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Show HN: Run – a CLI universal code runner I built while learning Rust

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96 points esubaalew | 1 comments | 04 Oct 25 18:34 UTC | HN request time: 0.244s | source

Hi HN — I’m learning Rust and decided to build a universal CLI for running code in many languages. The tool, Run, aims to be a single, minimal dependency utility for: running one-off snippets (from CLI flags), running files, reading and executing piped stdin, and providing language-specific REPLs that you can switch between interactively.

I designed it to support both interpreted languages (Python, JS, Ruby, etc.) and compiled languages (Rust, Go, C/C++). It detects languages from flags or file extensions, can compile temporary files for compiled languages, and exposes a unified REPL experience with commands like :help, :lang, and :quit.

Install: cargo install run-kit (or use the platform downloads on GitHub). Source & releases: https://github.com/Esubaalew/run

I used Rust while following the official learning resources and used AI to speed up development, so I expect there are bugs and rough edges. I’d love feedback on: usability and UX of the REPL, edge cases for piping input to language runtimes, security considerations (sandboxing/resource limits), packaging and cross-platform distribution.

Thanks — I’ll try to answer questions and share design notes.

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Surac ◴[04 Oct 25 20:10 UTC] No.45476300[source]▶
I am very intrested why you choose to write such a tool. i normaly have a hand full of shell scripts doing the work, but surly i have to know the used language befor i call the script. Can you explain the motivation?
replies(2): >>45476780 #>>45477665 #
esubaalew ◴[04 Oct 25 23:26 UTC] No.45477665[source]▶
The idea is similar to IPython, which provides an interactive interface for programming languages. The motivation isn't about building a massive CLI tool—it's about questioning why we need a separate REPL for each language when we could use a single command-line interface that lets us switch between languages on the fly.
replies(1): >>45478483 #
1. catlifeonmars ◴[05 Oct 25 02:44 UTC] No.45478483[source]▶
Aren’t you just describing a shell ?