Platform overview
Lokad is a programmatic SaaS platform for building and operating supply chain decision applications. Envision is the domain-specific language used to define those applications. Engagements can be software-only or software plus expert teams.
The documentation targets analysts who are comfortable with spreadsheets and basic scripting. Envision itself is implemented in C#, F#, and TypeScript.
Envision language characteristics
- No arbitrary loops or branches; iteration is bounded and declarative.
- Strong static typing; function calls are side-effect free.
- Built-in algebras for predictive optimization.
- Differentiable programming and calendar constructs are first-class features.
- Compilation rejects scripts that are too slow or unsafe to run in production.
Runtime characteristics
- Native compilation to a distributed execution backend.
- Data-parallel execution by default.
- Versioned storage for data, scripts, and runs.
- Fast re-execution via compute-graph diffing.
- SIMD-heavy execution with tiered memory management.
Development environment
- Web IDE with syntax highlighting and autocomplete.
- Compiler diagnostics optimized for non-engineers.
- Versioning of edits and runs.
- Contextual browsing of input data.
- Visual dashboard editor and data-comment propagation.
Supporting tooling
- ACLs and SSO integration.
- Built-in orchestration with concurrency control and HTTP hooks.
- Markdown editing and tabular previews in the file viewer.
- FTPS/SFTP bridge to the internal file store.
- Spreadsheet import/export and web editing.
Source model
The platform is closed-source. Envision upgrades are delivered through automated source-to-source rewrites to preserve compatibility across language versions.