Kiren

A high-performance JavaScript runtime built with Rust, powered by the V8 engine.

Features

• 🚀 High Performance: Leveraging Rust's safety and speed with V8's power
• 🔧 Modern JavaScript: Support for ES2022+ features
• 🛠️ Built-in APIs: Console, Timers, Fetch, File System, HTTP Server
• 💻 REPL Mode: Interactive JavaScript development environment
• 📦 Module System: ES Modules and CommonJS support (in development)
• ⚡ Async/Await: Full async/await support with proper event loop
• 🎯 TypeScript: Built-in TypeScript support (.ts, .tsx files)
• 🐳 Docker Ready: Single binary deployment, 15MB containers

Installation

🚀 Quick Install (Recommended)

# One-line installer (macOS/Linux)
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kirencore/kiren/main/install.sh | bash

🍺 Package Managers

# Homebrew (macOS/Linux) - Coming Soon
brew install kiren

# Cargo (Rust users)
cargo install --git https://github.com/kirencore/kiren

# NPM (Node.js users) - Coming Soon  
npm install -g kiren-runtime

# Docker
docker run -it ghcr.io/kirencore/kiren --repl

📥 Manual Download

Download pre-built binaries from GitHub Releases

Available Platforms:

• ✅ Linux (x64, ARM64) - kiren-linux-x64.tar.gz, kiren-linux-arm64.tar.gz
• ✅ macOS (Intel, Apple Silicon) - kiren-macos-x64.tar.gz, kiren-macos-arm64.tar.gz
• ✅ Windows (x64) - kiren-windows-x64.zip

🛠️ Build from Source

# Prerequisites: Rust 1.70+, Git
git clone https://github.com/kirencore/kiren.git
cd kiren

# Quick start with Make
make build          # Development build
make dev            # Build + REPL
make test           # Run tests
make server         # HTTP server demo

# Or use Cargo directly
cargo build --release        # Optimized build
cargo run examples/hello.js  # Run example
cargo run -- --repl         # Interactive REPL

# Install locally
cp target/release/kiren /usr/local/bin/

Usage

Execute JavaScript Files

kiren examples/hello.js

Execute TypeScript Files

kiren examples/hello.ts
kiren examples/component.tsx

REPL Mode

kiren --repl

Configuration

Kiren uses kiren.toml for configuration:

[runtime]
version = "3.0.0"
memory_limit = 512

[environment]
NODE_ENV = "development"
LOG_LEVEL = "info"  # "debug", "info", "warn", "error", "silent"

[server]
default_port = 3000
cors_enabled = true

Examples

Basic JavaScript

console.log("Hello, Kiren!");

const sum = (a, b) => a + b;
console.log("5 + 3 =", sum(5, 3));

// Modern JavaScript features
const users = [
    { name: "Alice", age: 30 },
    { name: "Bob", age: 25 }
];

const adults = users.filter(user => user.age >= 18);
console.log("Adults:", adults);

Timer APIs

// setTimeout
setTimeout(() => {
    console.log("This runs after 1 second");
}, 1000);

// setInterval
const intervalId = setInterval(() => {
    console.log("This repeats every second");
}, 1000);

// Clear after 5 seconds
setTimeout(() => {
    clearInterval(intervalId);
    console.log("Interval cleared");
}, 5000);

File System Operations

// Write and read files
fs.writeFile("test.txt", "Hello from Kiren!");
const content = fs.readFile("test.txt");
console.log("File content:", content);

// Directory operations
fs.mkdir("new-folder");
console.log("Folder exists?", fs.exists("new-folder"));

Process API

// Environment variables
console.log("HOME directory:", process.env.HOME);

// Command line arguments
console.log("Arguments:", process.argv);

// Current working directory
console.log("Working directory:", process.cwd());

// Exit with code
process.exit(0);

HTTP Requests

// Fetch API
fetch("https://api.github.com/users/mertcanaltin")
    .then(response => response.json())
    .then(data => console.log("User:", data.name))
    .catch(error => console.log("Error:", error));

// Async/await
async function getUser() {
    try {
        const response = await fetch("https://api.github.com/users/mertcanaltin");
        const user = await response.json();
        console.log("User:", user.name);
    } catch (error) {
        console.log("Error:", error);
    }
}

getUser();

TypeScript Support

// hello.ts - TypeScript with types
interface User {
    name: string;
    age: number;
}

const users: User[] = [
    { name: "Alice", age: 30 },
    { name: "Bob", age: 25 }
];

function findUser(name: string): User | undefined {
    return users.find(user => user.name === name);
}

const alice = findUser("Alice");
console.log("Found user:", alice?.name);

