cljrs-runtime

The clojurust runtime: namespaces and environments, native clojure.core builtins, the tree-walking interpreter, and the tiered (IR-accelerated) evaluator.

Status: implemented. Stage 2 of docs/crate-consolidation-plan.md merged four packages into this one, one per module; Stage 3 gave it one construction path and one dispatch path:

Module	Former package	Responsibility
env	cljrs-env	Namespace registry, vars, dynamic bindings, GC roots, loader, gas, policy
builtins	cljrs-builtins	Native clojure.core functions plus the Clojure bootstrap source
interp	cljrs-interp	Tree-walking interpreter: special forms, macros, destructuring
tiered	cljrs-eval	IR lowering, tier-1 IR interpreter, JIT dispatch state

The four former packages still exist as re-export shims so downstream packages can migrate one at a time; Stage 6 removes them. New code should use cljrs_runtime::{env, builtins, interp, tiered}.

Stage 3 added Runtime / RuntimeBuilder / ExecutionMode at the crate root and removed the GlobalEnv callback seams: the eval_fn, call_cljrs_fn, and on_fn_defined function pointers and the compiler_ready flag are gone, replaced by an execution mode chosen at build time and a TierState raised once when the bootstrap finishes. The IR cache is now per-runtime instance state, and the cross-defn registry is keyed by a counter-allocated GlobalEnv::id instead of the environment's address.

---

File layout

src/
  lib.rs                — crate root; declares the modules; re-exports Runtime,
                          RuntimeBuilder, BuildError, ExecutionMode, TierState
  mode.rs               — ExecutionMode (build-time choice) and TierState (live tiers)
  runtime.rs            — Runtime and RuntimeBuilder: the one construction path

  env/
    mod.rs              — module declarations; re-exports AsyncRuntime
    env.rs              — Env (lexical scope) and GlobalEnv (namespace registry, vars)
    error.rs            — EvalError / EvalResult and conversion helpers
    apply.rs            — apply_value: callee dispatch (fns, keywords, maps, sets,
                          vars, protocols, multimethods) and async dispatch
    callback.rs         — thread-local eval context for Rust→Clojure callbacks
    dynamics.rs         — dynamic var binding frames (binding, with-bindings*)
    gas.rs              — cooperative execution-credit metering
    gc_roots.rs         — GC root registration for the interpreter's Rust stack
    loader.rs           — namespace loading (require / load_ns) from source paths
    policy.rs           — capability policy for isolated transaction functions
    taps.rs             — tap> / add-tap registry
    async_hook.rs       — AsyncRuntime seam and the async-JIT compile hook
    depth.rs            — call-depth cap for ExecutionMode::NoGcTransaction
    versioned.rs        — (non-WASM) versioned symbol/namespace resolution

  builtins/
    mod.rs              — module declarations; re-exports special::* and util::*
    builtins.rs         — the native fn registry (register_all) and BUILTIN_DOCS
    special.rs          — special-form stub vars and shared dispatch helpers
    form.rs             — reader-conditional resolution; form → value conversion
    util.rs             — shared argument-coercion and error helpers
    transients.rs       — transient collection builtins
    array_list.rs       — java.util.ArrayList-alike interop shim
    bitops.rs           — bit-and / bit-or / bit-shift-* and friends
    new.rs              — (new Type ...) construction dispatch
    regex.rs            — re-pattern / re-find / re-seq / re-matches
    taps.rs             — add-tap / tap> builtins over env::taps
    time.rs             — clock and duration builtins
    bootstrap.cljrs     — Clojure source evaluated into clojure.core at startup
    clojure_test.cljrs  — embedded clojure.test source

  interp/
    mod.rs              — module declarations
    eval.rs             — top-level eval dispatch; symbol/keyword/collection eval
    special.rs          — special-form evaluators (def, fn*, let*, loop*, try, ns, …)
    apply.rs            — eval_call: macro expansion, native dispatch, recur trampoline
    arity.rs            — fresh arity ID generator
    destructure.rs      — pattern destructuring (vector, map, & rest)
    macros.rs           — macro expansion helpers
    syntax_quote.rs     — syntax-quote (backtick) expansion
    virtualize.rs       — let-chain virtualization: assoc/conj chains → transients
    versioned.rs        — (non-WASM) tree-walker entry point for versioned resolution

  tiered/
    mod.rs              — re-exports; load_prebuilt_ir
    apply.rs            — IR-aware dispatch: JIT → IR cache → tree-walk fallback
    ir_interp.rs        — tier-1 IR interpreter over a VarId→Value register file
    ir_cache.rs         — IrCache: per-runtime cache of lowered IR keyed by arity ID
    lower.rs            — orchestrates the pure-Rust cljrs_ir::lower pipeline
    lower_worker.rs     — background IR-lowering worker thread ("cljrs-ir-lower")
    defn_registry.rs    — cross-defn IR registry and invalidation edges
    jit_state.rs        — JitState: per-runtime JIT counters, native-fn table, epochs, OSR slots
    tiers.rs            — Tiers: one runtime's IrCache + JitState, and the index of live ones
    backend.rs          — JitBackend: the seam a compiler installs on a runtime

tests/
  no_gc_eval.rs                    — (no-gc) arithmetic, def provenance, region stack
  versioned_resolution.rs          — versioned resolution against a real git fixture
  require_spec_reader_conditional.rs — reader conditionals in ns require specs
  declare_macro.rs, doc.rs, gas_meter.rs, into_seq_target.rs, map_entry.rs,
  named_fn_identity.rs, ns_metadata.rs, partition_arities.rs, shared_atom.rs,
  symbolic_nan.rs, threading_macros.rs, auto_gensym.rs, auto_keyword_macro.rs,
  assoc_in_metadata.rs, empty_metadata.rs, into_metadata.rs, vec_metadata.rs,
  defonce_metadata.rs, defonce_metadata_properties.rs,
  auto_resolution_properties.rs   — tree-walker behavior (moved from cljrs-interp)
  gas_meter_ir.rs, versioned_ir.rs, partition_ir.rs, destructure_lowering.rs,
  osr_transfer.rs, region_phi_uaf.rs — tiered behavior (moved from cljrs-eval)

---

Runtime construction

One path builds a runtime. Execution mode, source paths, GC configuration, and embedded namespace sources are builder inputs; extensions install themselves into a finished runtime.

use cljrs_runtime::{ExecutionMode, Runtime};

let runtime = Runtime::builder()
    .execution_mode(ExecutionMode::Tiered)
    .source_paths(paths)
    .gc_config(config)
    .build()?;
cljrs_stdlib::install(&runtime);

Runtime

A cheap, cloneable handle. All instance state lives in the shared GlobalEnv, so clones name the same runtime rather than a new one.

