# mighty-gerbils/gerbil

Gerbil Scheme

Repository: https://github.com/mighty-gerbils/gerbil
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/gerbil
Homepage: https://cons.io
Language: Scheme
License: LGPL-2.1
License Family: copyleft
Topics: gerbil, gambit, scheme, gerbil-scheme
Last push: 2026-07-22T23:27:31+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 78/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 93, release rhythm 45, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3869, "days_push": 42, "days_rel": 152, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 1}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1268, forks 119 (observed 2026-08-28T04:04:11.530587+00:00)

## What it is
Gerbil is an opinionated dialect of Scheme built on the Gambit runtime and compiler, featuring a state-of-the-art macro system (native syntax-case), a full module system, an actor-based concurrency model, and an extensive standard library. It ships as an interpreter (gxi) and an optimizing native compiler (gxc) that produces static binaries for systems programming.

## Use cases
- write systems programs in scheme
- compile scheme to native static binaries
- build concurrent and distributed actor-based applications
- use advanced macros and syntax-case metaprogramming
- learn a modern scheme dialect
- embed a scheme interpreter via ffi

## When to choose
- you want a batteries-included scheme with a powerful macro and module system
- you need ahead-of-time compiled native binaries from lisp code
- you want actor-style concurrency on top of gambit's performance

## When to avoid
- you need a large ecosystem of third-party libraries or mainstream community support
- you want a beginner-friendly first programming language
- you need first-class IDE tooling comparable to mainstream languages

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: active
- function: compiler, interpreter, programming-language, concurrency
- domain: programming-languages, compilers, developer-tools
- platform: cross-platform, cli
- tags: scheme, gambit, lisp, macro-system, actor-language, systems-programming, metaprogramming, command-line, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- mighty-gerbils/gerbil (main) score 78

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:11.530587+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 2026-08-30T05:03:39.148273+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/mighty-gerbils/gerbil (fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:11.530587+00:00, sha 55119b29b751)
  - homepage: https://cons.io (fetched 2026-08-29T12:15:19.962518+00:00, sha 4da71e3f6a8b)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.