ChadScriptShip TypeScript as a tiny native program.

Your TypeScript, as a native program ​

No new language and no annotations. This is a plain .ts file:

interface Order {
  customer: string;
  total: number;
}

const orders: Order[] = [
  { customer: "ada", total: 120 },
  { customer: "lin", total: 80 },
  { customer: "ada", total: 45.5 },
];

const byCustomer = new Map<string, number>();
for (const o of orders) {
  byCustomer.set(o.customer, (byCustomer.get(o.customer) ?? 0) + o.total);
}
for (const name of byCustomer.keys()) {
  console.log(`${name.padEnd(5)}${byCustomer.get(name)}`);
}

$ bin/chad build hello.ts -o orders
$ ./orders

ada  165.5
lin  80

Run the same file with Node and you get the same bytes. That is the promise.

No silent surprises ​

ChadScript knows the shape of every object when the program is compiled, which is a big part of why the binary is small and fast. Code that would change an object's shape later is stopped before it ships, with a message that points at the line and says how to fix it:

interface User {
  name: string;
  email?: string;
}

const user: User = { name: "ada" };
user.email = "ada@example.com";
console.log(user);

$ bin/chad check rejected-shape.ts
error[CS1235]: assigning `.email` can add a property to an object created without it (the object literal at rejected-shape.ts:8); objects cannot gain properties
  --> rejected-shape.ts:9:1
  help: create every such object with the property: declare it `email?: T | undefined` and initialize it (`email: undefined`), or use a class that declares `email`

1 error(s)

Declare the property up front and it compiles, and prints what Node prints:

interface User {
  name: string;
  email?: string | undefined;
}

const user: User = { name: "ada", email: undefined };
user.email = "ada@example.com";
console.log(user);

{ name: 'ada', email: 'ada@example.com' }

A program either behaves exactly like Node or does not compile. There is no third outcome.

Why try it ​

Is it for you? ​

When ChadScript says no, your code is still valid TypeScript, so the same file runs on Node. See the full list of what works and the limitations.

Try it in a few minutes ​

You need bun, clang and git.

git clone https://github.com/cs01/ChadScript.git && cd ChadScript
bun install && sh scripts/setup-milo.sh
bin/chad run examples/word-count.ts

Next: the getting started guide builds a multi-file program, then the language guide shows what you can write.