Getting Started

howth is a fast JavaScript & TypeScript build tool, bundler, and dev server written in Rust.

Installation

The fastest way to install howth:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jschatz1/howth/main/install.sh | sh

See Installation for more options.

Create a TypeScript file:

// src/index.ts
const greeting: string = "Hello from howth!";
console.log(greeting);

Build it:

howth build

This transpiles all TypeScript files in your project, outputting JavaScript to the dist/ directory.

For development, use watch mode for instant feedback:

howth build --watch

By default, watch mode only transpiles (no type checking) for maximum speed. Add type checking with:

howth build --watch typecheck

Bundle your application for production:

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

This produces a single optimized bundle with tree shaking and dead code elimination.

Start a dev server with hot module replacement:

howth dev src/index.ts --port 3000

Run TypeScript files directly:

howth run src/server.ts