diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 96fd286..481d9da 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ docs/_build
 docs/_static
 docs/templates
 .coverage
+.pytest_cache/
 
 # changes during CD/CI
 aliases/*/pyproject.toml
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index acd67c9..7cccb6b 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,15 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## 0.14.0
+
+* Added `ast` module
+* Deprecate `dei_args()` for problems with the typing system. The function is not going away tho
+* Module `sqlalchemy`: added `email_column()`
+
+## 0.13.1 and 0.12.7
+
++ Typing fixes
+
 ## 0.13.0 "Laconic Letters"
 
 + Added module `argparse` with class `LetterSubparsers()`, which allows pacman-style args by preprocessing them
diff --git a/src/suou/__init__.py b/src/suou/__init__.py
index 200f22b..d7d1720 100644
--- a/src/suou/__init__.py
+++ b/src/suou/__init__.py
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ from .color import OKLabColor, chalk, WebColor, RGBColor, LinearRGBColor, \
 from .mat import Matrix
 from .argparse import LetterSubparsers
 
-__version__ = "0.13.0"
+__version__ = "0.14.0a1"
 
 __all__ = (
     'ColorFormatter',
diff --git a/src/suou/ast.py b/src/suou/ast.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c6b744d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/suou/ast.py
@@ -0,0 +1,116 @@
+"""
+Experimental AST module
+
+---
+
+Copyright (c) 2026 Sakuragasaki46.
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+See LICENSE for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+
+This software is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+from ast import TypeVar
+from typing import Any, Collection
+
+_T = TypeVar('_T')
+
+class Node:
+    __slots__ = ('_children', )
+
+    _count: int
+    _children: list[Node]
+    _types: Collection[type]
+
+    def __repr__(self):
+        return f"{self.__class__.__name__}({', '.join(repr(x) for x in self._children)})"
+
+    def __init__(self, *args):
+        if self._count != len(args):
+            raise TypeError(f'{self.__class__.__name__} must be instanced with {self._count} arguments, got {len(args)}')
+
+        for i, (a, t) in enumerate(zip(args, self._types)):
+            if t != Any and not isinstance(a, t):
+                raise TypeError(f"argument {i} must be of type {t.__name__!r}, got {a.__class__.__name__!r}")
+
+        self._children = list(args)
+
+    def eval(self, ctx: dict):
+        raise TypeError(f'{self.__class__.__name__} cannot be eval()ed')
+
+    def __getitem__(self, key: int):
+        if key >= self._count:
+            raise IndexError('child node index out of range')
+        return self._children[key]
+
+    def __len__(self):
+        return self._count
+
+
+class ZeroOp(Node):
+    _count = 0
+    _types = ()
+
+
+class UnaryOp(Node):
+    _count = 1
+    _types = (Any,)
+    
+
+class BinaryOp(Node):
+    _count = 2
+    _types = (Any, Any)
+
+
+class TernaryOp(Node):
+    _count = 3
+    _types = (Any, Any, Any)
+
+
+class MultiOp(Node):
+    _count = 1
+    _types = (list,)
+
+    def __getitem__(self, key: int):
+        return self._children[0][key]
+
+    def __iter__(self):
+        return iter(self._children[0])
+
+    def __len__(self):
+        return len(self._children[0])
+
+
+
+class Literal(UnaryOp):
+    """A literal evals to the enclosed value."""
+    def eval(self, ctx: dict):
+        return self[0]
+
+
+## SUOU provides some ready-made literals, for the sake of ease-of-use.
+
+class IntLiteral(Literal):
+    _types = (int,)
+
+class FloatLiteral(Literal):
+    """
+    WARNING: may be subject to loss of precision.
+    """
+    _types = (float,)
+
+class StringLiteral(Literal):
+    _types = (str,)
+
+
+# This module is experimental and therefore not re-exported into __init__
+__all__ = (
+    'Node', 'ZeroOp', 'UnaryOp', 'BinaryOp', 'TernaryOp',
+    'MultiOp', 'Literal', 'IntLiteral', 'FloatLiteral',
+    'StringLiteral'
+)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/suou/dei.py b/src/suou/dei.py
index 8d0f326..a49a398 100644
--- a/src/suou/dei.py
+++ b/src/suou/dei.py
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ from __future__ import annotations
 from functools import wraps
 from typing import Callable, Collection, TypeVar, Any
 
