Stator

Stator is an experimental JavaScript engine written in Rust, designed to be embedded in browser-like environments such as Chromium via a stable C FFI layer.

Architecture

┌──────────────────────────────────────────┐
│           Chromium / Embedder            │
│   (C++ content layer, Node.js, etc.)     │
└───────────────────┬──────────────────────┘
                    │  C ABI  (stator.h)
┌───────────────────▼──────────────────────┐
│              stator_ffi                  │
│  cdylib / staticlib — opaque C handles   │
│  stator_isolate_create / _gc / _destroy  │
└───────────────────┬──────────────────────┘
                    │  Rust rlib
┌───────────────────▼──────────────────────┐
│             stator_core                  │
│  Heap · GC · Objects · Parser · IR · VM  │
└──────────────────────────────────────────┘

Additional crates:

Crate	Type	Purpose
stator_core	rlib	Engine internals (heap, GC, IR, VM)
stator_ffi	cdylib + staticlib	Stable C API for embedders
st8	bin	Interactive JavaScript shell (like V8's d8)
stator_test262	bin	Test262 conformance harness runner

Requirements

Tool	Minimum version
Rust (stable)	1.85 (edition 2024)
Cargo	bundled with Rust

Build

# Build all crates
cargo build

# Build in release mode
cargo build --release

The C FFI artifacts are written to:

• target/release/libstator_ffi.a — static library (Linux / macOS)
• target/release/libstator_ffi.so — shared library (Linux)
• target/release/stator_ffi.lib / stator_ffi.dll — Windows equivalents

Test

cargo test

st8 CLI

st8 is the Stator command-line shell, analogous to V8's d8. It provides script execution, a REPL, and debugging utilities once the interpreter is functional.

# Build the shell
cargo build --bin st8

# Run the shell (placeholder output until interpreter is wired up)
cargo run --bin st8

Expected output:

st8: Stator JavaScript shell (not yet implemented)

Embedding example

See examples/mini_browser for a minimal C++ application that demonstrates how Chromium's content layer would create and destroy isolates via the C FFI API.

Roadmap

See the open issues and project board for the current roadmap and planned milestones.

License

Stator is distributed under the MIT License.