Project Configuration

Perry projects use standard package.json for configuration. No special config file is required for basic usage, but larger projects benefit from Perry-specific settings.

Basic Setup

perry init my-project
cd my-project

This creates a package.json and a starter src/index.ts.

package.json

{
  "name": "my-project",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "main": "src/index.ts",
  "perry": {
    "compilePackages": []
  }
}

Perry Configuration

The perry field in package.json controls compiler behavior:

compilePackages

List npm packages to compile natively instead of routing through the JavaScript runtime:

{
  "perry": {
    "compilePackages": ["@noble/curves", "@noble/hashes"]
  }
}

When a package is listed here, Perry:

1. Resolves the package in node_modules/
2. Prefers TypeScript source (src/index.ts) over compiled JavaScript (lib/index.js)
3. Compiles all functions natively through Cranelift
4. Deduplicates across nested node_modules/ to prevent duplicate linker symbols

This is useful for pure TypeScript/JavaScript packages that don’t rely on Node.js APIs. Packages that use native bindings, eval(), or dynamic require() won’t work.

Using npm Packages

Perry natively supports many popular npm packages without any configuration:

import fastify from "fastify";
import mysql from "mysql2/promise";
import Redis from "ioredis";
import bcrypt from "bcrypt";

These are compiled to native code using Perry’s built-in implementations. See Standard Library for the full list.

For packages not natively supported, use compilePackages for pure TS/JS packages, or the JavaScript runtime fallback for complex packages.

Project Structure

Perry is flexible about project structure. Common patterns:

my-project/
├── package.json
├── src/
│   └── index.ts
└── node_modules/      # Only needed for compilePackages

For UI apps:

my-app/
├── package.json
├── src/
│   ├── index.ts       # Main app entry
│   └── components/    # UI components
└── assets/            # Images, etc.

Compilation

# Compile a file
perry src/index.ts -o build/app

# Compile with a specific target
perry src/index.ts -o build/app --target ios-simulator

# Debug: print intermediate representation
perry src/index.ts --print-hir

See CLI Commands for all options.

Next Steps

• CLI Commands — All compiler commands and flags
• Supported Features — What TypeScript features work
• Standard Library — Supported npm packages