+from . import deprecated
+
 _T = TypeVar('_T')
 _U = TypeVar('_U')
 
@@ -115,6 +117,7 @@ class Pronoun(int):
 
 
 
+@deprecated('breaks the typing system somewhat; won\'t be removed tho')
 def dei_args(**renames: dict[str, str]):
     """
     Allow for aliases in the keyword argument names, in form alias='real_name'.
diff --git a/src/suou/itertools.py b/src/suou/itertools.py
index 881e30a..9ec1e68 100644
--- a/src/suou/itertools.py
+++ b/src/suou/itertools.py
@@ -22,17 +22,13 @@ from suou.classtools import MISSING
 
 _T = TypeVar('_T')
 
-def makelist(l: Any, wrap: bool = True) -> list | Callable[Any, list]:
-    '''
-    Make a list out of an iterable or a single value.
+def _makelist_callable(l: Callable) -> Callable[..., list]:
+    @wraps(l)
+    def wrapper(*a, **k): 
+        return _makelist_nowrap(l(*a, **k))
+    return wrapper
 
-    *Changed in 0.4.0* Now supports a callable: can be used to decorate generators and turn them into lists.
-    Pass wrap=False to return instead the unwrapped function in a list.
-
-    *Changed in 0.11.0*: ``wrap`` argument is now no more keyword only.
-    '''
-    if callable(l) and wrap:
-        return wraps(l)(lambda *a, **k: makelist(l(*a, **k), wrap=False))
+def _makelist_nowrap(l: Any) -> list:
     if isinstance(l, (str, bytes, bytearray)):
         return [l]
     elif isinstance(l, Iterable):
@@ -42,7 +38,21 @@ def makelist(l: Any, wrap: bool = True) -> list | Callable[Any, list]:
     else:
         return [l]
 
-def ltuple(seq: Iterable[_T], size: int, /, pad = None) -> tuple:
+def makelist(l: Any, wrap: bool = True) -> list | Callable[..., list]:
+    '''
+    Make a list out of an iterable or a single value.
+
+    *Changed in 0.4.0* Now supports a callable: can be used to decorate generators and turn them into lists.
+    Pass wrap=False to return instead the unwrapped function in a list.
+
+    *Changed in 0.11.0*: ``wrap`` argument is now no more keyword only.
+    '''
+    if callable(l) and wrap:
+        return _makelist_callable(l)
+    else:
+        return _makelist_nowrap(l)
+
+def ltuple(seq: Iterable[_T], size: int, /, pad = None) -> tuple[_T, ...]:
     """
     Truncate an iterable into a fixed size tuple, if necessary padding it.
     """
@@ -51,7 +61,7 @@ def ltuple(seq: Iterable[_T], size: int, /, pad = None) -> tuple:
         seq = seq + (pad,) * (size - len(seq))
     return seq
 
-def rtuple(seq: Iterable[_T], size: int, /, pad = None) -> tuple:
+def rtuple(seq: Iterable[_T], size: int, /, pad = None) -> tuple[_T, ...]:
     """
     Same as rtuple() but the padding and truncation is made right to left.
     """
@@ -81,7 +91,7 @@ def kwargs_prefix(it: dict[str, Any], prefix: str, *, remove = True, keep_prefix
             it.pop(k)
     return ka
 
-def additem(obj: MutableMapping, /, name: str = None):
+def additem(obj: MutableMapping, /, name: str | None = None):
     """
     Syntax sugar for adding a function to a mapping, immediately.
     """
@@ -93,7 +103,7 @@ def additem(obj: MutableMapping, /, name: str = None):
         return func
     return decorator
 
-def addattr(obj: Any, /, name: str = None):
+def addattr(obj: Any, /, name: str | None = None):
     """
     Same as additem() but setting as attribute instead.
     """
diff --git a/src/suou/lex.py b/src/suou/lex.py
index 5655eea..6ad77a5 100644
--- a/src/suou/lex.py
+++ b/src/suou/lex.py
@@ -62,8 +62,6 @@ def symbol_table(*args: Iterable[tuple | TokenSym], whitespace: str | None = Non
         yield TokenSym('[' + re.escape(whitespace) + ']+', '', discard=True)
 
