I built a Python -> C transpiler. Then it transpiled itself.

A few weeks ago I needed to run Python scripts in initramfs — the tiny Linux environment that exists before your actual OS boots. No interpreter. No dynamic linker. Nothing.

So I built Transpilatron: an AI agent that takes Python code and produces a fully static C binary.

uvx transpilatron your_code.py

That's it. No C knowledge required.

First, does it actually work? I ran two tests:

Same output. Verified on the same machine. The C binary is fully static — no runtime, no interpreter, no dependencies.

Then I tried something more interesting. A 14-line Flask app:

from flask import Flask

app = Flask(__name__)

@app.route('/')
def hello():
    return 'Hello from the webserver!'

@app.route('/ping')
def ping():
    return 'pong'

if __name__ == '__main__':
    app.run(host='0.0.0.0', port=8080)

One command:

uvx transpilatron web.py

Output: a native C HTTP server. No Flask. No Python runtime.

$ curl http://localhost:8080/
Hello from the webserver!

$ curl http://localhost:8080/ping
pong

Verified memory-safe by valgrind: 0 errors, 0 leaks.

Here's where it gets weird.

Transpilatron is written in Python. So I pointed it at its own source code:

uvx transpilatron src/transpilatron/agent.py

The agent read its own Python source, wrote 400+ lines of C, fixed its own compiler errors autonomously, ran a memory audit, and produced a working binary.

$ ./out/agent --help
Usage: ./agent [--minimal|--full] <entry_file>
  --minimal  Use minimal mode: static linking, raw sockets only
  --full     Use full mode (default): dynamic linking, libcurl, etc.

$ ./out/agent examples/web.py
Thinking...
I'll help you convert the Python project to C...

A C binary, orchestrating an AI agent, transpiling Python to C.

Valgrind result: 0 errors, 0 leaks.

Transpilatron wraps the Poolside CLI (free) as its agentic backend. The agent:

-O3

--full

mode supports Flask/FastAPI → libmicrohttpd, torch/tensorflow → libtorch/TFLite, OpenCV, and more.

Nuitka bundles CPython. PyInstaller bundles CPython. Both produce 30MB+ binaries that require a Python runtime.

Transpilatron strips CPython entirely. The output binary has no idea Python exists.

That's the only approach that works for initramfs, scratch containers, or embedded targets with no OS.

uvx transpilatron your_code.py

Requires only uv

. Everything else (Poolside CLI, gcc, make, valgrind) is auto-installed on first run.

GitHub: NoodlixProject/transpilatron

Transpilatron was originally built to compile boot scripts for Noodlix — a Python-only OS I'm building. That project is ongoing.