pub fn builder() -> RuntimeBuilder;
/// Adopt an existing environment (AOT harness, embedding host, package loader).
pub fn from_globals(globals: Arc<GlobalEnv>) -> Runtime;
pub fn globals(&self) -> &Arc<GlobalEnv>;
pub fn into_globals(self) -> Arc<GlobalEnv>;
pub fn env(&self, ns: &str) -> Env;
pub fn execution_mode(&self) -> ExecutionMode;
pub fn tier_state(&self) -> TierState;

RuntimeBuilder

pub fn execution_mode(self, mode: ExecutionMode) -> Self;   // default Tiered
pub fn source_paths(self, paths: Vec<PathBuf>) -> Self;
pub fn gc_config(self, config: Arc<GcConfig>) -> Self;
pub fn gc_config_from_env(self, enabled: bool) -> Self;     // default true
pub fn register_gc_roots(self, enabled: bool) -> Self;      // default true
pub fn builtin_source(self, ns: impl Into<String>, src: &'static str) -> Self;
pub fn eager_clojure_test(self, enabled: bool) -> Self;     // default false
pub fn build(self) -> Result<Runtime, BuildError>;

build registers native clojure.core, evaluates bootstrap.cljrs, sets up the user namespace, applies GC and source-path configuration, and finally raises the tier state — the bootstrap itself always tree-walks, because nothing can be lowered before clojure.core exists. BuildError::EmbeddedSource is returned when an embedded source fails to parse (the binary's own text is broken); an individual bootstrap form that fails to evaluate is reported on stderr and skipped, as before.

The GC root tracer registered by register_gc_roots holds a weak handle to the environment, so a runtime that is dropped stops being a root instead of keeping itself alive forever through the heap's tracer list.

Execution modes and tier state

ExecutionMode is chosen once, at build time, and never changes: it selects the function-call path. Before Stage 3 each mode was a different fn pointer stored in GlobalEnv, and those pointers existed only to let cljrs-interp reach cljrs-eval without a dependency cycle. With both in one package the mode is data and the dispatch is a direct call.

Mode	GlobalEnv::call_cljrs_fn routes to	Target tier
TreeWalk	interp::apply::call_cljrs_fn	TreeWalk
Tiered (default)	tiered::apply::call_cljrs_fn	Jit
TieredNoJit	tiered::apply::call_cljrs_fn	Ir
NoGcTransaction	env::depth::call_cljrs_fn	TreeWalk

TierState is the current state of that mode, and it does change. It starts at TreeWalk and the builder raises it once to the mode's target tier when the bootstrap finishes. It replaces the compiler_ready flag, which said only "not tree-walk" and could not distinguish the IR interpreter from native JIT dispatch — TieredNoJit stops at Tier 1 even with a JIT backend linked in. CLJRS_NO_IR pins any runtime at TreeWalk.

pub enum ExecutionMode { TreeWalk, Tiered, TieredNoJit, NoGcTransaction }
impl ExecutionMode {
    pub fn target_tier(self) -> TierState;
    pub fn is_tiered(self) -> bool;
}

pub enum TierState { TreeWalk = 0, Ir = 1, Jit = 2 }
impl TierState {
    pub fn ir_enabled(self) -> bool;   // >= Ir
    pub fn jit_enabled(self) -> bool;  // == Jit
}

---

Module env

env submodule

Env is a lexical scope chained to a parent; GlobalEnv is one runtime instance's namespace registry (namespaces, interned vars, source paths, refer/alias tables, the version cache) plus its execution mode, tier state, IR cache, and identity.

/// Raw constructor: no builtins, no bootstrap. Use Runtime::builder().
pub fn GlobalEnv::new(execution_mode: ExecutionMode) -> Arc<GlobalEnv>;

/// Process-unique identity, allocated from a counter. Scopes the cross-defn
/// registry and the IR cache index. Not the Arc's address: an address is
/// unique only while its allocation is live, so a dropped runtime could hand
/// its key to the next one and let it inherit the dead runtime's IR.
pub fn id(&self) -> u64;

pub fn execution_mode(&self) -> ExecutionMode;
pub fn tier_state(&self) -> TierState;
pub fn set_tier_state(&self, tier: TierState);   // raise only (fetch_max)
pub fn ir_enabled(&self) -> bool;                // tier_state().ir_enabled()
pub fn ir_cache(&self) -> &Arc<tiered::ir_cache::IrCache>;

/// The single evaluation and function-call entry points. `eval` always runs
/// the tree walker; `call_cljrs_fn` matches on the execution mode; and
/// `on_fn_defined` eagerly lowers only for a tiered runtime with IR live.
pub fn eval(&self, form: &Form, env: &mut Env) -> EvalResult;
pub fn call_cljrs_fn(&self, f: &CljxFn, args: &[Value], env: &mut Env) -> EvalResult;
pub fn on_fn_defined(&self, f: &CljxFn, env: &mut Env);

depth submodule

The call-depth cap for ExecutionMode::NoGcTransaction. Every interpreted application consumes real Rust stack, so an unbounded recursion inside a transaction would overflow the host thread's stack and abort the process. DepthGuard::install(limit) scopes a thread-local budget to one invocation; call_cljrs_fn refuses to nest past it and returns EvalError::Runtime(DEPTH_EXCEEDED_MSG). This is the one call-path override that survived Stage 3 — as a runtime-owned mode rather than a GlobalEnv hook installed by cljrs-tx.

error submodule

EvalError / EvalResult are the evaluator's error types. Helpers:

• EvalError::to_error_value(self) -> Value — convert an error into a Clojure error value; Thrown is returned unchanged, anything else is wrapped in a fresh ExceptionInfo
• value_error_to_eval_error(err: ValueError) -> EvalError — surface a builtin's ValueError as a catchable EvalError::Thrown(Value::Error(..)), preserving the original variant and its plain message (no runtime error: prefix) so (catch :default e ..) / ex-message / ex-data behave the same as for a user throw / ex-info. A ValueError::Thrown re-surfaces the exact value.

gas submodule

Cooperative execution-credit metering shared dynamically across tree-walker, IR-interpreter, and JIT callbacks. GasMeter::new(credits) creates a shared budget, GasGuard::install(meter) scopes it to the current evaluation thread, active_meters() -> Vec<Arc<GasMeter>> and install_meters(&[Arc<GasMeter>]) propagate complete nested scopes to async polls, charge(cost) -> bool consumes an all-or-nothing checkpoint, and take_exhausted() -> bool transfers a native-tier exhaustion signal back to the evaluator. EvalError::GasExhausted is the dedicated caller-facing error. Exhaustion state is scoped per guard, so an exhausted inner evaluation cannot poison a healthy outer evaluation after the inner guard drops.

