CLI Reference

Transpile

zntc <file.ts>                      # → stdout
zntc <file.ts> -o <out.js>          # → file
zntc <dir/> --outdir <out/>         # recursive directory
zntc - < input.ts                   # stdin

Bundle

zntc --bundle <entry.ts>                               # → stdout
zntc --bundle <entry.ts> -o out.js                     # → file
zntc --bundle <entry.ts> --splitting --outdir dist     # code splitting
zntc --bundle <entry.ts> --preserve-modules --outdir dist  # per-module (library)
zntc --bundle <entry.ts> --plugin zntc.config.js        # JS plugin

App Builder

zntc dev [root]             # index.html-based dev server
zntc build [root]           # HTML rewrite + hashed assets → dist/
zntc preview [outdir]       # serve built files only

The default app layout is index.html, public/, src/main.ts(x), and .env*. zntc build uses <script type="module" src> as bundle entries and rewrites CSS url(), HTML asset URLs, and %ENV% tokens, and injects modulepreload links for static split chunks. zntc dev uses the same HTML/env/public prepare step and updates stylesheets for CSS edits without a full page reload.

Option	Description
`--entry-html <file>`	HTML entry file (default: `index.html`)
`--public-dir <dir\|false>`	public copy directory or disabled
`--base <path>`	HTML/CSS asset URL prefix
`--mode <name>`	env/config mode (`dev`: `development`, `build`: `production`)
`--env-prefix <list>`	exposed env prefix CSV (default: `VITE_,ZNTC_`)
`--env-dir <dir>`	directory for `.env*` files
`--spa-fallback[=file]`	in `preview`, fall back route-like 404 requests to `index.html` or the given file
`--jsx*`	JSX runtime (`--jsx`, `--jsx-dev`, `--jsx-import-source`, `--jsx-factory`, `--jsx-fragment`). When unset, the app root `tsconfig.json` `jsx` / `jsxImportSource` is used

zntc dev / zntc build resolve the JSX runtime in this order: CLI --jsx* options → app root tsconfig.json (compilerOptions.jsx / jsxImportSource) → default classic (React.createElement). Non-React apps such as preact/solid only need "jsx": "react-jsx", "jsxImportSource": "preact" in tsconfig.json for both dev and build to work.

If the app root contains postcss.config.{js,mjs,cjs,json} or .postcssrc*, ZNTC automatically applies it to CSS. In zntc dev, original CSS files and PostCSS dependency / dir-dependency messages are watched and CSS-only edits are sent as stylesheet HMR updates. Tailwind v4 works via @tailwindcss/postcss. CSS Modules (.module.css) in app mode are transformed into scoped class maps with default exports and valid named exports. .scss / .sass files are compiled to CSS before PostCSS when the optional sass dependency is installed.

React Native Initializer (`@zntc/init`)

This is a separate npx entry point that adds ZNTC scripts and config to an existing React Native CLI project. Expo project creation/initialization is currently out of scope.

npx @zntc/init
npx @zntc/init --help

Usage: zntc-init [react-native] [options]

Overlay ZNTC onto an existing React Native CLI project.

Options:
  --root <dir>               Project root (default: cwd)
  --platform <ios|android>   Default platform for the start script (default: ios)
  --zntc-version <range>     Version range for @zntc packages (default: latest)
  --package-manager <pm>     Install command hint: bun, npm, pnpm, or yarn
  --no-metro-fallback        Do not add Metro fallback scripts
  --force                    Overwrite an existing zntc.config.ts
  --dry-run                  Print planned changes without writing files
  --help, -h                 Show this help message

Option	Description
`--root <dir>`	Project root. Defaults to the current directory
`--platform <ios\|android>`	Default RN platform for the `start` script. Defaults to `ios`
`--zntc-version <range>`	Version range for `@zntc/core` and `@zntc/react-native`
`--package-manager <bun\|npm\|pnpm\|yarn>`	Install command hint printed after initialization
`--no-metro-fallback`	Do not add Metro fallback scripts
`--force`	Overwrite an existing `zntc.config.ts`
`--dry-run`	Print planned changes without writing files
`--help`, `-h`	Show help

