Vercel Labs releases native TypeScript compiler
Vercel Labs introduced scriptc, an experimental compiler that converts TypeScript into compact native binaries lacking Node, V8 and any JavaScript engine. The scriptc repository was opened on 22 July 2026 and has amassed roughly 4.9k stars.
scriptc uses the real TypeScript compiler for parsing and type checking, lowers programs to a typed IR, then emits readable C, LLVM IR, assembly, objects, native executables, or WebAssembly via WASI Preview 1.
Compiler Tiers and Benchmarking
Each language feature falls into one of three categories: those compiled statically by default, those executed dynamically within an embedded quickjs-ng engine of around 620KB when using the –dynamic flag for npm modules and typed code, or those rejected during compilation with an SC error code and a suggestion to rewrite them.
In tests comparing scriptc 0.0.16 with Bun 1.3.12 and Node 24.18.0, the compiler showed median command-line startup times of 1.78ms against Bun’s 21.29ms and Node’s 61.78ms, while consuming only 1.9MiB of idle memory for a minimal node:http server lacking any framework.
Read Also: Zig creator bans AI tools over code quality and reliability
Developer Feedback and Limitations
A Hacker News user shared their findings, noting that scriptc performed roughly 7.5 times slower than Node 24. Despite this, the resulting binary launched 12 times faster (1.5 ms vs 18.6 ms), consumed 72 times less memory (2.5 MiB vs 181 MiB), and remained a single 370 KB file with zero runtime dependencies.
Simon Willison highlighted that coding agents recently introduced 918,000 lines of code in just one week, and he emphasized that building small, fast binaries without writing C or Rust “seems like a valuable capability”.
A recurring worry is longevity, with commenters pointing at Vercel’s zerolang, which stopped receiving commits weeks after launch. The scriptc compiler needs Node.js 24 or newer, installs with npm install -g scriptc, and the limitations page documents deliberate divergences worth reading first.
Documentation is at scriptc.dev. scriptc targets macOS, Linux, Windows, and WASI Preview 1, is enforced by differential tests that compare stdout, stderr, and exit codes byte for byte against Node, and remains explicitly experimental.
