Open-source alternatives to Quickjs

Albert is a keyboard launcher that opens files, applications, and runs commands by typing search queries into a search bar. It functions as a keyboard-driven workflow tool, enabling users to navigate their file system, launch installed applications, and execute shell commands without touching a mouse. The launcher processes user input through a plugin-based modular architecture, where functionality is extended by dynamically loaded C++ and Python plugins. Queries are dispatched to all enabled handlers in parallel, with results merged and ranked by a combination of match quality and historical

Goja is a JavaScript engine and ECMAScript compliant interpreter implemented entirely in Go. It serves as an embedded scripting engine that allows Go applications to execute JavaScript code and integrate a programmable scripting layer without relying on Cgo or external native dependencies. The project functions as a bridge between Go and JavaScript, enabling bidirectional data exchange and function invocation. It allows Go hosts to expose native structs, slices, and maps as JavaScript objects and arrays, while providing mechanisms to export script values and functions back into native Go type

JerryScript is a lightweight, ECMAScript-compliant JavaScript engine and bytecode compiler designed for resource-constrained devices. It serves as an embedded interpreter and IoT scripting runtime, enabling the execution of JavaScript code within native C applications on hardware with limited memory. The project differentiates itself through a focus on low-memory runtime management, utilizing bytecode precompilation and pre-compiled state snapshots to reduce startup time and memory overhead. It features a C-binding native bridge for bidirectional communication between native code and scripts,

Wren is an embeddable, class-based scripting language and bytecode interpreter. It provides a dependency-free virtual machine designed for integrating dynamic script execution into host applications via a C API. The language is centered on a modern object-oriented model featuring inheritance, method overloading, and first-class functions. It utilizes a concurrent fiber runtime to manage lightweight, cooperatively scheduled execution paths without relying on operating system threads. The project includes a comprehensive suite of object-oriented primitives, closure-based state capture, and a m

Lua is an embeddable scripting language written in ISO C, designed to be integrated into host applications for runtime customization. It provides a C-based scripting engine and a prototype-based object model that utilizes associative arrays and metatables to implement inheritance and complex data structures. The language features a cooperative multitasking system that manages concurrent execution threads via coroutines and an incremental garbage collector for automatic memory management. It includes a safe code sandbox to isolate global state and run untrusted scripts within a protected envir

Wren is a bytecode-compiled, class-based scripting language designed as an embeddable programming language. It provides a lightweight runtime and interface for executing dynamic scripts directly within host software applications. The engine utilizes a single-pass compiler to transform source code into compact bytecode and a virtual machine to process those instructions. It supports concurrent task execution through a system of lightweight fibers and coroutines. The language implements a class-based object model with dynamic message dispatch for organizing code into reusable components. It al

Python is a high-level, interpreted programming language designed for readability and versatility. It operates via a bytecode-based virtual machine and manages memory automatically through reference-counting garbage collection. The language supports multiple programming paradigms, including object-oriented, imperative, and functional styles, and provides a comprehensive standard library for system operations, networking, and data handling. The language is distinguished by its dynamic nature, allowing for runtime object introspection and metaclass-driven class creation. It utilizes protocol-ba

This project is a parallel simulation engine and molecular dynamics simulator designed to model the physical movements of atoms and molecules. It functions as an interatomic potential framework for calculating forces between particles and a materials analysis tool for computing thermodynamic, structural, and transport properties of solids and fluids. The engine is distinguished by its high-performance computing capabilities, utilizing spatial-domain decomposition and message-passing interface communication to distribute workloads across processors. It supports multi-backend GPU acceleration v

rusty_v8 is a Rust wrapper for the V8 JavaScript engine that allows for the embedding of a JavaScript runtime into native applications. It provides core components for managing engine bindings, memory allocation, sandboxed isolates, and the execution of WebAssembly modules. The project features a native host function bridge to map Rust functions to JavaScript objects and a dedicated memory allocator to manage thread-safe allocation and heap pressure. It includes a system for compiling and executing binary WebAssembly modules within the hosted native environment. The runtime covers capabiliti

