CLI Reference

Elide supports multiple sub-commands, similar to Git.

Usage

Syntax:

 Usage:
    or:  elide info|help|discord|bug... [OPTIONS]
    or:  elide srcfile.<js|ts|...> [OPTIONS]
    or:  elide js|node|deno [OPTIONS] [FILE] [ARG...]
    or:  elide js|node|deno [OPTIONS] [--code CODE]
    or:  elide run|repl|serve [OPTIONS] [FILE] [ARG...]
    or:  elide run|repl|serve [OPTIONS] [--code CODE]
    or:  elide run|repl [OPTIONS]
    or:  elide run|repl --js [OPTIONS]
    or:  elide run|repl --language=[JS] [OPTIONS] [FILE] [ARG...]
    or:  elide run|repl --languages=[JS,PYTHON,...] [OPTIONS] [FILE] [ARG...]

Manage, configure, and run polyglot applications with Elide

Parameters:
      [FILE]      Source file to run.
      [ARG...]    Arguments to pass

Options:
  -h, --help      Show this message and exit.
  -V, --version   Print version information and exit.

Commands:
  info                 Show info about the current app and environment
  help, bug, issue
                       Report an issue or bug, find help for using Elide
  run, r, serve, repl
                       Run a polyglot script, server, or interactive shell
  pkl
                       Run the Pkl command-line tools
  discord              Open or show a Discord invite link

Exit Codes:
  0   Successful program execution.
  1    Generic failure (terminal).
  2    Exception in user code.

Runner Commands

run, r, repl: Run a script file or a snippet of code; if no code is given, start an interactive REPL session. Elide will select an appropriate language if given a clearly identifiable source file (Python for .py, Ruby for .rb, etc.).
serve: Alias to run a server in any language; Elide will block until the server exits.
python: Alias to run some Python. Equivalent to elide run --python ....
ruby: Alias to run some Ruby. Equivalent to elide run --ruby ....
js: Runs a file. Equivalent to elide run --javascript .... Note that JavaScript is the default language engine.

Utility Commands

install: Install dependencies for an Elide project; this includes all supported ecosystems by default.
info: Show info about the current installation of Elide.
discord: Open an invite to Elide's Discord server.
help: Show documentation on various topics.
bug, issue: File an issue or a feature request for Elide.

Global Options

Describe what each option is used for:

-h, --help: Show help text for any command.
-v, --version: Show the installed version of Elide and exit.
--verbose: Activate verbose logging.
-d, --debug: Activate debug logging. Caution: Debug-level logging can be very verbose.

Last modified: 15 March 2025