npm install compilecat

compilecat

A JavaScript/TypeScript compiler plugin for hot-path optimizations, driven by opt-in annotations. It does function inlining, scalar-replacement of aggregates (SROA), loop unrolling, and a Closure-style simplify tier (constant folding, purity-driven pure-call elimination, dead-store removal).

Built on a Rust/oxc core. Ships as a bundler plugin (via unplugin) that optimizes each source file before bundling while keeping TypeScript. It is cross-module aware: when a file imports an @inline donor, the plugin resolves and reads the donor module, inlines across the module boundary, and drops the now-unused import. addWatchFile is wired in, so editing a donor re-transforms every consumer that inlined it.

Usage

Pick the subpath for your bundler — the options API is identical across all of them:

Bundler	Import
Rollup	compilecat/rollup
Vite	compilecat/vite
Rolldown	compilecat/rolldown
Webpack	compilecat/webpack
esbuild	compilecat/esbuild
Rspack	compilecat/rspack
Rsbuild	compilecat/rsbuild
Farm	compilecat/farm
Bun	compilecat/bun

// rollup.config.js
import compilecat from 'compilecat/rollup';

export default {
    plugins: [compilecat({ include: [/\/src\//] })],
};

// vite.config.js
import compilecat from 'compilecat/vite';

export default {
    plugins: [compilecat({ include: [/\/src\//] })],
};

// webpack.config.js
const { compilecat } = require('compilecat/webpack');

module.exports = {
    plugins: [compilecat({ include: [/\/src\//] })],
};

include scopes which module ids compilecat transforms and reads as donors (picomatch globs and/or RegExps). It's required, so node_modules is never trawled unless a package is listed explicitly.

A browser/edge wasm backend is available at compilecat/wasm.

Directives

All optimizations are opt-in via /* @* */ block comments.

@inline: inline at the call site

On a function declaration, every call within the chunk is replaced with the function body. In bundle mode the chunk is the whole tree-shaken program, so callers from other source files reach the annotated function naturally, with no cross-file resolver involved.

/* @inline */
function add(out: Vec3, a: Vec3, b: Vec3): Vec3 {
    out[0] = a[0] + b[0];
    out[1] = a[1] + b[1];
    out[2] = a[2] + b[2];
    return out;
}

function step(result: Vec3, v1: Vec3, v2: Vec3) {
    add(result, v1, v2);
}

function step(result: Vec3, v1: Vec3, v2: Vec3) {
    result[0] = v1[0] + v2[0];
    result[1] = v1[1] + v2[1];
    result[2] = v1[2] + v2[2];
}

On a call site, inlines just that call. Useful for forcing a specific call:

import { vec3 } from 'mathcat';

function step(out: Vec3, v: Vec3) {
    /* @inline */ vec3.normalize(out, v);
}

Library code from node_modules is eligible for inlining whenever it ends up in the chunk and carries (or is targeted by) a directive. The resolver isn't doing anything special for libraries because bundling already pulled the body in.

@flatten: inline every call inside this function

A caller-side bulk directive. Every resolvable call inside the annotated function's body is treated as if its call site had /* @inline */.

/* @flatten */
function step(out: Vec3, v: Vec3) {
    vec3.normalize(out, v);
    vec3.scale(out, out, 2);
}

@sroa: break an array-literal local into scalars

Scalar Replacement of Aggregates. Converts const v = [a, b, c] plus constant-index accesses (v[0], v[1], ...) into scalar locals. Useful for tuple-shaped data (vec3, quat, mat4) in hot loops.

function step(dt: number) {
    const v: Vec3 = /* @sroa */ [0, 0, 0];
    v[0] = 1 * dt;
    v[1] = 2 * dt;
    v[2] = 3 * dt;
    use(v[0], v[1], v[2]);
}

function step(dt: number) {
    let v_0 = 1 * dt;
    let v_1 = 2 * dt;
    let v_2 = 3 * dt;
    use(v_0, v_1, v_2);
}

Escape analysis bails silently if the array leaks, whether by being passed to a function, spread, indexed non-constantly, aliased, or accessed via .length.

Can also be placed on an enclosing function to opt in every qualifying declaration inside it.

SROA also scalarizes object/record locals (const v = { x, y, z } with static .x/.y/.z accesses) and typed-tuple locals (const v: Vec3 = mk()), and performs module-scratch localization. A module-level scratch buffer reused as per-call temporary storage (the crashcat/mathcat house style const _scratch = /*@__PURE__*/ [0, 0, 0], written and read inside one @optimize function) is proven safe (single-owner, killed-on-entry, non-re-entrant via a CFG must-reaching-definitions analysis) and scalarized into per-call locals, with the module const deleted. This borrows LLVM GlobalOpt's global-localization idea, fused into SROA so the buffer is never materialized as a per-call allocation.

