scriptc

scriptc compiles TypeScript and JavaScript to native executables. It uses the TypeScript compiler for parsing and type checking, then emits LLVM IR or C for clang to compile.

Static builds include a small native runtime, but no Node or JavaScript engine. Code that cannot compile statically is reported as a diagnostic. For npm packages and any-typed code, --dynamic embeds quickjs-ng explicitly.

scriptc is experimental and targets macOS, Linux, and Windows.

Installation

The compiler requires Node.js 20 or newer and clang. The executables it produces do not require Node.

$ npm install -g scriptc

Build a program

Create hello.ts:

const who = process.argv.length > 2 ? process.argv[2] : "world";
console.log(`hello, ${who}`);

Compile and run it in one step:

$ scriptc run hello.ts
hello, world

Or write a standalone executable:

$ scriptc build hello.ts -o hello
$ ./hello ctate
hello, ctate

Use Node APIs

Supported Node APIs compile to the native runtime. For example, server.ts:

import { createServer } from "node:http";

const server = createServer((req, res) => {
  res.setHeader("content-type", "application/json");
  res.end(JSON.stringify({ path: req.url }));
});

server.listen(8080, () => {
  console.log("listening on http://localhost:8080");
});

$ scriptc build server.ts -o server
$ ./server
listening on http://localhost:8080

Check static coverage

scriptc coverage shows how much of a program can compile statically and gives a coded diagnostic for every dynamic or unsupported site.

$ scriptc coverage hello.ts

  statements analyzed   2
  compile statically    2  (100%)

  fully static — this program has no dynamic remainder.

Use npm packages

Pass --dynamic to embed an npm package's JavaScript in the executable. The result does not read node_modules at runtime.

import pc from "picocolors";

console.log(pc.green("hello from scriptc"));

$ npm install picocolors
$ scriptc build cli.ts --dynamic -o cli
$ ./cli
hello from scriptc

Documentation

See the quickstart and CLI reference for the complete workflow. The docs also describe npm dependencies, native FFI, platform support, and the current limitations.

Development

$ pnpm install && pnpm -r build
$ pnpm test:sandbox

The test corpus runs each program under Node and as a compiled native binary, then compares stdout, stderr, and exit codes byte for byte. The full gate also runs the corpus with AddressSanitizer and the runtime reference-count audit.