coffee-ahk

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Translate coffeescript to ahk.

Documentation | 文档 | AI Agent 使用指南

For AI Agents: See USAGE.md for a comprehensive guide on writing CoffeeScript for AHK transpilation. The document is in Chinese, but AI agents can read and understand it without issues.

Features

• Transpiles CoffeeScript to AutoHotkey v1 scripts
• Supports class syntax, inheritance, and method binding
• Import/export syntax for modules (including .coffee, .ahk, .json, .yaml)
  • import './module' (side-effect), import m from './module' (default), import { a, b } from './module' (named), import m, { a } from './module' (mixed)
  • export default (single expression, multiline block, or object literal)
  • export { named, exports } (named exports with optional key-value pairs)
  • Recursive import resolution and namespace isolation
• Partial npm package management support (install and import local/third-party modules)
• Functional programming support; functions are first-class citizens
• Arrow functions (->, =>) and this binding
• Function parameter binding, default values, and rest parameters
• Destructuring assignment for arrays and objects
• Supports various syntactic sugar, such as destructuring, splats, chained comparisons, negative indexing, and if-then-else expressions
• Try/catch/finally error handling
• Chained and implicit function calls
• Anonymous and higher-order functions
• Native AHK code embedding with backticks
• Strict variable and reserved word checking
• Optional TypeScript static type system support via plugins

Usage

pnpm i coffee-ahk

import c2a from "coffee-ahk";

await c2a("./script/toolkit/index.coffee", {
  salt: "toolkit",
  save: true,
  verbose: false,
});

Options

Option	Type	Default	Description
salt	string	random	Identifier prefix for generated functions
save	boolean	true	Write output to .ahk file
string	boolean	false	Return compiled string instead of writing file
comments	boolean	false	Preserve comments in output
metadata	boolean	true	Include timestamp comment in output
verbose	boolean	false	Enable debug logging

Limitations

• AutoHotkey is case-insensitive; variable and function names are not case-sensitive. Class names are simulated as case-sensitive:
  • Class names must start with an uppercase letter.
  • All class identifiers are rendered with uppercase letters replaced by full-width Unicode for AHK v1 case simulation (e.g., Animal → Ａnimal).
• No support for getter/setter
• Single-letter class names are forbidden: AHK v1 has issues with single-letter class names. All class names must be at least 2 characters long.
• Implicit return is limited:
  • Maximum 2 newlines (3 lines of code) for regular functions
  • Maximum 1 newline (2 lines) for object literals without braces
  • Functions with for/if/while/try as last statement require explicit return
  • Exceeding these limits requires explicit return statement
• No true boolean type in AHK; true, false, on, and off are syntactic sugar
• Character and number distinction is blurred in AHK; '0' is falsy
• NaN, null, and undefined are converted to the empty string ''
• Optional chaining (?) is not supported (compiler error)
• Unsigned right shift (>>>) is not supported (compiler error)
• async/await and generators (yield) are not supported (compiler error)
• For-loop destructuring (for [a, b] in arr) is not supported (compiler error). Workaround: for item in arr then [a, b] = item
• Nested array destructuring ([a, [b, c]] = x) is not supported (compiler error). Workaround: flatten manually
• Nested if-then-else expressions (if a then (if b then c else d) else e) are not supported (compiler error). Workaround: use temporary variables or separate statements
• Floor division (//) and modulo (%, %%) operators conflict with AHK syntax (compiler error). Use Mod(a, b) instead
• Avoid using => outside classes; pure functions in AHK lack this
• .coffee files must be UTF-8; .ahk files must be UTF-8 with BOM
• Import/export and npm package management are incomplete
• Class + Export conflict: AHK v1 classes must be defined at top-level (not inside functions/closures). Since exported modules are wrapped in do -> for scope isolation, classes cannot be exported directly. Workaround: define classes in separate files without export, then use side-effect imports (import './myclass') to include them at top-level.
• Array/Object index limitation: In AHK v1, [] is syntactic sugar for {} ([a,b] equals {1:a, 2:b}), and there is no native way to distinguish arrays from objects. The index converter (ℓci) assumes arrays use numeric indices and objects use string keys. If you use numeric keys on objects (e.g., obj[0]), it will be incorrectly converted to obj[1]. Note: In AHK v1, obj[0] and obj["0"] access different keys (numeric vs string). Variables are an exception: i := "0"; obj[i] accesses the numeric key (pure numeric strings are auto-converted). Workaround: use obj["0"] for string keys, or use Native embedding for direct AHK access.
• Native variable references: Inside functions, Native code automatically uses temporary variables (λ_var) to bridge closure variables. Before a Native block: λ_var := λ.var, after: λ.var := λ_var. This allows AHK commands like Sort, StringUpper to work with simple variables.

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Language Feature Compatibility

Feature / Syntax	CoffeeScript	AutoHotkey v1	coffee-ahk
coffee-ahk Advantages (AHK ❌ → ✅)
Arrow functions (->, =>)	✅	❌	✅
Anonymous functions	✅	⚠️ (Func object only)	✅
this binding with =>	✅	❌	✅
Array destructuring	✅	❌	✅
Object destructuring	✅	❌	🟡
String interpolation ("#{}")	✅	⚠️ (%var% only)	✅
Multiline strings (""")	✅	⚠️ (continuation)	✅
unless (negated if)	✅	❌	✅
until (negated while)	✅	❌	✅
Implicit return	✅	❌	🟡
do (IIFE)	✅	❌	✅
Implicit function calls	✅	⚠️ (commands only)	✅
import/export	✅	⚠️ (#Include)	🟡
Fully Supported
Class declaration & inheritance	✅	✅	✅
Constructor (__New)	✅	✅	✅
super / base	✅	✅	✅
Static methods/properties	✅	✅	✅
Function default parameters	✅	✅ (literals only)	✅
if/else, switch/case	✅	✅	✅
for key, value in obj	✅	✅	✅
while/loop	✅	✅	✅
break/continue	✅	✅	✅
try/catch/finally/throw	✅	✅	✅
Array/Object literals	✅	✅	✅
Boolean, Comparison, Logical ops	✅	✅	✅
Bitwise operators (&|^~<<>>)	✅	✅	✅
new operator	✅	✅	✅
Chained method calls	✅	✅	✅
Native AHK embedding (backticks)	❌	✅	✅
Partial Support
Rest parameters (...args)	✅	⚠️ (variadic)	🟡
Spread in function calls	✅	⚠️ (variadic)	🟡
typeof	✅	❌	✅
instanceof	✅	❌	✅
Chained comparison (1<y<10)	✅	❌	✅
Negative indexing (arr[-1])	✅	❌	✅
If-then-else expr (if a then b else c)	✅	❌	✅
Not Supported
Optional chaining (?.)	✅	❌	❌
Nullish coalescing (??)	✅	❌	❌
Getter/Setter	✅	⚠️ (meta-funcs)	❌
async/await	✅	❌	❌
Generator/yield	✅	❌	❌
Map/Set/Symbol	✅	❌	❌

Note: Features marked ❌ in the coffee-ahk column will produce a compiler error with a helpful message.

Legend: ✅ Supported & equivalent  🟡 Partially supported / limited  ⚠️ Supported with caveats  ❌ Not supported