policy submodule

Dynamic capability policy used by isolated transaction functions. TransactionPolicyGuard::install() denies filesystem and output operations, clocks, randomness, process-global mutable facilities, blocking/concurrency, versioned namespace loading, and Rust object construction. check_native, check_special, and check_versioned_lookup are enforced at the interpreter's final dispatch seams. next_transaction_gensym() supplies an invocation-local deterministic sequence for syntax-quote hygiene. Violations return EvalError::ForbiddenEffect(String).

versioned submodule (non-WASM)

Shared versioned-symbol/namespace resolution service used by every execution tier (tree-walker, IR interpreter, JIT/AOT rt_load_global* bridges). Resolving ns/name@commit ensures the immutable versioned namespace "ns@commit" is loaded — from an embedded builtin source first, falling back to fetching the file from git history — then performs a plain lookup_in_ns("ns@commit", name). Native (Rust-backed) symbols with no Clojure source fall back to the HEAD implementation. Public API:

• resolve_versioned_value(globals, defining_ns, ns_part, name, commit) -> EvalResult<Value> — full resolution: alias handling, lazy namespace load, native HEAD fallback
• ensure_versioned_ns_loaded(globals, base_ns, commit) -> EvalResult<Arc<str>> — idempotent load of "base_ns@commit" (same cycle/cross-thread coordination as the unversioned loader); returns the versioned namespace name
• base_ns_name(ns: &str) -> &str — strip a trailing @<commit> suffix

Sources fetched from git are recorded in GlobalEnv::versioned_sources (record_versioned_source / versioned_sources_snapshot) so the AOT compiler can embed them in produced binaries. pin_if_available(globals, base_ns, commit) -> EvalResult<bool> is the AOT discovery hook: force-loads a pin when its source is locatable, skips otherwise. GlobalEnv::set_versioned_offline(true) (called by AOT harness binaries) restricts versioned loading to embedded sources — a missing embedding fails with a clear "was not embedded at compile time" error instead of fetching from git.

Native (Rust-backed) packages get a verified HEAD binding: the fallback checks the pin against GlobalEnv::native_provenance (recorded via set_native_provenance / Registry::set_provenance; prefix-match in either direction for abbreviated hashes). Mismatching or missing provenance warns once per pin (provenance_warned), or errors when set_enforce_native_versions(true) is set (--enforce-native-versions, cljrs.edn :enforce-native-versions).

Opt-in pinned native code: GlobalEnv::set_pinned_native_loader installs a PinnedNativeLoader callback (provided by cljrs-dylib); the resolver consults it before the HEAD fallback, and a successful load redirects the lookup into the freshly registered "<ns>@<commit>" namespace.

Plain require of a native dep: GlobalEnv::set_native_require_loader installs a NativeRequireLoader callback (also provided by cljrs-dylib). The unversioned namespace loader (loader::do_load) consults it when a required namespace has no Clojure source on the source path; a successful load registers a :rust/load :dylib dep's exports into the unversioned namespace (built at the dep's pinned :git/sha), so a plain (require '[my.native.lib :as l]) of a pure-native package succeeds.

AOT-compiled namespaces: the binary produced by cljrs compile registers a CompiledNsLoader per required namespace via GlobalEnv::register_compiled_ns_loader. loader::do_load checks GlobalEnv::compiled_ns_loader first — before builtin source, disk, and native fallbacks — and, when one is present, runs it instead of interpreting Clojure source. The loader evaluates the namespace's small interpreted preamble (its ns/require form and any defmacro/protocol/multimethod definitions) and then calls the namespace's natively compiled initializer, so the bulk of a required namespace runs as machine code rather than being tree-walked at startup. *ns* is saved/restored around the loader so the caller's namespace is undisturbed.

gc_roots submodule

Manages GC root registration for the interpreter's Rust call stack. Public API:

• push_env_root(env: &Env) -> EnvRootGuard — registers an Env pointer as a GC root; guard removes on drop
• root_value(val: &Value) -> ValueRootGuard — registers a single Value pointer as a GC root
• root_values(vals: &[Value]) -> ValueRootGuard — registers a slice of Value pointers as GC roots
• root_option_values(vals: &[Option<Value>]) -> OptionValueRootGuard — registers an Option<Value> slice (e.g. IR register file)
• gc_safepoint(env: &Env) — interpreter-level safepoint: parks if collection in progress, or initiates collection on memory pressure
• force_collect(env: &Env) — immediately initiates a GC collection bypassing memory-pressure threshold
• async_gc_collect() — services a pending GC request from a Tokio LocalSet task at a cooperative yield point; safe to call when no other tasks are polling, so thread-local root stacks are stable and fully describe all suspended-task GcPtrs
• set_stw_reclaim_hook(f) — registers a stop-the-world reclaim hook; multiple hooks may be registered and each runs (in registration order) inside the STW guard at the tail of every collection (force_collect, gc_safepoint, async_gc_collect), when all mutator threads are parked. Registrants: the compiler's JIT code cache frees superseded native code (Phase 10.2); the tiered lowering worker sweeps idle Tier-1 IR (Phase 10.7)

Root tracing covers all namespaces (including immutable ns@commit namespaces) and the values in GlobalEnv::version_cache, so versioned values that exist only in the cache (native HEAD fallbacks) survive collection.

apply submodule

apply_value applies an evaluated callee to evaluated args (functions, keywords, maps, sets, vars, protocol/multimethod dispatch). For a Value::ProtocolFn callee whose protocol has extend_via_metadata set ((defprotocol Name :extend-via-metadata true ...)), dispatch first checks the first arg's metadata for an entry keyed by the ProtocolFn itself (e.g. (with-meta {} {my-method (fn [this] ...)})) before falling back to the type-tag impls lookup — this lets a value implement a protocol without a matching extend-type/extend-protocol. Protocol dispatch helpers shared with the Phase 10.6 inline caches:

• type_tag_of(val: &Value) -> Arc<str> — canonical protocol dispatch tag of a value
• type_tag_matches(val: &Value, tag: &str) -> bool — allocation-free equality against a cached tag; must agree exactly with type_tag_of (used by rt_call_ic's hot path in cljrs-compiler)
• dispatch_if_async(callee, args, env) — spawn ^:async callees on the async runtime

callback submodule

Thread-local eval context for Rust→Clojure callbacks (invoke, with_eval_context). The context is pushed automatically around native builtin calls and by the Tier-1 IR executor; rt_abi bridges (rt_call, rt_load_global, the HOF bridges) dispatch through it. Public API includes:

• push_eval_context(env: &Env) / pop_eval_context() — bracket a native call with the current env's globals + namespace
• capture_eval_context() -> Option<(Arc<GlobalEnv>, Arc<str>)> — snapshot the innermost context (e.g. to hand to another thread)
• install_eval_context(globals, ns) — push a previously captured context (spawned threads)
• install_eval_context_guard(globals, ns) -> EvalContextGuard — like install_eval_context, but pops on drop (including unwind); used by the JIT-native dispatch seam
• current_is_async() -> bool — whether the innermost context is inside an ^:async body
• invoke(f: &Value, args: Vec<Value>) -> ValueResult<Value> — call a Clojure-callable value through the innermost context. Honors ^:async dispatch (via apply::dispatch_if_async) so a native/compiled caller of an ^:async fn gets a Value::Future, not a synchronously-run body
• with_eval_context(f) — run a closure with a temporary Env built from the innermost context

async_hook submodule

The optional async-runtime seam (AsyncRuntime trait, installed by cljrs-async). Async-JIT activation is not here: the dispatcher reaches it through the calling runtime's own backend (GlobalEnv::jit_backend() → JitBackend::compile_async_arity), so a runtime without a JIT simply keeps tree-walking ^:async bodies.

