# babashka/babashka

Native, fast starting Clojure interpreter for scripting

Repository: https://github.com/babashka/babashka
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/babashka
Homepage: https://babashka.org
Language: Clojure
License: EPL-1.0
License Family: copyleft
Topics: clojure, shell-scripting, bash, graalvm, scripting, babashka
Last push: 2026-08-26T22:05:43+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 98/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 95, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 2581, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 37, "gap_med": 17, "n_releases_24m": 28}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 4594, forks 276 (observed 2026-08-28T04:08:54.740858+00:00)

## What it is
Babashka is a native, fast-starting Clojure interpreter compiled with GraalVM native-image, designed for scripting in places where you would otherwise use bash. It ships as a self-contained binary with batteries-included libraries, a built-in task runner, and support for pods and JVM threading.

## Use cases
- replace complicated bash scripts with Clojure
- write fast-starting command-line scripts without the JVM
- run a build/task runner like make or npm scripts
- parse and transform JSON and files in shell pipelines
- automate CI tasks with a scripting language
- shell out to other CLI tools from Clojure code

## When to choose
- you know Clojure and want it for scripting instead of bash
- you need instant startup and low memory for CLI scripts
- you want a self-contained binary with no JVM installation
- you need a task runner with Clojure-based task definitions

## When to avoid
- you need full JVM Clojure with arbitrary libraries and reflection
- you want to replace your shell entirely
- you need a Clojure tutorial or learning environment for the language itself
- startup time doesn't matter and plain JVM Clojure works fine

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: stable
- function: interpreter, cli, developer-tools, workflow-automation
- domain: developer-tools, programming-languages
- platform: windows, cli, cross-platform
- tags: clojure, graalvm, shell-scripting, scripting-runtime, task-runner, bash-alternative, command-line, automation, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- babashka/babashka (main) score 98

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:54.740858+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T18:19:49.324714+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/babashka/babashka (fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:54.740858+00:00, sha b2380956a458)
  - homepage: https://babashka.org (fetched 2026-08-29T09:05:02.095581+00:00, sha ce83c1eb04a6)
  - site_page: http://book.babashka.org (fetched 2026-08-29T09:05:02.104668+00:00, sha 6058a3982dfb)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.