Markdown (CommonMark via cmark-gfm C)
commonmarker-merge Markdown Commonmarker (via tree_haver) Smart merge for Markdown (CommonMark via comrak Rust)

Example implementations for the gem templating use case:

Gem Purpose Description
kettle-dev Gem Development Gem templating tool using *-merge gems
kettle-jem Gem Templating Gem template library with smart merge support

๐Ÿ’ก Info you can shake a stick at

Tokens to Remember Gem name Gem namespace
Works with JRuby JRuby 10.0 Compat JRuby HEAD Compat
Works with Truffle Ruby Truffle Ruby 23.1 Compat Truffle Ruby 24.1 Compat
Works with MRI Ruby 3 Ruby 3.2 Compat Ruby 3.3 Compat Ruby 3.4 Compat Ruby HEAD Compat
Support & Community Join Me on Daily.dev's RubyFriends Live Chat on Discord Get help from me on Upwork Get help from me on Codementor
Source Source on GitLab.com Source on CodeBerg.org Source on Github.com The best SHA: dQw4w9WgXcQ!
Documentation Current release on RubyDoc.info YARD on Galtzo.com Maintainer Blog GitLab Wiki GitHub Wiki
Compliance License: MIT Compatible with Apache Software Projects: Verified by SkyWalking Eyes ๐Ÿ“„ilo-declaration-img Security Policy Contributor Covenant 2.1 SemVer 2.0.0
Style Enforced Code Style Linter Keep-A-Changelog 1.0.0 Gitmoji Commits Compatibility appraised by: appraisal2
Maintainer ๐ŸŽ–๏ธ Follow Me on LinkedIn Follow Me on Ruby.Social Follow Me on Bluesky Contact Maintainer My technical writing
... ๐Ÿ’– Find Me on WellFound: Find Me on CrunchBase My LinkTree More About Me ๐ŸงŠ ๐Ÿ™ ๐Ÿ›– ๐Ÿงช

Compatibility

Compatible with MRI Ruby 3.2.0+, and concordant releases of JRuby, and TruffleRuby.

๐Ÿšš Amazing test matrix was brought to you by ๐Ÿ”Ž appraisal2 ๐Ÿ”Ž and the color ๐Ÿ’š green ๐Ÿ’š
๐Ÿ‘Ÿ Check it out! โœจ github.com/appraisal-rb/appraisal2 โœจ

Federated DVCS

Find this repo on federated forges (Coming soon!)
Federated DVCS Repository Status Issues PRs Wiki CI Discussions
๐Ÿงช kettle-rb/toml-merge on GitLab The Truth ๐Ÿ’š ๐Ÿ’š ๐Ÿ’š ๐Ÿญ Tiny Matrix โž–
๐ŸงŠ kettle-rb/toml-merge on CodeBerg An Ethical Mirror (Donate) ๐Ÿ’š ๐Ÿ’š โž– โญ•๏ธ No Matrix โž–
๐Ÿ™ kettle-rb/toml-merge on GitHub Another Mirror ๐Ÿ’š ๐Ÿ’š ๐Ÿ’š ๐Ÿ’ฏ Full Matrix ๐Ÿ’š
๐ŸŽฎ๏ธ Discord Server Live Chat on Discord Let's talk about this library!

Enterprise Support Tidelift

Available as part of the Tidelift Subscription.

Need enterprise-level guarantees?

The maintainers of this and thousands of other packages are working with Tidelift to deliver commercial support and maintenance for the open source packages you use to build your applications. Save time, reduce risk, and improve code health, while paying the maintainers of the exact packages you use.

Get help from me on Tidelift

  • ๐Ÿ’กSubscribe for support guarantees covering all your FLOSS dependencies
  • ๐Ÿ’กTidelift is part of Sonar
  • ๐Ÿ’กTidelift pays maintainers to maintain the software you depend on!
    ๐Ÿ“Š@Pointy Haired Boss: An enterprise support subscription is "never gonna let you down", and supports open source maintainers

Alternatively:

  • Live Chat on Discord
  • Get help from me on Upwork
  • Get help from me on Codementor

โœจ Installation

Install the gem and add to the application's Gemfile by executing:

bundle add toml-merge

If bundler is not being used to manage dependencies, install the gem by executing:

gem install toml-merge

๐Ÿ”’ Secure Installation

For Medium or High Security Installations

This gem is cryptographically signed, and has verifiable SHA-256 and SHA-512 checksums by stone_checksums. Be sure the gem you install hasnโ€™t been tampered with by following the instructions below.