---

Module builtins

The clojure.core-equivalent runtime implemented in Rust, registered into a name → fn dispatch table by builtins::register_all(&globals, ns). BOOTSTRAP_SOURCE (bootstrap.cljrs) and CLOJURE_TEST_SOURCE (clojure_test.cljrs) are the embedded Clojure sources evaluated on top of it.

Map entries

Map entries are a dedicated type, not plain 2-element vectors: seq'ing a map, find, and the map-entry constructor produce vectors tagged as entries (PersistentVector::map_entry in cljrs-value).

• (map-entry k v) / (map-entry coll) — build an entry from a key and value, or from any seqable of exactly two elements.
• (map-entry? x) — true only for real entries; (map-entry? [:a 1]) is false.
• key / val (bootstrap) — accept only real map entries and throw otherwise.

Entries otherwise behave exactly like 2-element vectors (equality, hashing, printing, nth, destructuring), and, as in Clojure, any vector derived from an entry (conj, assoc, pop, subvec, ...) is a plain vector again.

Unchecked arithmetic

Includes the unchecked-* integer arithmetic family — unchecked-add, unchecked-subtract, unchecked-multiply, unchecked-inc, unchecked-dec, unchecked-negate (and their -int aliases) — which wrap on overflow, in contrast to the checked +/-/* (which throw on overflow at the IR/compiled tiers and promote to BigInt in the tree-walk tier).

Docstrings (doc / doc-data)

register_all attaches :doc var metadata to native builtins from the BUILTIN_DOCS: &[(&str, &str)] table (in builtins.rs), keyed by the name the builtin is interned under. Not every builtin has an entry — special-form stub vars and rarely-used internals are skipped, and a builtin later redefined in bootstrap.cljrs (e.g. swap!, partition, range) carries its docstring there instead, since the Clojure-level defn/defmacro re-interns the var (see the interp module below for how def/defn/ defmacro capture docstrings into var meta). Any builtin may carry a docstring simply by adding a BUILTIN_DOCS entry; #[cfg(test)] mod doc_tests in builtins.rs asserts every entry names something actually registered, and that there are no duplicate names.

doc-data (builtin_doc_data, registered as a native fn) takes a Var (#'foo), a value carrying attached metadata (with-meta), or a bare function value, and returns {:doc <string-or-nil> :arities <vector-or-nil>}. :arities prefers :arglists var metadata when present (real parameter names, from def/defn/defmacro); otherwise it synthesizes placeholder parameter names (arg1, arg2, ...) from a native fn's Arity shape, since native fns don't carry real parameter names.

clojure.core/doc (a macro, defined in bootstrap.cljrs) wraps (var sym) + doc-data in a try/catch so (doc some-unbound-symbol) returns nil instead of throwing, and returns just the :doc string.

Reader-conditional resolution (form.rs)

The reader is platform-agnostic: it parses every branch of #?(...) / #?@(...) and hands back a FormKind::ReaderCond node. Selecting the :rust branch is therefore the job of each form-consuming boundary, and this module holds the calculations they share.

/// The `:rust` branch of a conditional's clauses, or the `:default` branch.
pub fn select_reader_cond(clauses: &[Form]) -> Option<&Form>;

/// Expand `#?`/`#?@` across a sibling slice: a non-splicing conditional
/// becomes its selected branch (or is dropped), a splicing one contributes
/// that branch's elements inline.
pub fn expand_reader_conds(forms: &[Form]) -> Vec<Form>;

/// As above, borrowing the input unchanged when it holds no conditional.
pub fn expand_reader_conds_cow(forms: &[Form]) -> Cow<'_, [Form]>;

/// A slice that gets chunked by two was left with an odd number of forms.
pub struct OddArity(pub usize);

/// Expand, then require even length. Used by every construct that chunks
/// siblings into pairs - map literals and `let*`/`loop*`/`binding` vectors,
/// in both evaluators - since a splice's contribution is branch-dependent
/// and the written parity does not decide the expanded parity.
pub fn expand_pairs(forms: &[Form]) -> Result<Cow<'_, [Form]>, OddArity>;

/// Convert a form to the value it denotes, without evaluating. Resolves
/// conditionals in every container arm. Errors on a map whose expansion has
/// odd length, and on a `#?@` with no sibling sequence to splice into.
pub fn form_to_value(form: &Form) -> EvalResult<Value>;

Callers phrase OddArity in their own words (map literal must have an even number of forms, let* binding vector must have even length, ...), so the parity rule lives here while the message stays at the boundary.

Phase B3 — shared-atom (cross-isolate, two-tier atom ADR)

shared-atom is the cross-isolate tier of the two-tier atom design in docs/async-worker-pool-plan.md. Unlike atom (isolate-local, GC-backed), its contents are promoted to a Send + Sync SharedValue (cljrs_value::shared) behind a lock-free ArcSwap, so the reference can cross the isolate boundary and be mutated concurrently:

• (shared-atom x) — construct, promoting x (non-promotable values such as closures and native resources are rejected here).
• (shared-atom? x) — predicate.
• deref / reset! / swap! / compare-and-set! — dispatch on Value::SharedAtom alongside the local atom path; writes promote, reads demote, and swap!/compare-and-set! use a single lock-free CAS with retry.

---

Module interp

Self-contained tree-walking interpreter for Clojure.

Phase: Core interpreter — implemented. no-gc region/static-sink support (Phases 4–5), blacklist integration (Phase 6), and integration tests (Phase 8) of docs/no-gc-plan.md — implemented.

Evaluates Clojure Form ASTs produced by cljrs-reader, managing lexical environments, special forms, function application, and the recur trampoline.

