Tov: TypeScript-like language that compiles to native binaries

Tov, a new TypeScript-like programming language that compiles to native binaries, claims its binaries outperform Rust's, running a binary_trees benchmark in 260 ms versus Rust's 791 ms and compiling a program in 42 ms versus rustc's 98 ms. Tov checks TypeScript syntax and types, emits the program as a single C file, and hands it to clang, producing a 34 KB native binary with no runtime to install; the checker, written in Rust, returns machine-readable fixes via `tov check --json` for coding agents to apply. Tov omits `any`, `null` and `==`, requires failing calls to be marked `try`, and supports Bun and Node APIs including `Bun.serve`, `fetch` and `node:fs`.

A programming language for coding agents. Your agent already writes TypeScript, so it can already write Tov, and when it gets something wrong the compiler hands back the edit that fixes it. What it ships is a native binary that beats Rust's. binary trees: millions of small objects made and freed Tov260 msfastest Bun376 ms45% slower Node449 ms1.7× slower C688 ms2.6× slower Rust791 ms3.0× slower Compiling a program to a native binary Tov42 msfastest C clang 49 ms17% slower Rust rustc 98 ms2.3× slower Memory, serving that JSON API Tov1.6 MBleast Rust axum 4.4 MB2.8× more Bun17 MB10.4× more What happens when Tov builds a program Tov is a compiler. It checks the TypeScript your agent wrote, writes it out as C and hands that to clang, so what you ship is one native binary with nothing to install next to it. 1TypeScriptshapes.tov 2Check0.3 ms 3C0.2 ms 4Binary55 ms · 34 KB Your agent writes TypeScript Tov reads TypeScript's syntax and types, with int and f64 for numbers, and Bun's and Node's APIs. It leaves out what makes a program hard to follow: any, null and ==. type Shape = | { kind: "circle", r: f64 } | { kind: "rect", w: f64, h: f64 } function area s: Shape : f64 { switch s.kind { case "circle": return Math.PI s.r s.r case "rect": return s.w s.h } } Tov checks every line The checker, written in Rust, catches what TypeScript lets through: a call that can fail without try, a value shared where it should be copied, a switch that misses a case. Each error has a code and, where the fix is clear, the edit that makes it, which tov check --json hands to your agent. bash // without the "rect" case $ tov check shapes.tov error F0301 shapes.tov:6:11: switch is not exhaustive: missing "rect" 6 | switch s.kind { fix: add case "rect" It writes the program as C The whole program becomes one C file. Records become structs and a union becomes a tagged union, so switch s.kind is a switch on an integer. Values are reference-counted, with the counting written into the C, so there's no garbage collector to pause the program. struct Shape { uint32 t tag; union { Circle m0; Rect m1; } u; }; static double area Shape s { switch s.tag { case 0: return 3.141592653589793 s.u.m0.r s.u.m0.r; case 1: return s.u.m1.w s.u.m1.h; } } clang makes one binary clang compiles that C with Tov's runtime, a C library with the event loop, the HTTP server and client, and Tov's strings, arrays and maps. The runtime is compiled once and cached, so most of a build is clang's. A program that imports an npm package also carries the package and JavaScriptCore, the engine Bun uses, to run it. bash $ tov build shapes.tov --time check 0.3 ms, generate 0.2 ms, C compile 55 ms build: shapes $ ls -lh shapes 34K shapes $ ./shapes circle: 3.14 rect: 6.00 How an agent writes Tov 1Your agent writes TypeScript js // hello.tov Bun.serve { port: 3000, fetch req { const url = new URL req.url return new Response Hello from ${url.pathname} }, } 2Tov hands back the fix bash $ tov check --json { "code": "T0831", "message": " new URL can throw TypeError ; mark the call try to pass the error on, or catch it", "fixes": { "applicability": "safe", "edits": { "line": 