CJIT is a C interpreter based on tinyCC that compiles C code in-memory and runs it live. It is released as a small, all-in-one executable that can do a lot, including call functions from any installed library on Linux, Windows, and MacOSX.
Homepage at Dyne.org/CJIT.
Download the latest CJIT release for your system.
Launch CJIT from a terminal console command prompt: one can mix c source files and dynamic libraries as arguments:
./cjit.exe mysource.c mylib.dll
Take a tour with the CJIT tutorial.
The CJIT demo package comes with running examples
iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://dyne.org/cjit/demo'))
curl -sL https://dyne.org/cjit/demo.sh | bash
📖 and follow the The CJIT tutorial
There are various build targets, just type make to have a list:
✨ Welcome to the CJIT build system
🛟 Usage: make <target>
👇 List of targets:
_
------ __ Production targets
linux-x86 🐧 Build a dynamically linked cjit using libs found on Linux x86
win-wsl 🪟 Build cjit.exe for WIN64 on an Ubuntu WSL VM using gcc-mingw-w64
win-native 🪟 Build cjit.exe for WIN64 on Windows Server
apple-osx 🍎 Build cjit.command for Apple/OSX using clang static
_
------ __ Debugging targets
debug-gdb 🔬 Build using the address sanitizer to detect memory leaks
debug-asan 🔬 Build using the address sanitizer to detect memory leaks
self-host 💎 Build a CJIT that builts itself (embed its source)
_
------ __ Testing targets
check 🧪 Run all tests using the currently built binary ./cjit
check-ci 🧪 Run all tests using the currently built binary ./cjit
_
------ __ Installation targets
install 🔌 Install the built binaries in PREFIX
clean 🧹 Clean the source from all built objects
When installed on UNIX systems, CJIT(1) has a manpage! try man cjit after installing.
It is also visible online at dyne.org/docs/cjit.
This manual gives you insights about the CJIT command-line options.
CJIT is a bit complex inside.
- It relies on tinycc to compile C code in-memory and run it immediately.
- It detects automatically the system on which its running and auto-configures to support most features.
- It embeds all C code and headers in cjit/assets making them available to all running code.
- To embed them creates a
tar.gzof assets at build-time and decompresses them at run-time in a temporary dir. - It ships a non-exclusive, opinionated selection of libraries useful to quickly script advanced applications in C.
The CJIT's Frequently Asked Questions page may provide more information.
CJIT is copyright (C) 2024-2025 by the Dyne.org foundation. Designed, written and maintained by Jaromil. Free and open source (GNU General Public License v3).
The TinyCC core component is copyright (C) 2001-2004 by Fabrice Bellard. TinyCC is also free and open source (GNU Lesser General Public License).
The CJIT manual offers more information on CJIT licensing.