Allocations are scoped per function call and per loop iteration: under GC, each trampoline iteration (call_cljrs_fn, eval_loop) runs inside its own cljrs_gc::push_alloc_frame(), so that iteration's intermediates — and a recur's now-dead values — become collectable when the frame drops, instead of being pinned in ALLOC_ROOTS for the lifetime of the enclosing top-level form. The return value / recur args are moved out before the frame drops and re-rooted at the next iteration (or by the caller on return); no GC safepoint runs in the interval (GC fires only at explicit safepoints, with a one-cycle grace period — see cljrs-gc). Under the no-gc Cargo feature the same scoping is achieved with the allocation-context stack protocol (scratch regions for function/loop scopes; StaticArena for static-sink expressions). When the env module's transaction policy and InvocationGuard are active, the same tree walker denies external capabilities and routes all allocations into one invocation-lifetime region instead.

eval(form, env) -> EvalResult

Evaluate a single Form in env. Entry point for the interpreter.

eval_with_gas(form, env, credits) -> EvalResult

Evaluate a form with a cooperative execution-credit budget. Tree-walker form entries cost one credit; Tier-1 IR and JIT basic blocks use the same weighted phis + instructions + terminator approximation. Exhaustion returns EvalError::GasExhausted; ordinary eval calls remain unmetered.

This is a cooperative mechanism and currently a host API rather than a CLI or nREPL policy. Native builtins that do substantial work without re-entering the evaluator may consume fewer credits than equivalent interpreted code. Compiled code emits a checkpoint call at every basic block even when no meter is active; avoiding that always-on JIT cost requires a future metering-mode fast path.

eval_call(func_form, arg_forms, env) -> EvalResult

Evaluate a function-call form. Handles macros, native-function special cases, and user-defined CljxFn application with the recur trampoline.

eval_body(forms, env) -> EvalResult

Evaluate a sequence of forms, returning the value of the last one.

eval_loop(args, env) -> EvalResult

Evaluate a loop* form. Each iteration is scoped in its own allocation frame so intermediate allocations are freed per iteration: under GC a cljrs_gc::push_alloc_frame() that drops at the end of the iteration; under no-gc a ScratchGuard popped before the tail expression (recur args or return value).

eval_defn(args, env) -> EvalResult

Evaluate a defn form. Accepts metadata on the name ((defn ^:async f …)) and an attr-map ((defn f {:async true} …)); ^:async marks the resulting CljxFn as async. Under no-gc, wraps fn creation in StaticCtxGuard so the CljxFn object lands in the StaticArena.

Docstring / :arglists metadata (def, defn, defmacro)

eval_def, eval_defn, and eval_defmacro all recognize an optional docstring positional arg ((def name "doc" val), (defn name "doc" [..] ..), (defmacro name "doc" [..] ..)) and store it as {:doc "..."} in the resulting Var's metadata, merged with any reader/attr-map metadata via merge_meta. defn/defmacro additionally derive {:arglists (...)} from the evaluated CljxFn's parsed arities (arglists_meta, in special.rs); for defmacro the implicit &form/&env params are elided from the shown signature. This is what clojure.core/doc and doc-data (in the builtins module) read back, and what cljrs-nrepl's op_lookup surfaces to editors.

meta_form_is_async(meta: &Form) -> bool

Returns true when a ^meta form (or attr-map literal) requests :async — either the keyword shorthand ^:async or an explicit {:async true} map. fn/defn use it to set CljxFn::is_async, which env::apply::dispatch_if_async checks at call time to route through the async runtime.

Special handlers in apply.rs

Each handler evaluates its key expressions under the correct allocation context:

Handler	Static-sink guard coverage
handle_atom_call	initial value
handle_reset_bang	new value
handle_swap_call	function return value
handle_volatile	initial value
handle_vreset	new value
handle_vswap	function return value
handle_agent_call	initial value
handle_alter_var_root	function return value
handle_intern	value expression (3-arg form)

Value-level special form helpers (IR interpreter API)

The IR interpreter receives already-evaluated Vec<Value> arguments rather than &[Form] AST nodes. These public functions mirror the handle_* form-level handlers but accept pre-evaluated args, allowing the IR interpreter to implement sentinel operations without hitting the stub errors registered in clojure.core:

Function	Operation
eval_swap_bang(args, env)	swap! — apply f to atom, store result
eval_volatile(args)	volatile! — create a new volatile
eval_vreset_bang(args)	vreset! — reset volatile value
eval_vswap_bang(args, env)	vswap! — apply f to volatile value, store result
make_delay_from_fn(f, globals, ns)	make-delay — wrap zero-arg fn in a Delay
eval_alter_var_root(args, env)	alter-var-root — apply f to var root, store result
eval_vary_meta(args, env)	vary-meta — apply f to obj metadata
eval_with_bindings_star(args, env)	with-bindings* — push binding frame, call f
eval_send_to_agent(args, env)	send / send-off — dispatch action to agent
dispatch_method(method, target, args)	(.method target args…) — interop method dispatch on an evaluated target (strings, vectors, seqs)

make_lazy_seq_from_fn(f, globals, ns) (already public) creates a LazySeq from a zero-arg callable; the above make_delay_from_fn is the analogous helper for Delay.

special.rs notes

parse_arity peels primitive type hints (^long x, ^doubles a) off params into CljxFnArity::param_hints; let*/loop* binding hints are stripped via bind_pattern's Meta arm (destructure.rs); desugar_pre_post_conditions rewrites {:pre [...] :post [...]} maps into assertion forms (binding % to the return value in :post conditions); spec_element resolves a reader conditional in ANY slot of an ns require spec, namespace included, so [#?(:clj clojure.core :cljs cljs.core) :as core] reads — an option selecting no branch is dropped, a namespace selecting none is an error.

---

Module tiered

IR-accelerated evaluation. Wraps the tree-walking interpreter in interp with IR lowering and interpretation for faster function execution.

Phase: IR tier-1 interpreter — implemented.

When a Clojure function has been lowered to IR — by the warm-threshold background lowering worker (Phase 10.7, the default), eagerly at definition time via the on_fn_defined hook (CLJRS_EAGER_LOWER=1), or from a pre-built cache — calls are dispatched to the tier-1 IR interpreter. Otherwise they fall back to the tree-walking interpreter.

Lowering itself is pure Rust (cljrs_ir::lower); the lower submodule here orchestrates macro expansion (interpreter) and the Env-free lowering half.