 
-symbol_table: Callable[..., list]
-
 def ilex(text: str, table: Iterable[TokenSym], *, whitespace = False):
     """
     Return a text as a list of tokens, given a token table (iterable of TokenSym).
diff --git a/src/suou/luck.py b/src/suou/luck.py
index c4ec49e..4c808fa 100644
--- a/src/suou/luck.py
+++ b/src/suou/luck.py
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ def lucky(validators: Iterable[Callable[[_U], bool]] = ()):
 
     *New in 0.7.0*
     """
-    def decorator(func: Callable[_T, _U]) -> Callable[_T, _U]:
+    def decorator(func: Callable[..., _U]) -> Callable[..., _U]:
         @wraps(func)
         def wrapper(*args, **kwargs) -> _U:
             try:
diff --git a/src/suou/markdown.py b/src/suou/markdown.py
index acd4ab5..09cac11 100644
--- a/src/suou/markdown.py
+++ b/src/suou/markdown.py
@@ -86,4 +86,5 @@ class PingExtension(markdown.extensions.Extension):
             md.inlinePatterns.register(MentionPattern(re.escape(at) + r'(' + self.CHARACTERS + ')', url_prefix), 'ping_mention', 14)
 
 
+# Optional dependency: do not import into __init__.py
 __all__ = ('PingExtension', 'SpoilerExtension', 'StrikethroughExtension')
diff --git a/src/suou/signing.py b/src/suou/signing.py
index c2011ce..55a950d 100644
--- a/src/suou/signing.py
+++ b/src/suou/signing.py
@@ -22,11 +22,8 @@ from itsdangerous import TimestampSigner
 from itsdangerous import Signer as _Signer
 from itsdangerous.encoding import int_to_bytes as _int_to_bytes
 
-from suou.dei import dei_args
-from suou.itertools import rtuple
-
-from .functools import not_implemented
-from .codecs import jsondecode, jsonencode, rb64decode, want_bytes, want_str, b64decode, b64encode
+from .itertools import rtuple
+from .codecs import jsondecode, jsonencode, want_bytes, want_str, b64decode, b64encode
 from .iding import Siq
 from .classtools import MISSING
 
@@ -35,7 +32,6 @@ class UserSigner(TimestampSigner):
     itsdangerous.TimestampSigner() instanced from a user ID, with token generation and validation capabilities.
     """
     user_id: int
-    @dei_args(primary_secret='master_secret')
     def __init__(self, master_secret: bytes, user_id: int, user_secret: bytes, **kwargs):
         super().__init__(master_secret + user_secret, salt=Siq(user_id).to_bytes(), **kwargs)
         self.user_id = user_id
diff --git a/src/suou/sqlalchemy/asyncio.py b/src/suou/sqlalchemy/asyncio.py
index b28f305..4061c34 100644
--- a/src/suou/sqlalchemy/asyncio.py
+++ b/src/suou/sqlalchemy/asyncio.py
@@ -22,8 +22,8 @@ from functools import wraps
 
 from contextvars import ContextVar, Token
 from typing import Callable, TypeVar
-from sqlalchemy import Select, Table, func, select
-from sqlalchemy.orm import DeclarativeBase, lazyload
+from sqlalchemy import Select, Table, select
+from sqlalchemy.orm import DeclarativeBase
 from sqlalchemy.ext.asyncio import AsyncEngine, AsyncSession, create_async_engine
 
 try:
@@ -31,8 +31,7 @@ try:
 except ImportError:
     AsyncSelectPagination = None
 
-from suou.exceptions import NotFoundError
-from suou.glue import glue
+from ..exceptions import NotFoundError
 
 _T = TypeVar('_T')
 _U = TypeVar('_U')
@@ -126,9 +125,11 @@ class SQLAlchemy:
             self.engine, checkfirst=checkfirst
         )
 
-# XXX NOT public API! DO NOT USE
-current_session: ContextVar[AsyncSession] = ContextVar('current_session')
 
