# vrtbl/passerine

A small extensible programming language designed for concise expression with little code.

Repository: https://github.com/vrtbl/passerine
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/passerine
Homepage: https://passerine.io
Language: Rust
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: programming-language, passerine, compiler, interpreter, vm, macros
Last push: 2026-04-22T23:20:29+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 58/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 78, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 2422, "days_push": 133, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1093, forks 39 (observed 2026-08-28T04:03:33.778348+00:00)

## What it is
Passerine is a small, extensible functional scripting language with a VM written in Rust, featuring pattern matching, structural types, fibers, and hygienic macros. It is designed to be concise and easily embeddable in Rust applications via an FFI.

## Use cases
- embed a scripting language in a Rust application
- write concise scripts with a functional language
- experiment with macro systems and language design
- prototype DSLs with syntactic extension
- learn lambda calculus and language implementation

## When to choose
- you need a lightweight embeddable scripting layer in Rust
- you want a minimal functional language with macros and pattern matching
- you are exploring programming language design

## When to avoid
- you need a production-ready, stable language
- you require static typing
- you need a large ecosystem, libraries, or long-term support

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: experimental
- function: programming-language, interpreter, compiler, parser
- domain: programming-languages, developer-tools
- platform: rust, cross-platform, cli
- tags: scripting-language, functional-language, macros, vm, embeddable, lambda-calculus, pattern-matching

## Member repositories
- vrtbl/passerine (main) score 58

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:33.778348+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 2026-08-30T08:23:02.261636+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/vrtbl/passerine (fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:33.778348+00:00, sha 8173a515f27d)
  - homepage: https://passerine.io (fetched 2026-08-29T12:50:46.711594+00:00, sha 609a4d5f9d98)
  - registry_crates: https://crates.io/api/v1/crates/passerine (fetched 2026-08-29T12:50:46.720892+00:00, sha b57e97487538)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.