Modules, packages, and native boundaries

A Hew source file is a module. Import dotted module paths with import and refer to the module through its final component. Standard-library imports use names such as std.math and std.encoding.json.

import std.math;

fn main() {
    println(math.max(3, 7));
}

import app.model; imports a package module. A quoted import such as import "helpers.hew"; loads a source file relative to the importer. Add as name to a whole-module import to choose its local qualifier, or use a brace selection to import named public items.

Visibility

A declaration without a visibility keyword is private to its module. package exposes it to the current package, and pub exposes it to importers. The same keywords apply to functions, types, constants, actors, traits, and other exported declarations. Imports form a directed acyclic graph; the compiler reports the complete path when it finds a cycle.

hew init name creates a package with hew.toml. hew check, hew build, and hew run search parent directories for that manifest. The optional [package] main field selects the entry file; otherwise it is main.hew. Directories form nested namespaces. A directory module uses its matching name/name.hew root and can be composed with peer files in that directory; import paths still use dots rather than filesystem separators.

Foreign functions and unsafe code

extern blocks declare native symbols and ABI types. Calls that rely on raw pointers or an unchecked host contract belong inside unsafe { ... }. Package [native] configuration supplies the Rust, C, C++, or system-library implementation linked into native builds. These declarations describe a native boundary and do not imply WASI or browser availability; consult target capabilities before exposing them in a portable package.

Declarative macros

macro declarations transform token trees during compilation. A macro call uses name!(...), name![...], or name!{...} and expands before name and type checking. Expansion is hygienic, bounded, and cannot perform arbitrary build-time I/O. Use ordinary generic functions or traits when token-level syntax generation is unnecessary.