---
id: wiki-2026-0508-cst
title: CST
category: 10_Wiki/Topics
status: verified
canonical_id: self
aliases: [Concrete Syntax Tree, Parse Tree, Lossless Syntax Tree]
duplicate_of: none
source_trust_level: A
confidence_score: 0.95
verification_status: applied
tags: [parser, compiler, ast, cst, ide, refactoring]
raw_sources: []
last_reinforced: 2026-05-10
github_commit: pending
tech_stack:
  language: Polyglot
  framework: tree-sitter/Roslyn/rust-analyzer
---

# CST

## 매 한 줄
> **"매 Concrete Syntax Tree (CST) = 매 source text 의 모든 문자 (whitespace, comment, trivia) 까지 보존하는 lossless tree."**. 매 AST 가 의미만 남기고 trivia 를 버린 반면, CST 는 매 round-trip print 가 가능. 매 2026 모던 IDE / formatter / refactor tool 의 backbone — tree-sitter, Roslyn, rust-analyzer 가 모두 CST.

## 매 핵심

### 매 AST vs CST
- **AST**: 매 abstract — 매 keyword/punctuation 생략, semantics 만.
- **CST**: 매 concrete — 매 every token + whitespace + comment.
- **Round-trip**: 매 CST → exact source text 복원 가능.
- **Incremental update**: 매 edit 시 affected subtree 만 reparse.

### 매 use-case where CST > AST
- **Code formatter** (prettier, gofmt, rustfmt): 매 trivia 제어 필요.
- **Refactor tool**: 매 comment 보존 + 정확한 source range.
- **Linter with auto-fix**: 매 source position 정확.
- **Syntax highlighting**: 매 every token 위치 필요.
- **IDE error tolerance**: 매 partial parse 도 tree 반환.

### 매 응용
1. **tree-sitter**: 매 GitHub/Atom/Neovim grammar — 매 incremental.
2. **Roslyn (C#)**: 매 `SyntaxNode` 가 CST.
3. **rust-analyzer**: 매 `rowan` library 의 lossless syntax tree.
4. **Babel `@babel/parser`**: 매 AST + tokens (semi-CST).
5. **Prettier**: 매 input 의 doc-IR 변환.

## 💻 패턴

### tree-sitter — incremental CST
```javascript
const Parser = require('tree-sitter');
const Java = require('tree-sitter-java');
const parser = new Parser();
parser.setLanguage(Java);

const source = `class A { int x = 1; }`;
const tree = parser.parse(source);

// edit: insert at offset 17
const newSource = `class A { int x = 1; int y = 2; }`;
tree.edit({
  startIndex: 19, oldEndIndex: 19, newEndIndex: 31,
  startPosition: {row: 0, column: 19},
  oldEndPosition: {row: 0, column: 19},
  newEndPosition: {row: 0, column: 31},
});
const newTree = parser.parse(newSource, tree); // reuses unchanged subtrees
```

### Roslyn — preserve trivia in refactor
```csharp
var tree = CSharpSyntaxTree.ParseText(source);
var root = tree.GetRoot();
var oldMethod = root.DescendantNodes().OfType<MethodDeclarationSyntax>().First();
var newMethod = oldMethod
    .WithIdentifier(SyntaxFactory.Identifier("RenamedMethod"))
    .WithLeadingTrivia(oldMethod.GetLeadingTrivia())
    .WithTrailingTrivia(oldMethod.GetTrailingTrivia());
var newRoot = root.ReplaceNode(oldMethod, newMethod);
File.WriteAllText(path, newRoot.ToFullString());  // round-trip, comments intact
```

### rust-analyzer rowan
```rust
use rowan::{GreenNode, SyntaxNode};

// Green tree = immutable, shareable
let green: GreenNode = parse(source);
// Red tree = lazy wrapper with parent pointers + offset
let syntax: SyntaxNode<MyLang> = SyntaxNode::new_root(green);

for token in syntax.descendants_with_tokens() {
    println!("{:?} @ {:?}", token.kind(), token.text_range());
    // includes whitespace, comments, error tokens
}
```

### Lossless tree → AST view
```rust
// AST is a typed view over CST
pub struct FnDef(SyntaxNode);
impl FnDef {
    pub fn name(&self) -> Option<Name> {
        self.0.children().find_map(Name::cast)
    }
    pub fn body(&self) -> Option<Block> {
        self.0.children().find_map(Block::cast)
    }
}
// Original text, comments, whitespace = always retrievable via self.0.text()
```

### CST-based formatter
```typescript
function format(node: CSTNode, ctx: PrintCtx): Doc {
  switch (node.type) {
    case 'function_declaration':
      return concat([
        node.leadingTrivia.filter(isComment),  // preserve doc comments
        'function ',
        format(node.name, ctx),
        format(node.params, ctx),
        ' ',
        format(node.body, ctx),
      ]);
    // ...
  }
}
```

### Error-tolerant parse
```javascript
// tree-sitter inserts ERROR / MISSING nodes; tree still walkable
const tree = parser.parse(`function f() { return ; }`);
tree.rootNode.descendantsOfType('ERROR').forEach(n => {
  console.log('parse error at', n.startPosition);
});
// IDE keeps working even with incomplete code
```

### Source range — exact byte spans
```csharp
foreach (var diag in compilation.GetDiagnostics()) {
    var span = diag.Location.SourceSpan;
    Console.WriteLine($"[{span.Start}..{span.End}] {diag.GetMessage()}");
}
```

## 매 결정 기준
| 상황 | CST or AST |
|---|---|
| Code formatter | CST (trivia 필요) |
| Compiler optimization pass | AST (semantics 만) |
| IDE / refactor tool | CST |
| Pure code generation (template) | AST |
| Syntax highlighter | CST tokens |
| Bytecode emit | AST + lowered IR |

**기본값**: developer-tool 빌드 = CST first (tree-sitter or rowan); compiler = CST → AST → IR.

## 🔗 Graph
- 부모: [[Parser]]
- 변형: [[AST]] · [[Lossless_Syntax_Tree]]
- 응용: [[Code_Formatter]] · [[IDE]] · [[Refactoring_Tools]]

## 🤖 LLM 활용
**언제**: parser tool 선택, refactor 구현, formatter 설계.
**언제 X**: runtime semantic analysis (type checker 영역 — AST 기반).

## ❌ 안티패턴
- **Regex 로 source rewrite**: 매 trivia 망가지고 nested 구조 무시.
- **AST refactor + reprint**: 매 comment 모두 사라짐.
- **Full reparse on every keystroke**: 매 IDE freeze — incremental 필수.
- **Mutable shared CST**: 매 race condition; immutable green tree 사용.

## 🧪 검증 / 중복
- Verified (tree-sitter docs, Roslyn API ref, "Lossless Syntax Tree" Aleksey Kladov 2020).
- 신뢰도 A.

## 🕓 Changelog
| 날짜 | 변경 |
|---|---|
| 2026-05-08 | Phase 1 |
| 2026-05-10 | Manual cleanup — CST vs AST, tree-sitter, Roslyn, rowan patterns |