4, "col": 17, "text": "try " } } } 3You ship a native binary js // the agent applies the fix const url = try new URL req.url $ tov build hello.tov build: hello $ ls -lh hello 152K hello $ ./hello & curl :3000/agents Hello from /agents It's TypeScript With the APIs your agent knows from Bun and Node. Bun.serve, fetch, node:fs, async/await and npm packages work as it expects. Less to get wrong There's no any, null or ==, and a call that can fail is marked try. If code looks like TypeScript it behaves like TypeScript, and if it can't, it doesn't compile. A 42 ms compile --watch restarts the program on save, and tov test runs the tests that sit next to the code. Against Rust, C, Bun and Node Tov compiles to C and counts references instead of collecting garbage, so there are no collector pauses and the binaries stay small. Programs binary trees3.0× faster than Rust sort1.6× faster than Rust map insert1.7× faster than Rust dispatch2.1× faster than Rust strings1.6× faster than Rust fib7% faster than Rust nbody7% faster than Rust Servers and builds web server12% faster than Rust server memory2.8× less than Rust fetch 9% faster than Rust compile2.3× faster than Rust binary size10.5× smaller than Rust 3.0× faster than Rustbinary trees: millions of small objects Tov260 ms Bun376 ms Node449 ms C688 ms Rust791 ms Shorter is better. 1.6× faster than Rustsort: 3M floats, with a comparator Tov45 ms Rust74 ms C275 ms Bun696 ms Node1175 ms Shorter is better. 1.7× faster than Rustmap insert: 2M string keys Tov284 ms C476 ms Rust490 ms Bun823 ms Node1178 ms Shorter is better. 2.1× faster than Rustdispatch: 50M virtual calls Tov36 ms C76 ms Rust77 ms Bun109 ms Node191 ms Shorter is better. 1.6× faster than Ruststrings: format, join, split Tov143 ms Bun203 ms Rust224 ms C253 ms Node519 ms Shorter is better. 7% faster than Rustfib: recursive calls, overflow-checked Tov416 ms Rust444 ms C490 ms Bun942 ms Node1485 ms Shorter is better. 7% faster than Rustnbody: floating point Tov210 ms Rust224 ms C312 ms Bun512 ms Node554 ms Shorter is better. 12% faster than Rustweb server: JSON API, one core Tov242k req/s Rust216k req/s Bun111k req/s Longer is better. 2.8× less than Rustserver memory: serving that API Tov1.6 MB Rust4.4 MB Bun16.6 MB Shorter is better. 9% faster than Rustfetch : 64 requests at once Tov177k req/s Rust162k req/s Bun129k req/s Node30k req/s Longer is better. 2.3× faster than Rustcompile: a program to a binary Tov42 ms C49 ms Rust98 ms Shorter is better. 10.5× smaller than Rustbinary size: a program, stripped Tov33 KB C33 KB Rust351 KB Shorter is better. Measured on an Apple M4 Max, and each program prints the same output in every language. Tov checks integer overflow by default; Rust's release builds don't. Method and every result. × Trying Tov on Cap Cap is our open-source screen recorder. We've tried two parts of its video pipeline on Tov: a new encoder written in Tov, and the media server Cap already has, compiled by Tov as it is. Neither runs in Cap's production yet. A screen encoder, written in Tov Every Cap recording ends up as H.264 video. We wrote an encoder for it in Tov, tuned for what's on a screen, and compared it with x264 at the same picture quality. The encoder is on GitHub. 5.2×faster than x264, on average Idle screen8.1× Code, 4K8.0× Busy UI, 60 fps7.2× Slow typing6.9× Busy UI6.5× Dark mode6.5× Code editor6.5× Slides4.6× Scrolling text4.4× Webcam overlay4.2× Dashboard3.5× Full-motion video1.5× 46 MB of memory at its peak x264: 377 561 KB the whole encoder x264: 1.3 MB 12 screen recordings at 1080p, on one thread, against x264's veryfast preset. Every result. The media server, unchanged Cap's media server is a Bun app Hono, zod and FFmpeg that probes uploaded videos and pulls out their audio. Tov runs it without changing a line; the file below is the whole port. Cap still serves it with Bun.