Introduction

Perry is a native TypeScript compiler that compiles TypeScript source code directly to native executables. No JavaScript runtime, no JIT warmup, no V8 — your TypeScript compiles to a real binary.

// demonstrates: the one-liner hello shown on the docs landing page
// docs: docs/src/introduction.md
// platforms: macos, linux, windows
// targets: wasm, web, android

console.log("Hello from Perry!")

$ perry hello.ts -o hello
$ ./hello
Hello from Perry!

Why Perry?

• Native performance — Compiles to machine code via LLVM. Integer-heavy code like Fibonacci runs 2x faster than Node.js.
• Real multi-threading — parallelMap and spawn give you actual OS threads with compile-time safety. No isolates, no message passing overhead. Something no JS runtime can do.
• Small binaries — A hello world is ~300KB. Perry detects what runtime features you use and only links what’s needed.
• Native UI — Build desktop and mobile apps with declarative TypeScript that compiles to real AppKit, UIKit, GTK4, Win32, or DOM widgets.
• Terminal UI — Build interactive CLIs with ink-shape React hooks (useState, useEffect, useApp) on a native cell-grid renderer. No Node, no reconciler — just a single static binary.
• 7 targets — macOS, iOS, Android, Windows, Linux, Web, and WebAssembly from the same source code.
• Familiar ecosystem — Use npm packages like fastify, mysql2, redis, bcrypt, lodash, and more — compiled natively.
• Zero config — Point Perry at a .ts file and get a binary. No tsconfig.json required.

What Perry Compiles

Perry supports a practical subset of TypeScript:

• Variables, functions, classes, enums, interfaces
• Async/await, closures, generators
• Destructuring, spread, template literals
• Arrays, Maps, Sets, typed arrays
• Regular expressions, JSON, Promises
• Module imports/exports
• Generic type erasure

See Supported Features for the complete list.

Quick Example: Native App

// demonstrates: minimal stateful UI — label + increment button
// docs: docs/src/ui/state.md
// platforms: macos, linux, windows
// targets: ios-simulator, visionos-simulator, tvos-simulator, watchos-simulator, android, web, wasm

import { App, VStack, Text, Button, State } from "perry/ui"

const count = State(0)

App({
    title: "Counter",
    width: 400,
    height: 300,
    body: VStack(16, [
        Text(`Count: ${count.value}`),
        Button("Increment", () => count.set(count.value + 1)),
    ]),
})

$ perry counter.ts -o counter
$ ./counter  # Opens a native macOS/Windows/Linux window

This produces a ~3MB native app with real platform widgets — no Electron, no WebView.

How It Works

TypeScript (.ts)
    ↓ Parse (SWC)
    ↓ Lower to HIR
    ↓ Transform (inline, closure conversion, async)
    ↓ Codegen (LLVM)
    ↓ Link (system linker)
    ↓
Native Executable

Perry uses SWC for TypeScript parsing and LLVM for native code generation. Types are erased at compile time (like tsc), and values are represented at runtime using NaN-boxing for efficient 64-bit tagged values.

Next Steps

• Install Perry
• Write your first program
• Build a native app