Public API

/// Re-exports from the interp and env modules:
pub use crate::env::env::{Env, GlobalEnv};
pub use crate::env::error::{EvalError, EvalResult};
pub use crate::interp::eval::{eval, eval_with_gas};
pub use crate::env::callback::invoke;
pub use crate::env::loader::load_ns;

/// Load pre-built IR from a serialized bundle into the IR cache.
/// Walks all namespaces, matches bundle keys to runtime arity IDs.
/// Returns the number of arities loaded.
pub fn load_prebuilt_ir(globals: &Arc<GlobalEnv>, bundle: &IrBundle) -> usize;

/// IR lowering helpers (in submodule `lower`):
///
/// `lower_arity(name, params, rest, destructure_params, destructure_rest, body,
///     ns, env, is_async)` — ANF lowering only.
/// `lower_and_optimize_arity(name, params, rest, destructure_params,
///     destructure_rest, body, ns, env, is_async)` — also runs
///     region-optimization.  Both accept `is_async: bool` from the `CljxFn` and
///     propagate it to `IrFunction::is_async`.
///
/// `destructure_params: &[(usize, Form)]` carries the original destructuring
/// patterns for parameters the interpreter replaced with gensym placeholders
/// (paired with their index into `params`); `destructure_rest: Option<&Form>`
/// is the rest parameter's pattern when it is itself destructured.  Both are
/// expanded into explicit bindings in the IR prologue, so destructured-param
/// arities now lower to the IR/JIT tiers instead of falling back to the
/// tree-walker.
pub mod lower {
    pub fn lower_arity(..., is_async: bool) -> Result<IrFunction, LowerError>;
    pub fn lower_and_optimize_arity(..., is_async: bool) -> Result<IrFunction, LowerError>;
    /// Like lower_and_optimize_arity, but also returns the (ns, name) set of
    /// cross-defn externals the optimizer consulted (invalidation deps).
    pub fn lower_and_optimize_arity_tracked(..., is_async: bool)
        -> Result<(IrFunction, Vec<(Arc<str>, Arc<str>)>), LowerError>;

    // Phase 10.7 — the two halves of lowering, split for background use:
    /// Macro-expand a body on the calling thread (macros need the interpreter).
    pub fn macroexpand_body(body: &[Form], env: &mut Env) -> Vec<Form>;
    /// Env-free lowering of an already-expanded body; callable off-thread.
    /// `arity_id: Some(id)` uses defn_registry::snapshot_externals (atomic
    /// dependent recording, required off the mutator thread); `None` uses the
    /// legacy externals_for (synchronous callers record dependents themselves).
    pub fn lower_expanded_arity(name, params, rest, destructure_params,
        destructure_rest, expanded_body, ns, globals_id: u64,
        arity_id: Option<u64>, do_optimize: bool, is_async: bool)
        -> Result<(IrFunction, Vec<(Arc<str>, Arc<str>)>), LowerError>;
}

/// Cross-defn IR registry (in submodule `defn_registry`, Phase 10.5):
/// `globals_id` is `GlobalEnv::id` — a counter value, so a dropped runtime
/// never leaks its registrations to the next one built.
pub mod defn_registry {
    pub fn register_defn(globals_id: u64, ns, name, arities: Vec<(usize, bool, Arc<IrFunction>)>);
    pub fn externals_for(globals_id: u64, referenced) -> Vec<ExternalDefn>;
    pub fn record_dependents(arity_id, used);
    /// Phase 10.7: externals_for + record_dependents in one step, atomic with
    /// respect to on_redefined (holds the registry lock across the edge write).
    /// The background worker must use this — see lower_worker.rs.
    pub fn snapshot_externals(globals_id, arity_id, referenced) -> Vec<ExternalDefn>;
    pub fn on_redefined(ns, name) -> Vec<u64>;   // dependents to invalidate
    pub fn relower_pending() -> bool;            // dispatch fast-path check
    pub fn relower_marked(arity_id) -> bool;     // peek without consuming (dispatch)
    pub fn take_relower(arity_id) -> bool;       // consume (lowering worker only)
    pub fn install_invalidation_hook();          // idempotent; var-rebind hook
}

IR dispatch flow

1. GlobalEnv::call_cljrs_fn routes to tiered::apply::call_cljrs_fn when the runtime's ExecutionMode is Tiered or TieredNoJit
2. On each call, it checks globals.ir_cache().get(arity_id) for a lowered IR function
3. If cached and not async: executes via ir_interp::interpret_ir (register-file interpreter)
4. If not cached or async: counts the call (jit_state::record_interp_call, Phase 10.7 — see "Background lowering" below) and falls back to interp::apply::call_cljrs_fn (tree-walking). For ^:async functions the tree-walking path dispatches to eval_async in cljrs-async, which cooperatively yields to the Tokio LocalSet executor.
5. How IR gets into the cache:
   • Warm-threshold background lowering (default, Phase 10.7): when a function's tree-walked call count crosses ir_threshold() (default 50), the dispatch seam macro-expands its arity bodies on the calling thread and enqueues them to the cljrs-ir-lower worker, which lowers + optimizes off-thread and publishes via IrCache::store.
   • Eager lowering (opt-in, CLJRS_EAGER_LOWER=1): GlobalEnv::on_fn_defined calls ir_interp::eager_lower_fn for a tiered runtime whose tier state has reached Ir, so new fn* definitions are lowered immediately.
   • Pre-built bundles: load_prebuilt_ir — public API for embedders, called by nothing in this workspace. cljrs ir build writes the bundles it consumes. The resulting IrFunction::is_async flag matches the CljxFn::is_async attribute.
6. eval_call in interp routes Value::Fn calls through GlobalEnv::call_cljrs_fn rather than calling the tree-walker directly, so IR-cached arities are used on direct call paths too
7. JIT tier: before the IR cache, and only when the tier state is Jit (ExecutionMode::Tiered), call_cljrs_fn checks jit_state::get_native_fn(arity_id) for compiled native code and, if present, dispatches to it. call_jit_native brackets the native call with: a frame epoch (code unloading), GC roots for the caller env and args, an eval context (rt_abi bridges — rt_call, rt_load_global, the HOF bridges — dispatch through env::callback; without it they silently return nil), and an alloc frame. After the call it takes any pending exception stashed by an uncaught native (throw …) and re-raises it as EvalError::Thrown (same in try_osr_enter for OSR entries)

Background lowering & cold-IR eviction (Phase 10.7)

The default tiering pipeline is count-driven end to end:

Tier 0 tree-walk ──(ir_threshold, 50 calls)──▶ background lower ──▶ Tier 1 IR
Tier 1 IR ──(jit_threshold, 1000 calls; counter restarts at IR publish)──▶ Tier 2 JIT

