Chakra

Chakra is a powerful WebAssembly (WASM) runtime CLI tool with full WASI support.

✨ Features

• 🚀 Instant Development Server - Point Chakra to your .wasm file or project and get a ready playground in your browser
• 🌐 Browser Integration - Automatically opens your default browser with interactive console and debugging tools
• 💻 Interactive Console - View execution results and logs in a beautiful web interface
• 🔍 Smart Detection - Automatically identifies entry points and module types (standard WASM vs wasm-bindgen)
• 📦 Multi-Language Support - Compile Rust, Go, C/C++, and AssemblyScript projects to WASM
• 🔧 Built-in Compilation - Integrated build system
• 🔍 WASM Inspection - Verify and analyze WASM files with detailed module information and binary analysis
• 👀 Live Reload - Watch mode for automatic recompilation and browser refresh during development
• 🌟 Full WASI Support - Complete WebAssembly System Interface implementation with virtual filesystem
• 🌐 Web Application Support - Experimental support for Rust web frameworks (Yew, Leptos, Dioxus, etc.)
• ⚡ Zero Configuration - Works out of the box with sensible defaults and automatic project detection

🚀 Installation

From Cargo (Recommended)

cargo install chakra

From Source

git clone https://github.com/anistark/chakra.git
cd chakra
cargo install --path .

📖 Usage

Chakra supports both flag-based arguments using --path and direct positional arguments for an intuitive command line experience.

Quick Start

# Run on current directory
chakra

# Run a WebAssembly file directly  
chakra myfile.wasm

# Run a project directory
chakra ./my-wasm-project

# With flags
chakra --path ./path/to/your/file.wasm
chakra --path ./my-wasm-project

🔧 Commands

Development Server

Start the development server with live reload:

chakra run ./my-project --watch
chakra run ./my-project --port 3000 --language rust

Compilation

Compile a project to WebAssembly:

chakra compile ./my-project
chakra compile ./my-project --output ./build --optimization release
chakra compile ./my-project --optimization size --verbose

Verification & Inspection

Verify a WASM file format and analyze structure:

chakra verify ./file.wasm
chakra verify ./file.wasm --detailed

chakra inspect ./file.wasm

Project Management

Initialize a new project:

chakra init my-app --template rust
chakra init my-app --template go --directory ./projects/

Clean build artifacts:

chakra clean ./my-project

Server Control

Stop any running Chakra server:

chakra stop

🛠️ Supported Languages & Frameworks

Programming Languages

Language	Status	Compiler	Notes
	✅ Full Support	cargo + rustc	Standard WASM, wasm-bindgen, and web apps
	✅ Full Support	tinygo	Lightweight Go runtime
	✅ Full Support	emscripten	Complete toolchain support
	✅ Full Support	asc	TypeScript-like syntax
	🚧 Coming Soon	py2wasm / waspy	In development

Web Frameworks (Rust)

Chakra automatically detects and supports Rust web frameworks with specialized web application mode:

• Yew - Modern Rust / Wasm framework
• Leptos - Full-stack, compile-time optimal Rust framework
• Dioxus - Cross-platform GUI library
• Sycamore - Reactive library
• Trunk - Build tool for Rust-generated WebAssembly

Web framework support is highly experimental and actively being improved. Looking for contributors. 👋

🌟 How It Works

For WASM Files

1. Chakra server with WASI support starts running
2. Opens your default browser with an interactive interface
3. Serves the WASM file with comprehensive WASI support including virtual filesystem
4. Provides real-time console output, debugging tools, and file system interaction

For Projects

1. Language Detection - Automatically identifies project type (Rust, Go, C, AssemblyScript)
2. Dependency Checking - Verifies required tools are installed
3. Compilation - Builds optimized WASM with proper flags and optimizations
4. Serving - Runs development server with live reload
5. Experimental Web App Mode - Special handling for web applications with framework detection

🔍 WASI Support

Chakra includes a complete WebAssembly System Interface (WASI) implementation in the browser:

Supported Features ✅

• Virtual Filesystem - Complete file system with directories, file creation, and manipulation
• Standard I/O - stdout, stderr with console integration and real-time display
• Environment Variables - Full environment variable support
• Command Arguments - Access to command-line arguments
• File Operations - Read, write, seek, and comprehensive file management
• Random Number Generation - Secure random numbers via Web Crypto API
• Time Functions - System time and high-precision timers
• Pre-opened Directories - Filesystem sandboxing and security
• Interactive Console - Real-time output and error display
• File Explorer - Browse and edit virtual filesystem contents

Coming Soon 🚧

• Network Sockets - TCP/UDP socket support for networking
• Threading - Multi-threading and shared memory support
• Advanced I/O - Async I/O operations and streaming

🎯 Use Cases

Development & Testing

# Quick WASM testing with instant feedback
chakra test.wasm

# Project development with live reload
chakra run ./my-rust-project --watch

# Build and optimize for production
chakra compile ./my-project --optimization size

Learning & Education

# Inspect WASM structure and understand internals
chakra inspect ./complex-module.wasm

# Verify WASM compliance and format
chakra verify ./student-submission.wasm --detailed

Web Application Development

# Rust web app with hot reload
chakra run ./my-yew-app --watch

# Multi-framework support
chakra run ./leptos-project
chakra run ./dioxus-app

Performance Analysis

# Size-optimized builds
chakra compile ./my-project --optimization size

# Debug builds with full symbols
chakra compile ./my-project --optimization debug --verbose

🔧 Configuration

Environment Variables

• CHAKRA_PORT - Default server port (default: 8420)
• CHAKRA_WATCH - Enable watch mode by default
• CHAKRA_OUTPUT - Default output directory for builds
• CHAKRA_DEBUG - Enable debug output
• RUST_BACKTRACE - Show stack traces for errors

Project Detection

Chakra automatically detects project types based on files:

• Rust: Cargo.toml present
• Go: go.mod or .go files present
• C/C++: .c, .cpp, or .h files present
• AssemblyScript: package.json with AssemblyScript dependency
• Python: 🚧 Coming Soon

Optimization Levels

• debug - Fast compilation, full symbols, no optimization
• release - Optimized for performance (default)
• size - Optimized for minimal file size

🚀 Examples

Rust Examples

# Standard Rust WASM
cargo new --bin my-wasm-app
cd my-wasm-app
# Add your Rust code
chakra run .

# Rust web application with live reload
cargo new --bin my-web-app
cd my-web-app
# Add Yew/Leptos dependencies to Cargo.toml
chakra run . --watch

C Examples

# Simple C program
echo 'int main() { printf("Hello WASI!"); return 42; }' > hello.c
emcc hello.c -o hello.wasm
chakra hello.wasm

Go Examples

# TinyGo project
echo 'package main
import "fmt"
func main() { fmt.Println("Hello from TinyGo!") }' > main.go
chakra run .

🔍 Troubleshooting

Common Issues

"Port is already in use"

chakra stop  # Stop existing server
chakra --port 3001  # Use different port

"No entry point found"

• Ensure your WASM has main(), _start(), or exported functions
• Use chakra inspect to see available exports

"Missing compilation tools"

# Install required compilers
rustup target add wasm32-unknown-unknown  # For Rust
# Install emcc for C/C++
# Install tinygo for Go
chakra compile --help  # See tool requirements

"wasm-bindgen module detected"

• Use the .js file instead of the .wasm file directly
• Run chakra project-dir instead of individual files

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for detailed guidelines.

📄 License

MIT License

🙏 Credits

Chakra is built with love using:

• tiny_http - Lightweight HTTP server
• clap - Command line argument parsing
• notify - File system watching for live reload
• wasm-bindgen - Web integration
• And the amazing Rust and WebAssembly communities ❤️

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Made with ❤️ for the WebAssembly community

⭐ If you find Chakra useful, please consider starring the repository!