// Advanced TypeScript features
type EventHandler<T> = (event: T) => void;

class EventEmitter<T> {
    private handlers: EventHandler<T>[] = [];
    
    on(handler: EventHandler<T>): void {
        this.handlers.push(handler);
    }
    
    emit(event: T): void {
        this.handlers.forEach(handler => handler(event));
    }
}

const emitter = new EventEmitter<string>();
emitter.on((message) => console.log("Received:", message));
emitter.emit("Hello TypeScript!");

🔥 HTTP Server (Production Ready)

// Zero-config production server
const server = http.createServer();

// Routes
server.get("/", () => "Hello from Kiren!");
server.get("/api/users", () => ({ users: ["Alice", "Bob"] }));
server.post("/api/data", (req) => ({ 
    message: "Data received", 
    data: req.body 
}));

// Middleware
server.use((req, res, next) => {
    console.log(`${req.method} ${req.url}`);
    next();
});

// Start server
server.listen(3000);
console.log("🚀 Server ready at http://localhost:3000");

Docker Deployment

FROM scratch
COPY kiren /kiren
COPY app.js /app.js
EXPOSE 3000
CMD ["/kiren", "/app.js"]
# Result: 15MB container vs Node.js 500MB+

Performance Benchmarks

Real Benchmark Results (vs Node.js v20.18.1):

Metric	Kiren v3.0.0	Node.js	Result
Startup Time	72ms	22ms	Node.js 3.3x faster
Fibonacci(35)	54ms	46ms	Node.js 1.2x faster
Loop (10M)	37ms	8ms	Node.js 4.6x faster
Memory Usage	45MB	89MB	Kiren 50% less memory
Binary Size	15MB	500MB+	Kiren 97% smaller

🎯 Kiren's Real Advantages:

• 🦀 Memory Safety: Rust's ownership model prevents crashes
• 📦 Single Binary: No dependency hell, easy deployment
• 🔧 Simplicity: Minimal setup, just copy & run
• 🐳 Container Friendly: 15MB Docker images vs 500MB+ Node.js
• 🛠️ Learning: Perfect for understanding JavaScript runtime internals
• 🚀 Potential: Room for optimization and unique features

Note: At v3.0.0, Kiren is not faster than Node.js yet. This is a learning project and should be evaluated as a functional runtime. For detailed benchmark results, see benchmarks/BENCHMARK_RESULTS.md.

Development Status

✅ Completed Features

• V8 Integration - Full JavaScript support with modern features
• Console API - console.log(), console.time(), console.timeEnd(), etc.
• REPL Mode - Interactive JavaScript environment (.exit, .help)
• CLI Interface - File execution and command line options
• Timer APIs - setTimeout, setInterval, clearTimeout, clearInterval
• Fetch API - HTTP requests with Promise support
• File System API - fs.readFile, fs.writeFile, fs.exists, fs.mkdir
• Process API - process.env, process.argv, process.cwd(), process.exit()
• 🔥 HTTP Server API - Production-ready web server with routing
• TypeScript Support - Built-in TypeScript transpilation (.ts, .tsx files)

🔄 In Development

• Enhanced error handling & stack traces
• Timer callback execution improvements
• ES Modules system
• CommonJS compatibility layer

📋 Planned Features

• Advanced TypeScript features (decorators, path mapping)
• Package manager integration (npm-compatible)
• WebAssembly support
• Worker Threads
• Streaming APIs
• Crypto APIs

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions to Kiren! Here's how to get started:

Getting Started

1. Read our CONTRIBUTING.md guide
2. Fork the repository
3. Set up development environment: cargo build
4. Create a feature branch: git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature
5. Test your changes: cargo test
6. Submit a Pull Request

🎯 Contribution Areas

• Performance Optimization - Improve V8 integration and runtime speed
• Stability Fixes - Fix crashes and memory issues
• New APIs - Implement missing JavaScript APIs
• Documentation - API guides, tutorials, examples
• Testing - Unit tests, integration tests, benchmarks
• Platform Support - Windows, ARM64, WebAssembly

Development Setup

# Clone and build
git clone https://github.com/kirencore/kiren.git
cd kiren

# Development helpers
make format         # Format code with rustfmt
make clippy         # Run Clippy linter
make test           # Run all tests
make check          # All quality checks
make examples       # List available examples

# Build script with options
./scripts/build.sh release    # Optimized build
./scripts/build.sh test       # Run tests
./scripts/build.sh check      # Full quality check

For details, see: CONTRIBUTING.md

License

Distributed under the MIT License. See LICENSE file for details.

Contact & Community

Maintainer: Mert Can Altin - @mertcanaltin

Project Link: https://github.com/kirencore/kiren

Community:

• 🐛 Report Issues
• 💡 Feature Requests
• 📖 Documentation (Coming Soon)
• 💬 Discord Server (Coming Soon)

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⭐ If you find Kiren useful, please consider giving it a star on GitHub!