I/O

Option	Description
`-o, --out-file <path>`	Output file path (the JS wrapper also accepts `--outfile` as alias)
`--outdir <path>`	Output directory (required for dir input / splitting / preserve-modules)
`--outbase=<dir>`	Base dir for computing output paths
`--out-extension:.js=<ext>`	Change output extension (e.g. `.mjs`)
`--clean`	Clear outdir before building

Format / Platform

Option	Description
`--format=esm\|cjs\|iife\|umd\|amd`	Module format (default: `esm`)
`--platform=browser\|node\|neutral\|react-native`	Target platform
`--rn-platform=ios\|android`	RN sub-platform (`.ios.`/`.android.` extensions)
`--target=<spec>`	ES target: `es2015`–`esnext` or engine versions (`chrome80,safari14`)
`--browserslist=<query>`	Browserslist query as the ES downlevel target (`"defaults"`, `"last 2 versions, not dead"` — an alternative to `--target`)
`--runtime-polyfills=auto\|usage\|entry\|off`	Inject core-js runtime API polyfills. `auto`/`usage` use graph usage
`--runtime-target=<query>`	core-js polyfill Browserslist target. Repeatable (`ios_saf 12`)
`--core-js=<version>`	core-js version used by core-js-compat
`--global-name=<name>`	IIFE export name

React Native bundle (Metro) compat

zntc --bundle --platform=react-native accepts the standard react-native bundle (Metro CLI) flags as a dropin. Commonly used:

Option	Description
`--bundle-output=<path>`	Bundle output path (same as `-o`; fallback when `-o` not given)
`--sourcemap-output=<path>`	Source map output path (implies sourcemap when set)
`--source-map-url=<url>`	Value for `//# sourceMappingURL`
`--assets-dest=<dir>`	Asset copy destination in production builds (iOS 1x/2x/3x, Android `res/`)
`--bundle-encoding=<utf8\|utf16le\|ascii>`	Bundle file encoding (default `utf-8`)
`--reset-cache`	Invalidate the cache on startup
`--max-workers=<n>`	Parallel worker count — alias of `--jobs`
`--rn-project-root=<dir>`	RN preset projectRoot (defaults to cwd; set for monorepo roots)
`--watchFolders=<a,b>` / `--sourceExts=<a,b>`	Metro camelCase forms — forwarded to the RN preset (distinct from `--watch-folder`)
`--sourcemap-sources-root=<dir>` / `--sourcemap-use-absolute-path` / `--no-interactive`	Metro compat options
`--asset-catalog-dest=<dir>` / `--unstable-transform-profile=<name>` / `--transform-option=<k=v>` / `--resolver-option=<k=v>`	Accepted but currently ignored (Metro graph-bundler only)

Full table + behavior: React Native guide

Minify

Option	Description
`--minify`	Enable all three (shortcut)
`--minify-whitespace`	Whitespace/semicolons/newlines only (debuggable)
`--minify-syntax`	`true`→`!0`, paren removal, constant folding
`--minify-identifiers`	Shorten local identifiers
`--keep-names`	Preserve function/class `.name`
`--charset=utf8`	Preserve non-ASCII verbatim (parser only accepts `utf8`)
`--ascii-only`	Non-ASCII → `\uXXXX` (asymmetric — `--charset=ascii` is not accepted)
`--quotes=double\|single\|preserve`	String quote style
`--line-limit=<n>`	Wrap long output lines at safe token boundaries (`0` disables wrapping)

Source Maps

Option	Description
`--sourcemap`	External `.js.map` with `sourceMappingURL` comment (linked, default)
`--sourcemap=linked`	Explicit linked mode (#2152) — same as above
`--sourcemap=inline`	Inline data URL
`--sourcemap=external`	External file, no comment
`--sourcemap-debug-ids`	Sentry debugId support
`--sources-content=false`	Omit `sourcesContent`
`--source-root=<path>`	`sourceRoot` field

Transform / Replace

Option	Description
`--define:KEY=VALUE`	Global replace (e.g. `process.env.NODE_ENV` → `"production"`)
`--drop=console`	Remove `console.*` calls
`--drop=debugger`	Remove `debugger` statements
`--drop-labels=DEV,TEST`	Remove whole labeled statements for matching labels
`--inject:<path>`	Auto-inject import (shim)
`--pure:CALL`	Register a pure call pattern (for example `--pure:React.createElement`)
`--ignore-annotations`	Ignore tree-shaking annotations such as `/* @__PURE__ */` and `sideEffects`