Puerts is a TypeScript runtime embedder and game engine scripting framework designed to integrate dynamic languages into low-level host applications. It functions as a high-performance cross-language API bridge, allowing developers to execute gameplay logic and editor scripts using TypeScript and JavaScript within a compiled host environment. The project distinguishes itself through a unified bridging API that supports pluggable scripting backends, enabling the selection or hot-swapping of different language engines to balance execution speed against binary size. It provides automated type de

Jint is a JavaScript interpreter for the .NET ecosystem that executes code without requiring a browser or Node.js environment. It is an ECMAScript compliant engine that provides a sandboxed scripting runtime with configurable limits on memory and time to run untrusted code. The engine features a native object bridge that exposes .NET classes and methods to JavaScript scripts for bidirectional data exchange. To reduce overhead during repeated executions, it utilizes a precompiled script cache to store parsed JavaScript in memory. The project covers asynchronous script execution and promise ha

Otto is a Go implementation of a JavaScript interpreter and embedded scripting engine. It provides a runtime environment for executing JavaScript code within native applications and includes a parser that converts source code into an abstract syntax tree for analysis and processing. The project enables the creation of custom scripting interfaces by binding native Go functions into the JavaScript global scope. It also includes a utility to translate JavaScript regular expression patterns into compatible formats for other programming languages. The engine supports safe script sandboxing throug

Napajs is an embeddable JavaScript engine and multi-threaded runtime designed to be integrated directly into other software applications as a component. It serves as a parallel computation framework that allows JavaScript code to execute across multiple threads, bypassing the standard single-threaded event loop limitation to handle CPU-intensive tasks. The runtime is distinguished by its ability to load and execute modules from the NPM ecosystem and its pluggable execution environment. This architecture allows for custom implementations of memory allocation, system logging, and performance me

miniblink49 is a stripped-down Blink browser kernel and embedded web UI framework used to integrate HTML user interfaces into native C++ applications. It functions as a C++ JavaScript interop bridge that maps high-level script calls to low-level native logic and provides a resource-optimized headless browser engine for processing web content without a graphical interface. The project enables custom browser environment control by bypassing cross-origin security policies to allow requests across different domains. It further allows for the interception of network resources to replace remote ass

V8 is a high-performance JavaScript and WebAssembly engine designed to compile and execute code within host applications. It functions as an embeddable scripting engine and just-in-time compiler, providing a portable library for integrating dynamic script execution into native software environments. The engine incorporates a WebAssembly runtime to execute compiled binary code for a stack-based virtual machine at near-native speeds. It enables native application scripting by allowing a JavaScript execution environment to be embedded directly into a native program to handle dynamic logic. The

Jsonnet is a structured configuration generation language that extends JSON with variables, conditionals, and object-oriented features to create reusable templates. It is designed to eliminate duplication in configuration data by providing a data templating language that can produce structured output from concise, programmable templates. The language distinguishes itself through an object-oriented inheritance model that allows field override, mixin composition, and self-referencing for modular configuration reuse. It supports lazy evaluation with thunks to defer computation until values are f

IncludeOS is a unikernel operating system that bundles application code with only the necessary kernel drivers into a single bootable image. It functions as a resource-efficient cloud service virtual machine and a lightweight serverless runtime environment designed to minimize memory footprints and boot times. The project provides a Linux compatibility layer via a C library, allowing applications written for Linux to be compiled and executed within the unikernel environment. It also serves as a network appliance framework for building high-performance firewalls and load balancers using config

ChakraCore is an embedded JavaScript engine designed to be integrated as a library within a host application. Its primary purpose is to provide a programmable scripting layer and a lightweight runtime environment for executing JavaScript code and managing state via a programmatic interface. The project focuses on bridging high-level scripting with low-level system calls through a C API. This allows developers to implement custom scripting engines and embed JavaScript execution directly into applications to enable task automation and functional extensions. The engine utilizes a bytecode-based

