Vercel Labs Open-Sources ScriptC, an AOT Native Compiler for TypeScript

Vercel Labs has open-sourced ScriptC, an experimental compiler that converts TypeScript and JavaScript into native machine code, readable C, LLVM IR, and WebAssembly without requiring Node.js or a V8 runtime. The project addresses longstanding pain points of TypeScript deployments, including cold-start latency, large binary sizes, and high baseline memory usage. ScriptC uses the official TypeScript compiler for parsing and type checking, then progressively lowers the abstract syntax tree through multiple compiler tiers. Developers can inspect intermediate compilation stages using the --emit flag, which exposes outputs ranging from typed JSON IR to native assembly. Standard Node.js APIs such as node:http are compiled directly to native system calls, enabling binaries that start in microseconds with minimal memory overhead.