JSX

Option	Description
`--jsx=classic\|automatic\|automatic-dev`	JSX runtime
`--jsx-dev`	`--jsx=automatic-dev` shortcut
`--jsx-factory=<fn>`	Classic factory (default: `React.createElement`)
`--jsx-fragment=<fn>`	Classic Fragment
`--jsx-import-source=<pkg>`	Automatic import source (default: `react`)
`--jsx-in-js`	Allow JSX parsing in `.js` files
`--jsx-side-effects`	Preserve unused JSX expressions as side-effectful

Per-file pragma comments

Per-file comments override that file’s JSX settings (same as esbuild/TypeScript/Babel). Precedence: file pragma > tsconfig / CLI options > defaults. // line comments work too.

/** @jsx h */ — classic factory (= --jsx-factory)
/** @jsxFrag Fragment */ — classic fragment (= --jsx-fragment)
/** @jsxRuntime automatic|classic */ — runtime mode (= --jsx)
/** @jsxImportSource preact */ — automatic import source (= --jsx-import-source)

@jsx / @jsxFrag only take effect when the effective runtime is classic (the automatic runtime doesn’t use a factory). E.g. a project on React (jsx: react-jsx) can have one file use preact by adding just /** @jsxImportSource preact */ — that file alone uses preact/jsx-runtime.

TypeScript

Option	Description
`-p, --project <path>, --tsconfig-path <path>`	tsconfig.json path/directory
`--experimental-decorators`	Legacy decorator (`__decorateClass`)
`--emit-decorator-metadata`	Emit decorator metadata (requires `experimentalDecorators`, JS-wrapper-only)
`--use-define-for-class-fields=false\|true`	Class field semantics
`--verbatim-module-syntax`	Preserve TS `verbatimModuleSyntax` imports/exports
`--tsconfig-raw=<json>`	Inline tsconfig JSON string, compatible with esbuild `tsconfigRaw`

Flow

Option	Description
`--flow`	Flow type stripping (auto-detected via `@flow` pragma)

Bundle-specific

Option	Description
`--bundle`	Enable bundle mode
`--splitting`	Code splitting (requires `--outdir`)
`--no-splitting`	Disable splitting from config at the CLI layer
`--preserve-modules`	Per-module output (library build)
`--preserve-modules-root=<dir>`	Root for output structure
`--inline-dynamic-imports`	Absorb dynamic-import targets into the entry chunk (Rollup `inlineDynamicImports`, #2185)
`--output-exports=<mode>`	CJS/UMD entry export shape — `auto\|named\|default\|none` (Rollup `output.exports`, #2159)
`--entry-names=<pattern>`	Entry name pattern (`[name]`, `[hash]`)
`--chunk-names=<pattern>`	Chunk name pattern
`--asset-names=<pattern>`	Asset name pattern
`--loader:.ext=type`	Loader by extension (`file\|dataurl\|base64\|text\|binary\|copy\|empty\|json\|css\|js\|ts\|jsx\|tsx`)
`--metafile` / `--metafile=<path>`	Build meta JSON (stdout or file)
`--analyze`	Bundle analysis report (printed to stderr). Pair with `--metafile=<path>` to also write JSON to disk; upload it at /analyze/
`--legal-comments=<mode>`	License comments: `none\|inline\|eof\|linked\|external` (`linked`/`external` currently fall back to `eof`)
`--packages=external`	Treat all bare package imports as external
`--banner:js=<text>`	Prepend text (the bare `--banner=` form is JS-wrapper-only)
`--footer:js=<text>`	Append text (the bare `--footer=` form is JS-wrapper-only)
`--intro=<text>`	Prepend wrapper-internal bundle text (JS-wrapper-only — native parser does not accept it)
`--outro=<text>`	Append wrapper-internal bundle text (JS-wrapper-only — native parser does not accept it)
`--global:FROM=TO`	Map an IIFE/UMD external specifier to a global variable name
`--global-identifier=<name>`	Reserve a global identifier during scope hoisting (repeatable)
`--polyfill=<path>`	Run-on-startup polyfill module path (repeatable, resolved to absolute path)
`--run-before-main=<path>`	Module to execute right before the entry module (repeatable, resolved to absolute path)
`--public-path=<url>`	Asset URL prefix
`--shim-missing-exports`	Shim missing exports with `undefined`

