Getting Started

howth is a complete JavaScript/TypeScript toolchain — runtime, build system, test runner, bundler, package manager, and dev server — in a single Rust binary.

Instead of stitching together tsc + jest + webpack + nodemon + npm, you use one tool that covers the entire development lifecycle. A persistent background daemon keeps everything warm, so every command after the first is near-instant.

Installation

The fastest way to install howth:

curl -fsSL https://howth.run/install.sh | sh

See Installation for more options.

Run TypeScript directly

No ts-node, no tsx, no configuration:

howth run server.ts

This executes your script in a native V8 runtime with 85% Node.js API coverage. HTTP servers use hyper under the hood. fs, crypto, child_process, streams — all work out of the box.

Build your project

Transpile TypeScript to JavaScript:

howth build

SWC-powered transpilation: 1.2ms cold, 0.1ms warm. Content-addressed caching means only changed files rebuild.

Watch Mode

For development, use watch mode for instant feedback:

howth build --watch

Run tests

howth test

Tests run in a warm V8 runtime inside the daemon. 500 TypeScript test files transpile in parallel across all CPU cores, load from memory (no temp files), and execute immediately. 29x faster than node --test, 2.7x faster than bun test at 10,000 tests.

Bundle for production

howth bundle src/index.ts -o dist/bundle.js

Tree shaking, dead code elimination, code splitting on dynamic imports, CSS bundling, and minification.

Install packages

howth install

Package management with lockfile support, integrity verification, and offline caching.

Dev Server

Start a dev server with hot module replacement:

howth dev src/index.ts --port 3000

What's Next

• Architecture — How the daemon, V8 runtime, and IPC work together
• Installation — All installation methods
• CLI Reference — Full command reference
• Node.js API Compatibility — Supported Node.js APIs