Introduction to Turbo

A compiled, type-safe programming language with JavaScript's developer experience, Rust's performance, and a modern built-in toolchain.

What is Turbo?

Turbo compiles directly to machine code using Cranelift (default) or LLVM (optional). No interpreter, no VM, no garbage collector. Programs start instantly and run at native speed. It features strong static typing with type inference, generics, traits, and algebraic data types -- all while keeping a clean, approachable syntax.

Key Features

• Native compilation -- JIT via turbolang run, AOT via turbolang build
• Type-safe -- Generics, traits, pattern matching, Result/Optional types
• Thread-based concurrency -- spawn, await, channels, mutex
• Small, honest core -- Turbo keeps the compiler focused on a general-purpose language. Agent/tool workflows will ship in a separate turbo-agent library after 1.0, not as compiler keywords
• Modern toolchain -- built-in test runner, formatter, REPL, LSP, package manager
• Tiny binaries -- ~55 KB for a hello world, no runtime dependencies

A Quick Taste

fn fib(n: i64) -> i64 {
    if n <= 1 {
        n
    } else {
        fib(n - 1) + fib(n - 2)
    }
}

fn main() {
    let mut i = 0
    while i <= 15 {
        print(fib(i))
        i += 1
    }
}

Who is Turbo for?

• Developers who want native performance without Rust's complexity
• Teams that want native-speed tooling today with a core small enough to stay stable
• Anyone who wants a modern language with batteries included
• Systems programmers who appreciate clean, expressive syntax

Performance

Benchmarked on Apple Silicon (fib(40), recursive):