tsnative

A cross-platform AOT compiler that enables running TypeScript as native code via LLVM.
It targets developers who want the ergonomics of TypeScript with the performance of C++.

🔹 About

Key features:

• C++ integration — seamless calls between TS and C++ with no glue code
• System-level abstractions — GC, EventLoop, and runtime APIs
• Custom subset implementation of ECMAScript
• AOT compilation via LLVM — no interpreter or JS engine
• Platform support: Linux

Target audience:

• Web developers looking to run TypeScript outside the browser
• C++ developers aiming to speed up business logic development without sacrificing performance

🎯 Goals

• Provide seamless integration between TypeScript and C++ in a single application
• Enable bidirectional debugging of both TS and C++ code
• Support as many platforms as possible
• Maintain compatibility with:
  • TypeScript ≥ 4.5
  • ECMAScript ≥ 2016
  • C++ ≥ 14

🚀 Quick Start

Use the prebuilt Docker image with all dependencies and compiled project:

# pull the image
docker pull ghcr.io/newcloudtechnologies/tsnative:latest
# run it
docker run -it ghcr.io/newcloudtechnologies/tsnative
# build the sample project
cd boilerplate/
npm run build

You can also build the image locally from source:

docker build -t tsnative .
docker run -it tsnative

📦 Dependencies

Clone the repository:

git clone --depth 1 --branch master git@github.com:newcloudtechnologies/tsnative.git
cd tsnative

Install system dependencies:

./scripts/setup.sh

Install Conan settings and profiles:

conan config install ./settings.yml
conan config install -tf profiles ./profiles/linux_x86_64_gcc9
conan config install -tf profiles ./profiles/linux_x86_64_gcc9_debug

🛠️ Build

Build third-party dependencies:

conan create 3rdparty/zlib 1.2.12@ -pr:b linux_x86_64_gcc9 -pr:h linux_x86_64_gcc9
conan create 3rdparty/llvm 11.1.0@ -pr:b linux_x86_64_gcc9 -pr:h linux_x86_64_gcc9
conan create 3rdparty/abseil 20211102.0@ -pr:b linux_x86_64_gcc9 -pr:h linux_x86_64_gcc9
conan create 3rdparty/gtest 1.11.0@ -pr:b linux_x86_64_gcc9 -pr:h linux_x86_64_gcc9
conan create 3rdparty/libuv 1.43.0@ -pr:b linux_x86_64_gcc9 -pr:h linux_x86_64_gcc9
conan create 3rdparty/graphvizlib 1.0.0@ -pr:b linux_x86_64_gcc9 -pr:h linux_x86_64_gcc9
conan create 3rdparty/llvm-node 3.0.9@ -pr:b linux_x86_64_gcc9 -pr:h linux_x86_64_gcc9

Build main packages:

conan create declarator/ 0.3@ -pr:b linux_x86_64_gcc9 -pr:h linux_x86_64_gcc9
conan create std/ 0.3@ -pr:b linux_x86_64_gcc9 -pr:h linux_x86_64_gcc9 -o build_tests=True -o enable_logs=all
conan create compiler/ 0.3@ -pr:b linux_x86_64_gcc9 -pr:h linux_x86_64_gcc9

🧪 Tests

# -o runmode and -o test_filter are optional
conan create test/ 0.3@ -pr:b linux_x86_64_gcc9 -pr:h linux_x86_64_gcc9 -o run_mode=compile -o test_filter=for

📁 Example

The boilerplate folder contains a test project demonstrating tsnative usage.

Basic commands:

npm run build    # build
npm run clean    # clean artifacts
npm run rebuild  # rebuild

The compiled binary will be located at: boilerplate/out/<cmake_project_name>

🔧 How it works?

The project consists of 3 parts.

1. std library. This is where TS standard library is implemented.
2. declarator. This thing allows generation of .dts files from C++ code.
3. tsnative compiler. It looks into TS code and generates LLVM IR. It also matches ts calls with C++ calls from C++ libraries like TS native.

Compiler's output is LLVM IR and then it compiled via LLVM into a platform executable file.

⚠️ Limitations

The project implements a subset of TypeScript and has certain limitations when integrating with C++.
A summary is available in LIMITATIONS.md

🤝 Contributing

We welcome all contributions — code, tests, docs, or ideas.
Please read CONTRIBUTING.md before submitting changes.

❓ Support

We've a telegram channel to support, please, join and send your question.