• The crossing call macro-expands the fn's arity bodies on the calling thread (macros are user Clojure functions and need the interpreter), then ships a LowerRequest (plain Form data) to the cljrs-ir-lower worker. The worker is not a GC mutator: it only runs the Env-free half of lowering.
• Skipped: macros, async fns, capturing closures, bootstrap-era definitions (arity id below the watermark the runtime builder snapshots), and fns defined in builtin-source namespaces (clojure.test, clojure.string, …). Background lowering targets user code only: shipped namespaces only ever reached the IR tiers under opt-in eager lowering, and some of their patterns are known to miscompile (see TODO.md Phase 10.7 notes).
• Rebind safety: snapshot_externals records dependent edges atomically with reading the registry, and the worker is the only consumer of relower marks — after store_cached it re-peeks the mark and re-lowers (≤3 attempts) if a rebind landed mid-flight. The dispatch seam only peeks (relower_marked + lower_queued dedup) and enqueues.
• Cold eviction: Cached entries track last access; ir_cache::sweep_idle runs at the stop-the-world reclaim pass over every live runtime's cache and evicts entries idle past CLJRS_IR_CACHE_TTL (default 600 s) — deliberately colder than native code. Entries backing published native code or an in-flight compile are never evicted (deopt fallback); Unsupported markers are kept forever. Eviction drops the JitEntry (the fn can re-warm) and stales any OSR code.
• Knobs: CLJRS_IR_THRESHOLD / set_ir_threshold / --ir-threshold N (0 disables background lowering), CLJRS_IR_CACHE_TTL, CLJRS_NO_IR (kills all IR), CLJRS_EAGER_LOWER=1 (restores eager lowering — also the escape hatch for the known limitation that a long-running loop entered at Tier 0 cannot tier up mid-call, since the tree-walker has no OSR).

Per-runtime tier state (tiers)

Tiers is the Tier-1 + Tier-2 state of one runtime, owned by its GlobalEnv and reached through it:

pub struct Tiers { /* IrCache + JitState */ }

impl Tiers {
    pub fn globals_id(&self) -> u64;               // identity of the owning runtime
    pub fn ir_cache(&self) -> &IrCache;            // Tier-1 lowered IR
    pub fn jit(&self) -> &JitState;                // Tier-2 counters + native code
    pub fn handle(&self) -> Weak<Tiers>;           // for a background worker's request
    pub fn sweep(&self, now, ttl_secs) -> Vec<u64>;// TTL evict IR + drop its JIT bookkeeping
}

pub fn live() -> Vec<Arc<Tiers>>;                  // every live runtime's tier state
pub fn sweep_idle(now, ttl_secs) -> Vec<u64>;      // STW reclaim hook: sweep them all

GlobalEnv::tiers(), ::ir_cache(), ::jit(), and ::jit_backend() are the accessors dispatch uses. Two runtimes in one process never read, evict, promote, or deoptimize each other's code, and dropping one releases its IR and stales its published native code (^:async poll functions excepted — they are registered outside the epoch-tagged code cache and live for the process).

Background workers cannot hold an Arc<GlobalEnv> (it owns GcPtrs and is not Send); Tiers is Send + Sync, so a lowering or compile request carries Tiers::handle() and the worker publishes into exactly the runtime that asked — or finds it dropped and discards the result. live() exists for the one path with no runtime in hand at all: Var::bind's rebind notification.

The JIT seam (backend)

pub trait JitBackend: Send + Sync {
    fn enqueue_function(&self, tiers: Weak<Tiers>, arity_id: u64, ir: Arc<IrFunction>);
    fn enqueue_osr(&self, tiers: Weak<Tiers>, arity_id: u64, header: u32, ir: Arc<IrFunction>);
    fn mark_stale(&self, epoch: u64);
    fn take_pending_exception(&self) -> Option<Value>;
    fn deopt_sentinel(&self) -> usize;
    fn compile_async_arity(&self, callee: &Value, nargs: usize, env: &mut Env);
}

One optional-system seam, installed per runtime by cljrs_compiler::jit::install(&runtime) (JitState::install_backend). It replaces the five process-global OnceLock hooks this module used to carry (enqueue, OSR enqueue, stale-epoch, pending-exception, deopt-sentinel) plus the async-compile hook in env::async_hook: the state those hooks reached is now runtime-owned, and only the call into the compiler remains — which is unavoidable, since cljrs-compiler depends on this package.

JIT state & code unloading (jit_state)

JitState is one runtime's Tier-2 state. Public surface (methods on GlobalEnv::jit()):

pub fn install_backend(&self, backend: Arc<dyn JitBackend>);
pub fn backend(&self) -> Option<&Arc<dyn JitBackend>>;
pub fn record_interp_call(&self, arity_id) -> bool;      // Tier-0 accounting; true = snapshot+enqueue
pub fn lower_queued(&self, arity_id) -> bool;            // dedup gate for the warm/relower paths
pub fn mark_lower_queued(&self, arity_id);               // set on accepted enqueue
pub fn clear_lower_queued(&self, arity_id);              // worker re-arms after abandoning an arity
pub fn on_ir_published(&self, arity_id);                 // worker: restart counter at IR publish
pub fn evict_entry_if_cold(&self, arity_id) -> bool;     // TTL sweep: drop entry unless native/queued
pub fn stale_osr_code(&self, arity_id);                  // TTL sweep: stale published OSR entries
pub fn compile_queued(&self, arity_id) -> bool;          // TTL sweep: in-flight JIT needs the IR
pub fn pins_ir(&self, arity_id) -> bool;                 // TTL sweep: native published or compile queued
pub fn set_bootstrap_watermark(&self, w: u64);           // the runtime builder snapshots the boundary
pub fn is_bootstrap_arity(&self, arity_id) -> bool;      // bootstrap fns excluded from background lowering
pub fn record_call(&self, arity_id, ir_func, profile_args);  // bump counter + arg-type profile; enqueue when hot
pub fn arg_type_profile(&self, arity_id) -> Option<Vec<u8>>; // per-param bitmasks (PROFILE_LONG/_DOUBLE/_OTHER)
pub fn store_native_fn(&self, arity_id, ptr, epoch);     // worker publishes compiled code
pub fn get_native_fn(&self, arity_id) -> Option<(*const (), u64)>;  // (fn_ptr, epoch)
pub fn take_native_epoch(&self, arity_id) -> Option<u64>;// on redefinition: null ptr, drop entry, return epoch
pub fn stale_native_code(&self, arity_id);               // null ptr + hand epochs to the backend (10.5)
// Drop: hands every still-published epoch to the backend, so a dropped
// runtime's compiled modules are reclaimed instead of leaking in the
// process-global code cache.
pub fn take_pending_exception(&self) -> Option<Value>;   // uncaught native throw, taken at the dispatch seam

// Deoptimization (Phase 10.6):
pub fn is_deopt_result(&self, ptr: *const Value) -> bool;// dispatch seam: did the entry guard fail?
pub fn record_deopt(&self, arity_id);                    // count a guard failure; past deopt_limit():
                                                         // unpublish + stale the specialized code, ban
                                                         // the arity from re-specialization
pub fn specialization_allowed(&self, arity_id) -> bool;  // worker: may this arity be specialized?