+current_session: ContextVar[AsyncSession] = ContextVar('current_session')
+"""
+XXX NOT public API! DO NOT USE
+"""
 
 def async_query(db: SQLAlchemy, multi: False):
     """
diff --git a/src/suou/sqlalchemy/orm.py b/src/suou/sqlalchemy/orm.py
index ba022e7..bfd6be1 100644
--- a/src/suou/sqlalchemy/orm.py
+++ b/src/suou/sqlalchemy/orm.py
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@ WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 
 
 
-from binascii import Incomplete
 import os
 import re
 from typing import Any, Callable, TypeVar
@@ -27,10 +26,8 @@ from sqlalchemy import BigInteger, Boolean, CheckConstraint, Column, Date, Forei
 from sqlalchemy.orm import DeclarativeBase, InstrumentedAttribute, Relationship, declarative_base as _declarative_base, relationship
 from sqlalchemy.types import TypeEngine
 from sqlalchemy.ext.hybrid import Comparator
-from suou.functools import future
 from suou.classtools import Wanted, Incomplete
 from suou.codecs import StringCase
-from suou.dei import dei_args
 from suou.iding import Siq, SiqCache, SiqGen, SiqType
 from suou.itertools import kwargs_prefix
 from suou.snowflake import SnowflakeGen
@@ -131,6 +128,23 @@ def username_column(
     return match_column(length, regex, case=case, nullable=nullable, unique=True, *args, **kwargs)
 
 
+EMAIL_RE_USERNAME = r"[a-z0-9-]+(\.[a-z0-9-]+)*"
+EMAIL_RE_DOMAIN = r"([a-z0-9-]+\.)+[a-z0-9-]{2,15}"
+EMAIL_RE_YESALIASES = EMAIL_RE_USERNAME + r"(\+" + EMAIL_RE_USERNAME + ")?@" + EMAIL_RE_DOMAIN
+EMAIL_RE_NOALIASES = EMAIL_RE_USERNAME + r"@" + EMAIL_RE_DOMAIN
+
+def email_column(
+    length: int = 256, *args, allow_aliases: bool = True, nullable: bool = False, unique: bool = True, **kwargs
+):
+    """
+    Construct a column containing a email address.
+
+    *New in 0.14.0*
+    """
+    return match_column(length, EMAIL_RE_YESALIASES if allow_aliases else EMAIL_RE_NOALIASES, case = StringCase.FORCE_LOWER,
+        unique = unique, nullable = nullable, *args, **kwargs)
+
+
 def bool_column(value: bool = False, nullable: bool = False, **kwargs) -> Column[bool]:
     """
     Column for a single boolean value.
@@ -141,7 +155,6 @@ def bool_column(value: bool = False, nullable: bool = False, **kwargs) -> Column
     return Column(Boolean, server_default=def_val, nullable=nullable, **kwargs)
 
 
-@dei_args(primary_secret='master_secret')
 def declarative_base(domain_name: str, master_secret: bytes, metadata: dict | None = None, **kwargs) -> type[DeclarativeBase]:
     """
     Drop-in replacement for sqlalchemy.orm.declarative_base()
diff --git a/src/suou/validators.py b/src/suou/validators.py
index 349172a..72daf57 100644
--- a/src/suou/validators.py
+++ b/src/suou/validators.py
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ def yesno(x: str | int | bool | None) -> bool:
     if isinstance(x, str):
         return x.lower() not in ('', '0', 'off', 'n', 'no', 'false', 'f')
     return True
-    
+
 
 __all__ = ('matches', 'must_be', 'not_greater_than', 'not_less_than', 'yesno')
 
diff --git a/src/suou/waiter.py b/src/suou/waiter.py
index 9a5e3bd..7c55999 100644
--- a/src/suou/waiter.py
+++ b/src/suou/waiter.py
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ from suou.functools import future
 
 @future()
 class Waiter():
-    _cached_app: Callable | None = None
+    _cached_app: Starlette | None = None
 
     def __init__(self):
         self.routes: list[Route] = []
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ class Waiter():
     def patch(self, endpoint: str, *a, **k):
         return self._route('PATCH', endpoint, *a, **k)
 
-    def _route(self, methods: list[str], endpoint: str, **kwargs):
+    def _route(self, methods: str | list[str], endpoint: str, **kwargs):
         def decorator(func):
             self.routes.append(Route(endpoint, func, methods=makelist(methods, False), **kwargs))
             return func