The whole language fits on one page.

FLAGS · TREND · FORECAST · ALERT · RISK · GAP

No WITH clause → all applicable flags active by default. WITH <flag>, <flag> → only listed flags active. Flags requiring a GOAL are silently inert without one.

Custom ALERT colors — provide three hex values inline: SMASH metric WITH alert(#dc2626, #d97706, #16a34a). Fewer than 3 valid values → default palette.

SHOW AS is accepted as a verbose synonym for SMASH and produces identical IR.

// canonical verbs
GOAL grow revenue by +15% this month
GOAL hit revenue >= $50,000 this month
GOAL reduce refund_rate to <= 2% this month
GOAL hold uptime >= 99.98% this month
GOAL cap ad_spend <= $5,000 this week

// SOFT / HARD commitment suffix
GOAL grow sessions to >= 50000 this month SOFT
GOAL hit revenue >= $50,000 this month HARD

// compound — AND requires all; OR requires any
GOAL hit revenue >= $15,000 AND hit orders >= 300 this month
GOAL grow revenue by +20% OR hit gross_profit >= $20,000 this month

Surface synonyms are accepted at parse time and normalized to canonical: increase/raise/boost/drive/lift/scale → grow · decrease/lower/cut/shrink/minimize/trim/drop → reduce · maintain/sustain/keep/stay/ensure → hold · reach/achieve/target/attain → hit · ceiling → cap.

Time phrases are embedded directly in the GOAL clause:

Values accept: $50,000 (currency), 99.98% (percent), +15% (relative, +N% above comparison), 50000 (plain number). Comma thousand-separators are accepted.

// single column with alias
SOURCE shopify.sales.net_sales AS revenue

// multiple columns (comma-separated)
SOURCE shopify.sales.net_sales AS revenue,
       shopify.sales.gross_sales,
       shopify.sales.orders

// continuation clauses refine the source
SOURCE shopify.sales.gross_sales AS products
       WHERE    channel = "online_store"
       GROUP BY product_title
       ORDER BY gross_sales DESC
       LIMIT    10

Confirmed namespaces: shopify.sales (net_sales, gross_sales, gross_profit, orders, net_items_sold, refund_rate) · shopify.sessions (online_store_visitors, uptime_pct). Other namespaces work if your runtime is configured with the appropriate emitter.

IR note (v1.0-rc1): GROUP BY day|week|month|quarter|year is the surface form for the IR's granularity field on SourceBinding. SQL emitters pair it with timeField (defaults to created_at) to render DATE_TRUNC(<granularity>, <timeField>).

FORECAST · RISK · GAP (time component) — require a window with a defined end. Inactive for rolling windows.

Default alignment: elapsed. For in-progress periods, the comparison window is auto-truncated to match the elapsed portion. "This month vs last year" on the 13th compares the 1st–13th both years — not the full prior month.

IR alignment override: the IR exposes alignment: "calendar-full" as an alternative — useful when a card should compare against the full prior calendar period regardless of how much of the current window has elapsed. Surface authoring stays on the elapsed default.

Inferred when omitted: column names containing rate, uptime, pct, percent, aov, cpa, cpc, roas → ratio. Everything else → cumulative. Declared TYPE always overrides.

Inferred when omitted: column names containing refund, return, churn, abandon, cost, bounce → lower. The reduce and cap verbs also imply lower. TREND pill colour is inverted for lower — green means decreased.

Most commonly needed when a rate metric returns a raw decimal but should display as a percentage — e.g. 0.018 → 1.80%.

SMOOTH affects the trend line only — never the headline KPI. Only effective when the card renders a sparkline.