Process-wide items in the same module — configuration and thread state, not runtime state:

pub fn set_jit_threshold(t: u32) / jit_threshold() -> u32;   // calls before compile (default 1000)
pub fn set_ir_threshold(t: u32)  / ir_threshold() -> u32;    // Tier-0 calls before background lowering
                                                             // (default 50; u32::MAX disables)
pub fn set_osr_threshold(t: u32) / osr_threshold() -> u32;   // back-edges before an OSR compile
pub fn deopt_limit() -> u32;                                 // CLJRS_JIT_DEOPT_LIMIT (default 10)
pub fn push_jit_frame(epoch) -> JitFrameGuard;   // mark a native frame live for its call
pub fn current_jit_epoch() -> Option<u64>;       // innermost native frame's epoch (closure-escape pinning)
pub fn live_epochs() -> HashSet<u64>;            // epochs with a live frame (call at STW only)
pub unsafe fn dispatch_jit_call(fn_ptr, args) -> *const Value;

Frame tracking is per thread, not per runtime: one thread can hold native frames from several runtimes, and reclamation asks whether any thread is executing a module.

call_jit_native checks is_deopt_result on every native return: a specialized function whose entry type guard failed returns the compiler's sentinel before any side effect, so the seam simply re-executes the call at Tier 1 (execute_ir) — exact interpreter semantics for the violating call.

Type profiles (Phase 10.6): record_call ORs each positional argument's type class (PROFILE_LONG / PROFILE_DOUBLE / PROFILE_OTHER) into JitEntry::arg_profile until the compile is queued; variadic arities profile only the fixed prefix (the rest-list param is padded PROFILE_OTHER so it can never be specialized). The JIT worker reads the snapshot via arg_type_profile to choose per-parameter specializations.

Each native call brackets itself with push_jit_frame(epoch) so the JIT code cache can free a superseded module only once no frame is executing it (live_epochs scanned at the stop-the-world GC safepoint).

OSR — on-stack replacement (Phase 10.4)

A single hot call containing a loop*/recur never returns to re-dispatch, so the invocation counter cannot promote it. Instead:

1. interpret_ir_with_osr (the dispatch path used by apply::execute_ir, which passes the arity ID) counts back-edges per RecurJump target. The counters are local to one execution on purpose: hot-within-one-call is exactly the case invocation tiering misses.
2. Crossing osr_threshold() calls JitState::osr_request, which enqueues (arity_id, header_block, IrFunction) on the runtime's backend exactly once.
3. The worker builds the OSR-entry variant (cljrs_ir::osr::build_osr_function), compiles it, and publishes (fn_ptr, epoch, live_ins) via store_osr_fn.
4. At each subsequent loop-header entry (after φ resolution, so the loop variables are current), the interpreter polls osr_poll; on Ready it snapshots the live-in registers and calls the native entry (try_osr_enter) — the native frame finishes the loop and the rest of the function, and its return value becomes the call's result.

OSR JitState surface (plus the process-wide set_osr_threshold / osr_threshold above):

pub fn osr_request(&self, arity_id, header, ir_func);  // idempotent compile request
pub fn osr_poll(&self, arity_id, header) -> OsrPoll;   // NotRequested | Pending | Ready(OsrSlot) | Failed
pub fn store_osr_fn(&self, arity_id, header, ptr, epoch, live_ins);  // worker publishes
pub fn mark_osr_failed(&self, arity_id, header);       // worker declines; interpreters stop polling
pub fn take_osr_epochs(&self, arity_id) -> Vec<u64>;   // on redefinition: drop entries, return epochs

With no backend installed osr_request marks the header failed immediately, so interpreters stop polling instead of waiting for a compile that will never come.

OsrSlot { fn_ptr, epoch, live_ins } carries the interpreter registers to pass (in parameter order); the transfer uses the same rooting + push_jit_frame protocol as ordinary JIT-native calls. Scratch regions opened before the loop stay open across the transfer (the OSR variant drops their RegionEnds) and unwind with the interpreter frame.

Special-form coverage in the IR interpreter

Several clojure.core entries are sentinel stubs that error unconditionally when called through the normal function-call path — the real logic lives in eval_call's special-form dispatch. ir_interp.rs handles all of them without going through the stubs:

Operation	How handled in IR
swap! (KnownFn::AtomSwap)	interp::apply::eval_swap_bang
with-bindings* (KnownFn::WithBindings)	interp::apply::eval_with_bindings_star
volatile!	dispatch_sentinel_by_name → eval_volatile
vreset!	dispatch_sentinel_by_name → eval_vreset_bang
vswap!	dispatch_sentinel_by_name → eval_vswap_bang
make-delay	dispatch_sentinel_by_name → make_delay_from_fn
alter-var-root	dispatch_sentinel_by_name → eval_alter_var_root
vary-meta	dispatch_sentinel_by_name → eval_vary_meta
send / send-off	dispatch_sentinel_by_name → eval_send_to_agent
with-out-str (KnownFn::WithOutStr)	native: push_output_capture → apply body thunk → pop_output_capture (the clojure.core var is a nil stub and must never be called)
(.method target args…) interop	dispatch_sentinel_by_name intercepts dot-prefixed CallDirect names → interp::apply::dispatch_method

Both Inst::Call (where the callee register holds a sentinel NativeFunction) and Inst::CallDirect (where the callee is named directly) are intercepted.

load_global_value additionally mirrors eval_symbol's whole-symbol lookup: when (ns, name) resolution fails, it retries "{ns}/{name}" in the defining namespace (with the clojure.core refers fallback), so slash-named builtins like Math/abs — registered in clojure.core under their full name but split by the lowerer — resolve at Tier 1 exactly as they do tree-walked. (rt_load_global in cljrs-compiler does the same for compiled code.)

---

Features

Feature	Effect
no-gc	Forwards to cljrs-gc/no-gc and cljrs-value/no-gc; switches env::gc_roots, interp::special, and interp::apply to the region/StaticArena allocation protocol

---

Dependencies

Crate	Role
cljrs-types	Span
cljrs-gc	GcPtr<T>, alloc frames, safepoints
cljrs-value	Value, CljxFn, persistent collections, shared
cljrs-reader	Form AST and Parser
cljrs-ir	IR types (IrFunction, Block, Inst, IrBundle) and lowering
cljrs-logging	tracing setup used by the lowering worker
cljrs-deps	project configuration consulted by the namespace loader
cljrs-vcs (non-WASM)	git history access for versioned namespace resolution
num-bigint, num-rational, bigdecimal, num-traits	numeric tower
rand, rpds, uuid, regex	builtin implementations
log, thiserror	diagnostics and error derivation