CLI Commands

The joel command-line tool provides various commands for working with JOEL.

Command Overview

joel <command> [options]

Commands

run

Run a JOEL file in interpreted mode.

joel run <file.joel>

Examples:

# Run a simple program
joel run hello.joel
 
# Run with relative path
joel run examples/hello.joel
 
# Run with absolute path
joel run /path/to/program.joel

Output:

🚀 JOEL Runtime - Mode: Interpreted

[Program output]

build

Build a JOEL file for a specific target.

joel build <file.joel> [--target <target>] [--optimize] [--debug] [--arch <arch>]

Options:

--target, -t - Target platform (default: native)
- native - Native binary (LLVM IR)
- wasm32 - WebAssembly
- evm - Ethereum Virtual Machine
- wasm-solana - Solana WASM
- ios - iOS framework
- android - Android library
- cosmos - Cosmos SDK contract
- polkadot - Polkadot/Substrate runtime
--optimize, -O - Enable optimizations
--debug, -g - Enable debug symbols and source maps
--arch <arch> - Target architecture (x86_64, arm64, riscv64)

Examples:

# Build for native
joel build app.joel --target native
 
# Build with optimizations
joel build app.joel --target native --optimize
 
# Build with debug symbols
joel build app.joel --target native --debug
 
# Build for specific architecture
joel build app.joel --target native --arch arm64
 
# Build for WebAssembly with source maps
joel build app.joel --target wasm32 --debug
 
# Build smart contract
joel build contract.joel --target evm
 
# Build optimized and debug-enabled
joel build app.joel --target native --optimize --debug
 
# Build for iOS
joel build app.joel --target ios --arch arm64
 
# Build for Android
joel build app.joel --target android --arch aarch64
 
# Build Cosmos contract
joel build contract.joel --target cosmos
 
# Build Polkadot runtime
joel build runtime.joel --target polkadot

version

Show version information.

joel version

Output:

JOEL Language v0.1.0
A polymodal programming language

Command-Line Options

Global Options

--help, -h - Show help message
--version, -V - Show version (same as joel version)

Examples

Basic Workflow

# 1. Create a file
echo '[Interpreted]
fn main() {
  print("Hello")
}
main()' > hello.joel
 
# 2. Run it
joel run hello.joel
 
# 3. Build it (when compilation is ready)
joel build hello.joel --target native

Development Workflow

# Run in interpreted mode for fast iteration
joel run app.joel
 
# Build for production
joel build app.joel --target native
 
# Build for web
joel build app.joel --target wasm32

Error Messages

File Not Found

❌ Error reading file: No such file or directory

Solution: Check the file path and ensure the file exists.

Missing Header

❌ Error: missing [Compiled] or [Interpreted] header
   Add [Interpreted] or [Compiled] at the top of your file

Solution: Add [Interpreted] or [Compiled] at the top of your JOEL file.

Runtime Error

❌ Runtime error: [error message]

Solution: Check the error message and fix the issue in your code.

Toolchain Commands

JOEL includes specialized toolchains for different domains. See the Toolchain Overview for complete documentation:

joelsql - SQL operations and database management
joelui - UI component compilation
joelctl - Container and infrastructure management
joelpkg - Package and dependency management
flow - Workflow execution and management
dstore - Decentralized storage operations
ai - AI/ML model training and inference

Getting Help

# Show help
joel --help
 
# Show version
joel version
 
# Show command help
joel run --help
joel build --help

Next Steps

joelsql - SQL Toolchain