At this moment I'm developing a json library with similar approach. With variant I think the only way this: typedef boost::make_recursive_variant < int, unsigned int, long, unsigned long, float, double, bool, const char*, std::string, boost::recursive_wrapper<std::map<std::string, boost::recursive_variant_>>, std::vector<boost::recursive_variant_>, std::nullptr_t

::type value;

typedef std::vector<value> array; typedef std::map<std::string, value> object; I did not find any better solution. However there is still one problem: I do not want to write down every numeric POD in tmpl parameter list. It is a major problem because value a=(unsigned int)5; could not compile. Do you have any advice? I would like do something like this: typedef boost::make_recursive_variant < any_pod_numeric_type, bool, const char*, std::string, boost::recursive_wrapper<std::map<std::string, boost::recursive_variant_>>, std::vector<boost::recursive_variant_>, std::nullptr_t

::type value;

Balazs Arva