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Supported TypeScript Features

Perry compiles a practical subset of TypeScript to native code. This page lists what's supported.

Primitive Types

{{#include ../../examples/language/supported_features.ts:primitives}}

All primitives are represented as 64-bit NaN-boxed values at runtime.

Variables and Constants

{{#include ../../examples/language/supported_features.ts:variables}}

Perry infers types from initializers — let x = 5 is inferred as number without an explicit annotation.

Functions

{{#include ../../examples/language/supported_features.ts:functions}}

Classes

{{#include ../../examples/language/supported_features.ts:classes}}

Supported class features:

  • Constructors
  • Instance and static methods
  • Instance and static properties
  • Inheritance (extends)
  • Method overriding
  • instanceof checks (via class ID chain)
  • Singleton patterns (static method return type inference)

Enums

{{#include ../../examples/language/supported_features.ts:enums}}

Enums are compiled to constants and work across modules.

Interfaces and Type Aliases

{{#include ../../examples/language/supported_features.ts:interfaces}}

Interfaces and type aliases are erased at compile time (like tsc). They exist only for documentation and editor tooling.

Arrays

{{#include ../../examples/language/supported_features.ts:arrays}}

Objects

{{#include ../../examples/language/supported_features.ts:objects}}

Destructuring

{{#include ../../examples/language/supported_features.ts:destructuring}}

Template Literals

{{#include ../../examples/language/supported_features.ts:template-literals}}

Spread and Rest

{{#include ../../examples/language/supported_features.ts:spread-rest}}

Closures

{{#include ../../examples/language/supported_features.ts:closures}}

Perry performs closure conversion — captured variables are stored in heap-allocated closure objects.

Async/Await

{{#include ../../examples/language/supported_features.ts:async-await}}

Perry compiles async functions to a state machine backed by Tokio's async runtime.

Promises

{{#include ../../examples/language/supported_features.ts:promises}}

Generators

{{#include ../../examples/language/supported_features.ts:generators}}

Map and Set

{{#include ../../examples/language/supported_features.ts:map-set}}

Regular Expressions

{{#include ../../examples/language/supported_features.ts:regex}}

Error Handling

{{#include ../../examples/language/supported_features.ts:errors}}

JSON

{{#include ../../examples/language/supported_features.ts:json}}

typeof and instanceof

{{#include ../../examples/language/supported_features.ts:typeof-instanceof}}

typeof checks NaN-boxing tags at runtime. instanceof walks the class ID chain.

Modules

ES module syntax is fully supported: named exports, default exports, and re-exports.

The exporting module:

{{#include ../../examples/language/modules/utils.ts:exports}}

The importing module:

{{#include ../../examples/language/modules/main.ts:imports}}

BigInt

{{#include ../../examples/language/supported_features.ts:bigint}}

String Methods

{{#include ../../examples/language/supported_features.ts:string-methods}}

Math

{{#include ../../examples/language/supported_features.ts:math}}

Date

{{#include ../../examples/language/supported_features.ts:date}}

Console

{{#include ../../examples/language/supported_features.ts:console}}

Garbage Collection

Perry includes a mark-sweep garbage collector. It runs automatically when memory pressure is detected (~8MB arena blocks), but you can also trigger it manually:

{{#include ../../examples/language/supported_features.ts:gc}}

The GC uses conservative stack scanning to find roots and supports arena-allocated objects (arrays, objects) and malloc-allocated objects (strings, closures, promises, BigInts, errors).

JSX/TSX

Perry's parser and HIR understand JSX syntax (parsed via SWC, lowered in crates/perry-hir/src/jsx.rs) and .tsx files link through Perry's built-in jsx() / jsxs() runtime path. You do not need a local react/jsx-runtime package just to compile TSX.

import { Box, Text } from "perry/tui";

function Greeting({ name }: { name: string }) {
  return <Text>{`Hello, ${name}!`}</Text>;
}

const page = <div className="card"><Greeting name="Perry" /></div>;
const app = <Box><Greeting name="TUI" /></Box>;

JSX elements are transformed to function calls via the jsx() / jsxs() runtime. Perry's built-in adapter supports HTML-style intrinsic tags, fragments, function components, and compile-time rewrites for perry/tui Box / Text so those TUI JSX forms lower to the same native builders as the function-call form.

Caveat: this is Perry's TSX runtime, not React DOM or full React reconciler semantics. For perry/ui, or for perry/tui intrinsics whose JSX rewrite has not landed yet, the function-call form remains the canonical native API.

JavaScript (.js) Input

Perry is a TypeScript compiler, but TypeScript is a superset of JavaScript — so Perry also compiles plain JavaScript. .js, .cjs, .mjs, and .jsx files are parsed as JavaScript (decorators, JSX, and import attributes enabled) and lowered through the exact same native pipeline as .ts. No type annotations are required.

perry compile src/main.js -o myapp
./myapp

There are no guarantees for every dynamic JavaScript pattern (the Limitations still apply — no eval, no general dynamic require()), but most plain JavaScript projects compile and run.

Node.js Compatibility

Perry implements a large, real (non-stub) slice of the Node.js standard library — fs, http/https/http2, net/tls, dns/dgram, crypto, stream (+ stream/web), events, child_process, cluster, worker_threads, zlib, process, async_hooks / AsyncLocalStorage, Atomics / SharedArrayBuffer, and the WHATWG web globals (fetch, URL, streams, structuredClone, WebCrypto, …). Against Node's own test suite (node v26, 53 node:* modules) Perry passes ~97% of cases, with overall Node/TypeScript compatibility around 95%. The per-module surface and remaining gaps are tracked in docs/runtime-parity-gaps.md.

Next Steps