Snapfire Compiler (snapfirec)

A bespoke, high-performance typescript to browser build tool written in Rust.

Snapfire Compiler replaces the traditional Node.js build chain (TypeScript, Vite/Rollup, PostCSS, Babel) with a single binary. It is designed to compile TypeScript libraries into browser-native ES Modules and standard CSS without requiring a package.json or node_modules folder.

Philosophy

• No Node.js: The build process should not require a JavaScript runtime.
• Browser Native: Output files are ES Modules ready to be imported directly by browsers (<script type="module">).
• Standards Compliant: Respects tsconfig.json and .browserslistrc.
• Opinionated: Includes specific transforms (like import rewriting) to make the "TypeScript to Browser" workflow seamless.

Features

• TypeScript Compilation: Uses SWC to strip types and output modern JavaScript.
• CSS Processing: Uses LightningCSS to flatten nested CSS, handle vendor prefixing, and minify output.
• Import Rewriting: Automatically rewrites relative imports (e.g., import './state') to include extensions (import './state.js'), which is required for native browser modules.
• Console Stripping: Optional flags to strip console.log and console.debug statements from the output using AST transformations.
• Targeting: Reads .browserslistrc to determine CSS transpilation targets.

Installation

Since this is a local toolchain, install it from the source:

# Inside the compiler directory
cargo install --path .

Usage

Run the compiler pointing at your project root. It will look for a tsconfig.json to determine input directories and output paths.

snapfirec --root ./example

Inspect the example/dist directory for final output.

CLI Arguments

Configuration

TypeScript

snapfirec reads the compilerOptions.outDir and include arrays from your tsconfig.json.

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "outDir": "dist",
    "target": "es2020"
  },
  "include": ["src"]
}

CSS Targeting

To ensure your CSS works in specific browsers (and to control how nesting is flattened), add a .browserslistrc file to your project root.

last 2 versions
not dead
> 0.2%

Transforms

Import Rewriting

TypeScript allows importing files without extensions, but browsers throw 404s. snapfirec parses the AST and rewrites these paths automatically.

Input (src/index.ts):

import { state } from './state';

Output (dist/index.js):

import { state } from "./state.js";

Console Stripping

When using --strip-log or --strip-debug, the compiler removes the specific console statement entirely, ensuring clean production builds without leaving empty lines or semi-colons.

Development & Testing

This project uses integration tests to validate the CLI and compiler logic.

# Run the test suite
cargo test

The tests create temporary directories, generate fixture files, run the compiler, and assert on the actual file system output.

License

This project is licensed under the Mozilla Public License 2.0. See the LICENSE file for details.