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Elide documentation

Run JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, Java, Kotlin and WebAssembly with Elide. Use its built-in tools to install dependencies, build projects and run tests.

curl -sSL --tlsv1.2 elide.sh | bash

Windows: run in PowerShell. For WSL, choose macOS / Linux / WSL and use your Linux terminal.

Other install methods, Python and system requirements: Installation

Run your first programUse an existing project
On this page
Open in ChatGPTOpen in Claude

Choose a language

  • JavaScript & TypeScript

    Run .js and .ts files with no compile step; npm packages, Node and Web APIs.

  • Python

    Set up Python, run scripts and share values with JavaScript.

  • Java & Kotlin

    Run, compile, test and package with the bundled JDK and Kotlin tools.

  • WebAssembly

    Run WASI modules and load WebAssembly libraries from JavaScript.

Common commands

Declaring a value in JavaScript, switching the Elide REPL to Python, and using the same value
js ❯ const x = 5
js ❯ x
5
js ❯ /py
py ❯ import json; json.dumps({"x": x})
'{"x": 5}'
                                        
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
py ❯                                  

─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
session demo0001  •  py  •  v1.6.0                              seq 5
Elide CLI

Build and integrate

Reference and comparisons

  • API reference

    Elide, Node and Web APIs, and the SQLite, PostgreSQL and MySQL drivers, with what each module implements.

  • CLI reference

    Find commands, flags and invocation examples.

  • Coming from Node.js

    Compare APIs, dependencies and commands before moving a Node.js project.

  • Benchmarks

    Compare measured startup time, memory use and HTTP throughput.

  • Compatibility

    Pass rates on Test262, CPython, jtreg, WinterTC and Node-API suites.

  • Code samples

    Runnable samples by language and topic, each with its command and output.

  • Changelog

    What changed in each release, with the release archive.

Documentation, even offline

Run elide help to browse and search this manual without a network connection. Read highlighted code, tables and notes, then jump back to search for the next guide.

Searching the offline manual, paging through tables and reading highlighted code with elide help
Toolchain › Documents › Markdown in the terminal                                                 34%
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
highlighting for recognized languages. Code blocks are displayed, not executed.                    │
                                                                                                   │
CommonMark syntax is supported along with GitHub-style tables, strikethrough, and task lists. For  │
example, save this as runbook.md:                                                                  │
                                                                                                   │
                                                                                        markdown   │
  # Check the service                                                                              ┃
                                                                                                   ┃
  - [x] Generate configuration                                                                     ┃
  - [ ] Verify the health endpoint                                                                 ┃
                                                                                                   ┃
  ```shell                                                                                         ┃
  curl http://localhost:8080/health                                                                ┃
  ```                                                                                              ┃
                                                                                                   │
  | Response | Next step |                                                                         │
  | --- | --- |                                                                                    │
  | 200 | Continue deployment |                                                                    │
  | 503 | Check application logs |                                                                 │
                                                                                                   │
                                                                                           ⋆       │
Then run elide runbook.md. Links retain their destinations, and raw HTML is displayed as text.     │
                                                                                                   │
Page through a long document                             ∘                  ✦                      │
        ✦                                                                                           
                         ↑↓ scroll   ⇞⇟ page   ⇥ snow   esc topics   q quit

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