Add my public key (if you havenโ€™t already, expires 2045-04-29) as a trusted certificate:

gem cert --add <(curl -Ls https://raw.github.com/galtzo-floss/certs/main/pboling.pem)

You only need to do that once. Then proceed to install with:

gem install toml-merge -P HighSecurity

The HighSecurity trust profile will verify signed gems, and not allow the installation of unsigned dependencies.

If you want to up your security game full-time:

bundle config set --global trust-policy MediumSecurity

MediumSecurity instead of HighSecurity is necessary if not all the gems you use are signed.

NOTE: Be prepared to track down certs for signed gems and add them the same way you added mine.

โš™๏ธ Configuration

Parser Backend Options

toml-merge uses tree_haver for parsing, which supports multiple backends:

Tree-sitter backend (default, requires native library):

  • Set the TREE_SITTER_TOML_PATH environment variable to point to your compiled libtree-sitter-toml.so (or .dylib on macOS):
export TREE_SITTER_TOML_PATH=/path/to/libtree-sitter-toml.so

Citrus backend (pure Ruby, no native dependencies):

  • Alternative option using the citrus and toml-rb gems
  • No compilation or system dependencies required
  • Ideal for environments where native extensions are problematic
  • Configure via tree_haver's backend selection

For more details on backend configuration, see the tree_haver documentation.

Merge Options

merger = Toml::Merge::SmartMerger.new(
  template_content,
  dest_content,
  # Which version to prefer when nodes match
  # :destination (default) - keep destination values
  # :template - use template values
  preference: :destination,

  # Whether to add template-only nodes to the result
  # false (default) - only include keys that exist in destination
  # true - include all template keys and tables
  add_template_only_nodes: false,

  # Token for freeze block markers
  # Default: "toml-merge"
  # Looks for: # toml-merge:freeze / # toml-merge:unfreeze
  freeze_token: "toml-merge",

  # Custom signature generator (optional)
  # Receives a node, returns a signature array or nil
  signature_generator: ->(node) { [:table, node.name] if node.type == :table },
)

๐Ÿ”ง Basic Usage

Simple Merge

require "toml/merge"

# Template defines the structure
template = <<~TOML
  [package]
  name = "my-app"
  version = "1.0.0"
  
  [dependencies]
  serde = "1.0"
  tokio = "1.0"
TOML

# Destination has customizations
destination = <<~TOML
  [package]
  name = "my-app"
  version = "2.0.0"
  authors = ["Custom Author"]
  
  [dev-dependencies]
  criterion = "0.5"
TOML

merger = Toml::Merge::SmartMerger.new(template, destination)
result = merger.merge
puts result.content

Using Freeze Blocks

Freeze blocks protect sections from being overwritten during merge:

[package]
name = "my-app"

# toml-merge:freeze Custom configuration
[secrets]
api_key = "my_production_api_key"
db_password = "super_secret_password"
# toml-merge:unfreeze

[dependencies]
serde = "1.0"

Content between # toml-merge:freeze and # toml-merge:unfreeze markers is preserved from the destination file, regardless of what the template contains.

Adding Template-Only Tables

merger = Toml::Merge::SmartMerger.new(
  template,
  destination,
  add_template_only_nodes: true,
)
result = merger.merge
# Result includes tables/keys from template that don't exist in destination

๐Ÿฆท FLOSS Funding

While kettle-rb tools are free software and will always be, the project would benefit immensely from some funding. Raising a monthly budget of... "dollars" would make the project more sustainable.

We welcome both individual and corporate sponsors! We also offer a wide array of funding channels to account for your preferences (although currently Open Collective is our preferred funding platform).

If you're working in a company that's making significant use of kettle-rb tools we'd appreciate it if you suggest to your company to become a kettle-rb sponsor.

You can support the development of kettle-rb tools via GitHub Sponsors, Liberapay, PayPal, Open Collective and Tidelift.

๐Ÿ“ NOTE
If doing a sponsorship in the form of donation is problematic for your company
from an accounting standpoint, we'd recommend the use of Tidelift,
where you can get a support-like subscription instead.

Open Collective for Individuals

Support us with a monthly donation and help us continue our activities. [Become a backer]

NOTE: kettle-readme-backers updates this list every day, automatically.

No backers yet. Be the first!

Open Collective for Organizations

Become a sponsor and get your logo on our README on GitHub with a link to your site. [Become a sponsor]

NOTE: kettle-readme-backers updates this list every day, automatically.

No sponsors yet. Be the first!

