Variant Documentation Overview

Welcome to the Variant documentation. This guide provides a comprehensive walkthrough of the Variant low-code platform and its development model, Y# (a YAML-based domain-specific language). Whether you're building scalable APIs, integrating third-party services, or composing complex workflows—Variant offers cloud-native tooling designed for flexibility, speed, and reuse.

What You’ll Learn

• The structure and components of a Variant Software Development Platform application

• Core Y# constructs: connectors, endpoints, pipes, and strategies

• How to write, test, and deploy applications using Variant’s real-time development environment

• Advanced features like specialisations, reusable pipelines, and extension packages

• How Variant compares with other iPaaS and low-code platforms

Key Concepts

• Message Flow & Pipelining — Build event-driven applications by chaining modular pipes

• Declarative Configuration — Everything is expressed in YAML: APIs, pipelines, app settings, security, infrastructure

• Built-In Testing — Define and run unit and end-to-end tests from within the platform

• Multi-Environment Deployment — Promote tested services into UAT, pre-prod, or production environments using a single release artifact

• Extension & Reuse — Encapsulate custom logic and pipelines into extension packages for cross-project sharing

Where to Start

• 🔍 Why Choose Variant

• ▶️ Creating Your First Application

• 📦 The Anatomy of a Variant App

• ⚖️ Y#: The Variant development language

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Variant empowers teams to create cloud-native services faster with a YAML-first mindset and rich testing + reuse support baked in.