Resolve

Option	Description
`--external <pkg>` / `--external=<pkg>`	Exclude from bundle (repeatable)
`--alias:FROM=TO`	Import path alias
`--resolve-extensions=<exts>`	Extension lookup order (e.g. `.ios.ts,.ts,.js`)
`--main-fields=<fields>`	package.json field order (e.g. `react-native,browser,main`)
`--conditions=<list>`	Add package exports conditions from a CSV list (for example `prod,react-native`)
`--node-paths=<list>`	Additional bare-specifier lookup paths from a CSV list
`--preserve-symlinks`	Don’t resolve symlinks

Watch / Dev Server

Option	Description
`-w, --watch`	Watch for file changes (incremental rebuild)
`--watch-json`	NDJSON event output (for external HMR integration)
`--watch-delay=<ms>`	Debounce delay
`--watch-folder=<dir>`	Add a directory to watch roots (Metro `watchFolders` compatible, resolved to absolute path, repeatable)
`--watch-include=<glob>`	Whitelist glob for watchFolders scanning (repeatable)
`--watch-exclude=<glob>`	Exclude glob for watchFolders scanning (repeatable)
`--dev`	Enable dev mode (turn on dev-only behavior such as HMR runtime injection)
`--serve [dir]`	Static file server (default: `.`)
`--port <n>`	Server port
`--host [addr]`	Binding address
`--strict-port`	Fail instead of falling through to the next port when the requested port is busy
`--certfile <path>`	HTTPS certificate file (`preview`/serve)
`--keyfile <path>`	HTTPS private key file (`preview`/serve)
`--open`	Auto-open browser
`--proxy /api=http://host:port`	API proxy

Dev server external interfaces: /sse/events (SSE build events), /reset-cache (Control API), /mcp (Model Context Protocol — for LLM agents like Claude Code).

Plugins / Execution

Option	Description
`--plugin <path>`	JS/TS plugin or config file
`--jobs=<n>`	Parallel thread count
`--config <path>`	Use an explicit `zntc.config.*` instead of auto-discovery
`--workspace-config <path>`	Use an explicit `zntc.workspace.*` instead of auto-discovery
`--workspace <name>`	Select one workspace entry

Diagnostics / Logging

Option	Description
`--log-level=<level>`	`silent\|error\|warning\|info\|debug\|verbose`
`--log-limit=<n>`	Max diagnostics shown
`--profile=<list>`	Collect profile categories from a CSV list (`all`, `parse`, `transform`, etc.)
`--profile-level=<level>`	Profile detail level: `summary\|detailed\|per-module\|per-pass`
`--profile-format=<format>`	Profile output: `table\|tree\|json\|csv`
`--tokenize[=false]`	Print scanner tokens instead of generated code
`--tokenize-format=<format>`	Token output format: `text\|json`
`--stop-after=<phase>`	Debug option to stop after a compiler phase (`scan\|parse\|semantic\|transform\|codegen`)
`--test262 <dir>`	Run the Zig Test262 runner
`--allow-overwrite`	Explicitly permit an output path to overwrite an input file. Blocked by default.
`-h, --help`	Show help

Benchmark (`zntc bench`)

A subcommand that runs the requested phases N times and prints mean/median/p95/p99/stddev/min/max statistics. Use baseline save/compare for before/after optimization analysis.

Option	Description
`--phase=<list>`	Profile categories to measure as a CSV (required, e.g. `parse,transform`). `all`/`none` are not allowed
`--iterations=<n>`	Iteration count (default: 100, must be ≥ 1)
`--warmup=<n>`	Warmup runs before measured runs (default: 10)
`--save=<path>`	Save the run as a baseline JSON
`--compare=<path>`	Compare against an existing baseline JSON
`--format=<fmt>`	Output format — `table\|tree\|json\|csv` (default: `table`)
`--profile-level=<level>`	Profile detail level (`summary\|detailed\|per-module\|per-pass`)

zntc bench --phase=parse,transform --iterations=200 --warmup=20 src/large.ts
zntc bench --phase=parse --save=baseline.json src/main.ts
zntc bench --phase=parse --compare=baseline.json src/main.ts