Another way to support open-source

Iโ€™m driven by a passion to foster a thriving open-source community โ€“ a space where people can tackle complex problems, no matter how small. Revitalizing libraries that have fallen into disrepair, and building new libraries focused on solving real-world challenges, are my passions. I was recently affected by layoffs, and the tech jobs market is unwelcoming. Iโ€™m reaching out here because your support would significantly aid my efforts to provide for my family, and my farm (11 ๐Ÿ” chickens, 2 ๐Ÿถ dogs, 3 ๐Ÿฐ rabbits, 8 ๐Ÿˆโ€ cats).

If you work at a company that uses my work, please encourage them to support me as a corporate sponsor. My work on gems you use might show up in bundle fund.

Iโ€™m developing a new library, floss_funding, designed to empower open-source developers like myself to get paid for the work we do, in a sustainable way. Please give it a look.

Floss-Funding.dev: ๐Ÿ‘‰๏ธ No network calls. ๐Ÿ‘‰๏ธ No tracking. ๐Ÿ‘‰๏ธ No oversight. ๐Ÿ‘‰๏ธ Minimal crypto hashing. ๐Ÿ’ก Easily disabled nags

OpenCollective Backers OpenCollective Sponsors Sponsor Me on Github Liberapay Goal Progress Donate on PayPal Buy me a coffee Donate on Polar Donate to my FLOSS efforts at ko-fi.com Donate to my FLOSS efforts using Patreon

๐Ÿ” Security

See SECURITY.md.

๐Ÿค Contributing

If you need some ideas of where to help, you could work on adding more code coverage, or if it is already ๐Ÿ’ฏ (see below) check reek, issues, or PRs, or use the gem and think about how it could be better.

We Keep A Changelog so if you make changes, remember to update it.

See CONTRIBUTING.md for more detailed instructions.

๐Ÿš€ Release Instructions

See CONTRIBUTING.md.

Code Coverage

Coverage Graph

Coveralls Test Coverage

QLTY Test Coverage

๐Ÿช‡ Code of Conduct

Everyone interacting with this project's codebases, issue trackers, chat rooms and mailing lists agrees to follow the Contributor Covenant 2.1.

๐ŸŒˆ Contributors

Contributors

Made with contributors-img.

Also see GitLab Contributors: https://gitlab.com/kettle-rb/toml-merge/-/graphs/main

โญ๏ธ Star History Star History Chart

๐Ÿ“Œ Versioning

This Library adheres to Semantic Versioning 2.0.0. Violations of this scheme should be reported as bugs. Specifically, if a minor or patch version is released that breaks backward compatibility, a new version should be immediately released that restores compatibility. Breaking changes to the public API will only be introduced with new major versions.

dropping support for a platform is both obviously and objectively a breaking change
โ€”Jordan Harband (@ljharb, maintainer of SemVer) in SemVer issue 716

I understand that policy doesn't work universally ("exceptions to every rule!"), but it is the policy here. As such, in many cases it is good to specify a dependency on this library using the Pessimistic Version Constraint with two digits of precision.

For example:

spec.add_dependency("toml-merge", "~> 1.0")
๐Ÿ“Œ Is "Platform Support" part of the public API? More details inside.

SemVer should, IMO, but doesn't explicitly, say that dropping support for specific Platforms is a breaking change to an API, and for that reason the bike shedding is endless.

To get a better understanding of how SemVer is intended to work over a project's lifetime, read this article from the creator of SemVer:

See CHANGELOG.md for a list of releases.

๐Ÿ“„ License

The gem is available as open source under the terms of the MIT License License: MIT. See LICENSE.txt for the official Copyright Notice.

ยฉ Copyright

  • Copyright (c) 2025 Peter H.ย Boling, of Galtzo.com Galtzo.com Logo (Wordless) by Aboling0, CC BY-SA 4.0 , and toml-merge contributors.

๐Ÿค‘ A request for help

Maintainers have teeth and need to pay their dentists. After getting laid off in an RIF in March, and encountering difficulty finding a new one, I began spending most of my time building open source tools. I'm hoping to be able to pay for my kids' health insurance this month, so if you value the work I am doing, I need your support. Please consider sponsoring me or the project.

To join the community or get help ๐Ÿ‘‡๏ธ Join the Discord.

Live Chat on Discord

To say "thanks!" โ˜๏ธ Join the Discord or ๐Ÿ‘‡๏ธ send money.

Sponsor kettle-rb/toml-merge on Open Source Collective ๐Ÿ’Œ Sponsor me on GitHub Sponsors ๐Ÿ’Œ Sponsor me on Liberapay ๐Ÿ’Œ Donate on PayPal

Please give the project a star โญ โ™ฅ.

Thanks for RTFM. โ˜บ๏ธ