Vyper is a security-focused, typed programming language and compiler designed for creating smart contracts that execute on the Ethereum Virtual Machine. It utilizes a Pythonic syntax to define contract logic and state, serving as a target for formal verification to allow for machine-checked proofs of correctness. The language distinguishes itself through strict architectural constraints that prioritize predictability and security. It enforces acyclic call graphs by prohibiting recursion and mandates bounded loops to ensure static gas prediction. Additionally, it features a native fixed-point

Task is a YAML-based task runner and build tool used to define and automate development workflows. It functions as a dependency-based build system and cross-platform task automator, allowing users to execute shell commands across different operating systems using a declarative configuration file. The project operates as an incremental build tool, utilizing file fingerprints and checksums to track state and avoid redundant work by determining if tasks are up to date. It manages execution via a dependency graph to ensure prerequisites are completed before target commands run. The system includ

Xmake is a cross-platform build utility and package manager designed for C and C++ development. It functions as a unified build automation tool that uses a Lua-based domain-specific language to define project targets, manage dependencies, and orchestrate compilation across multiple operating systems and hardware architectures. The system distinguishes itself through a modular, rule-based approach to task orchestration and toolchain integration. By abstracting native build systems and compilers, it allows developers to maintain consistent project configurations while targeting diverse environm

Linuxtoys is a cross-distribution build system and package orchestrator designed to automate the creation of software for various Linux environments. It functions as a framework for compiling source code into native package formats, such as DEB and RPM files, while simultaneously providing the capability to generate standalone binaries that bypass complex host-level dependency management. The project distinguishes itself by utilizing isolated, container-based environments to ensure build consistency regardless of the underlying host configuration. It integrates host-aware dependency resolutio

F Prime is a component-based framework designed for the development and deployment of embedded and spaceflight software. It provides a modular architecture that decouples software logic from communication interfaces, allowing developers to define system structures through a domain-specific modeling language. This model-based approach enables automated code generation, ensuring consistency across complex system topologies while maintaining strict interface contracts between software modules. The framework distinguishes itself through its integrated build system and ground data operations suite

Crafting Interpreters is a comprehensive resource for building a complete programming language from scratch. It provides a structured guide to the fundamental components of language implementation, including lexing, parsing, and the design of execution engines. The project demonstrates two distinct approaches to language execution: a tree-walking interpreter that evaluates source code by traversing its abstract syntax structure, and a stack-based virtual machine that compiles code into custom bytecode for execution. These implementations are supported by core runtime mechanisms such as lexica

Hermes is a mobile-optimized JavaScript runtime and engine designed for React Native. It functions as an ahead-of-time bytecode compiler that converts JavaScript source code into a dense binary format during the build process to eliminate the need for parsing and compilation at runtime. The engine features a baseline JIT compiler that generates native machine code for frequently called functions to improve performance after the initial launch. It also includes a mobile-optimized garbage collector that precisely identifies reachable objects to minimize memory overhead and pause times on resour

electron-vite is a build system and multi-process bundle orchestrator that uses Vite to compile and bundle the main, preload, and renderer processes for Electron applications. It functions as a desktop application scaffolder, providing templates to integrate various frontend frameworks into a standardized project structure. The project distinguishes itself through integrated source code protection, utilizing a V8 bytecode obfuscator to compile JavaScript into bytecode and obfuscate strings to prevent reverse engineering. It also manages complex desktop architectures by isolating bundles and s

Blade-build is a multi-language build system and software orchestrator designed to automate the compilation, linking, and testing of complex codebases. It functions as an incremental build engine that models project structures as directed acyclic graphs, ensuring that only affected modules are recompiled when source code or header files change. By utilizing declarative build specifications, the system provides a unified approach to managing dependencies and toolchains across diverse programming environments. The system distinguishes itself through a focus on hermetic build environments and re