@unroll: unroll a loop with a static trip count

/* @unroll */
for (let i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
    process(i);
}

process(0);
process(1);
process(2);

Supports for (let i = <lit>; i <(=) <lit>; i(++|+= <lit>)) { ... } and for (const x of <array literal>) { ... }. Warns and leaves the loop untouched if the trip count isn't static or the body has loop-crossing break/continue/return.

@optimize

Applies @flatten, @sroa, and @unroll. Does not apply @inline.

/* @optimize */
function step(out: Vec3, v: Vec3, dt: number) {
    const scaled: Vec3 = [0, 0, 0];
    for (let i = 0; i < 3; i++) scaled[i] = v[i] * dt;
    vec3.add(out, out, scaled);
}

@pure: assert a function is side-effect-free

compilecat runs a Closure-style purity analysis (a port of PureFunctionIdentifier) that proves most immutable-math helpers pure on its own. A call to a proven-pure function can be dropped when its result is unused, reordered, or de-duplicated, and it's emitted with a /*@__PURE__*/ marker for the downstream bundler. @pure is a developer-assertion override for cases the analysis can't see through (e.g. a helper that bottoms out in an unresolved external call you know is pure):

/* @pure */
function lerp(a: number, b: number, t: number): number {
    return externalMathHelper(a, b, t);
}

Use it sparingly. Asserting purity on a function that actually has side effects will let those effects be optimized away.

Pipeline

Each chunk that contains a compilecat directive runs through:

parse
  → normalize               (MakeDeclaredNamesUnique)
  → stamp-pure-calls        (purity analysis marks side-effect-free calls; emits /*@__PURE__*/)
  → inline-functions        (DIRECT + BLOCK inlining, FunctionArgumentInjector)
  → block-flatten           (lift the scaffolding blocks inlining emits)
  → loop-unroller
  → scalar-replace-aggregates  (incl. module-scratch localization — see `@sroa` above)
  → block-flatten           (lift the per-iteration blocks the unroller emits)
  → simplify (per-function fixpoint, ×8):
      peephole-fold-constants
      minimize-exit-points
      peephole-minimize-conditions
      inline-variables
      cleanup-residue
      peephole-remove-dead-code
      block-flatten          (lift bare blocks exposed during simplification)
      flow-sensitive-inline-variables   (CFG-based)
      dead-assignments-elimination      (CFG-based)
  → remove-unused-code      (drop bindings/imports left unused after inlining)
  → strip-directives        (remove the authored /* @* */ markers)
  → regenerate

Everything is gated: only constructs carrying a directive (and their subtrees), plus the directive-free consumers an @inline was inlined into, are ever rewritten. The rest of the file is left byte-identical.

Some of the optimization passes (Rust, under rust/crates/compilecat_core/src/passes/) are functional ports of corresponding jscomp/*.java files from Google Closure Compiler. Others, notably @unroll and @sroa, diverge. See NOTICE.

Plugin options

The same options apply to every adapter:

compilecat({
    include: string | RegExp | (string | RegExp)[],   // REQUIRED. picomatch
                                                       //  globs and/or RegExps
    exclude?: string | RegExp | (string | RegExp)[],  // additional skips
    sourcemap?: boolean,  // emit source maps. default true
    debug?: boolean,      // per-build timing + counter breakdown. default false
})

include is required and has no implicit default. It bounds both the files that get transformed and the donor modules that may be read and inlined, so node_modules is never trawled unless a package is listed explicitly (e.g. ['**/src/**', '**/node_modules/mathcat/**']). Under rolldown the scope test runs in Rust and out-of-scope files never enter the JS plugin handler at all; other bundlers apply the filter in JS. An in-scope file that calls an in-scope @inline function is always processed, even when it carries no directive of its own.

// e.g. only transform engine code; everything else (app code,
// node_modules, etc.) is invisible to compilecat.
compilecat({
    include: ['src/engine/**'],
})

Acknowledgements

Heavily inspired by unplugin-inline-functions.

Attribution

Some of the optimization passes under rust/crates/compilecat_core/src/passes/ are ports of corresponding files from the Google Closure Compiler, licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0. See NOTICE for required attribution. Compilecat itself is MIT-licensed (see LICENSE).