Lingua

Multi-language desktop code runner — JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, Go, Rust, and Ruby in one offline-first Monaco-powered app. Lingua combines Monaco Editor, a project file tree, inline console output, and language-specific execution backends for both desktop and web builds. It is the multi-language answer to RunJS: the same "open, write, run" ergonomics, but with Go, Rust, Python, and Ruby as first-class citizens instead of JavaScript-only.

Marketing site: linguacode.dev — downloads, pricing, press kit, language-specific landing pages. Web app: app.linguacode.dev — the in-browser build.

The marketing site lives in a separate repo (johnny4young/lingua-marketing) and auto-deploys to linguacode.dev via Cloudflare Pages.

Pricing and licensing

Lingua is a commercial product distributed under a source-available license — see LICENSE for the full text. The repository is public so the community can read the source, audit security, and submit contributions; production, paid, hosted, redistributed, educational-at-scale, or other commercial use requires a separate commercial license from the Licensor. The public checkout and download surface is live at linguacode.dev; the rights granted by this repository remain those described in LICENSE.

Public tiers:

• Free — personal evaluation, self-learning, single-user non-commercial local use.
• Monthly ($5/month) — paid subscription unlocking the full feature set.
• Pro ($59 once) — same paid entitlements without a recurring subscription.
• Education — free, renewable, in-app verification for verified students and educators.

The public pricing summary lives at linguacode.dev/pricing (canonical surface) and mirrors docs/press-kit/pricing-one-pager.md for in-repo reference.

Who it is for

• Developers juggling JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, Go, and Rust snippets across Slack, Stack Overflow answers, and interview prep.
• Teachers and students who want a single offline-capable multi-language sandbox that runs on laptops without per-language CLI setup.
• Teams who need a lightweight, reviewable, commercial-licensed alternative to web-hosted playgrounds for proprietary code.

Current capabilities

• Desktop app (Electron + Vite + React 19 + TypeScript, packaged with electron-builder and auto-updating from GitHub Releases) and a parallel web build for browser-based usage.
• Monaco-powered editor with tabs, templates, inline execution results, magic-comment value surfacing, command palette, quick open, project-wide search, and snippet library.
• Built-in runners for JavaScript, TypeScript, Python (Pyodide), Go (compiled locally to WASM), Rust (rustc native subprocess on desktop), and Ruby (hybrid: bundled @ruby/wasm-wasi worker everywhere, system ruby subprocess on desktop when preferred).
• Validate-only modes for JSON, YAML, .env, CSV, Dockerfile, .editorconfig, .gitignore, Makefile; view-only handling for TOML and INI/config files.
• 29 focused developer-utility panels (JSON, regex, Base64/URL/UUID/hash/timestamp/JWT, color, diff, beautify/minify, case/encoding, QR, Lorem, SVG→CSS, HTML→JSX, cURL→code, YAML↔JSON, JSON↔CSV, Markdown preview, SQL formatter) reachable from the toolbar wrench and the Command Palette.
• Format-on-save via Prettier (JS/TS/JSON/CSS) plus desktop-only gofmt, rustfmt, and Python formatters (ruff preferred, black fallback).
• Curated developer fonts with a ligature toggle, theme presets with versioned JSON export/import, persisted resizable shell layout with a compact-shell drawer for narrow widths, and a What's New overlay backed by CHANGELOG.md.
• Built-in guided onboarding tour, customizable keyboard shortcuts with preset switching and JSON export/import, and lingua:// deep links for open, new, and snippet entry points.
• Commercial license-key infrastructure: Ed25519-signed offline-verifiable tokens, renderer store with active/grace/invalid states, and entitlement-based feature gating. Free includes 1 open tab, 5 saved snippets, JavaScript/TypeScript/Python/Ruby, and every single-shot developer utility; Pro unlocks unlimited tabs and snippets, Go and Rust, and the utility workflows (multi-step pipelines, history that persists across reloads, and clipboard-on-focus automation).
• Opt-in privacy-respecting telemetry and crash reporting, off by default, with an explicit allow-list redactor (never user code or file paths) and build-level kill switches.

Runtime model

• JavaScript and TypeScript run in renderer workers; Monaco diagnostics target the same ES2022 + Web Worker contract used by execution.
• Python runs through Pyodide in both the desktop app and the web build.
• Go is compiled to WebAssembly through the desktop IPC bridge and a local Go toolchain.
• Rust is compiled and executed natively through the desktop IPC bridge and a local Rust toolchain.
• Ruby is hybrid: a bundled @ruby/wasm-wasi worker runs everywhere, and the desktop app can dispatch to the system ruby instead (Settings → Editor → Ruby runtime: auto / system / wasm).
• The web build stubs Go and Rust execution because local toolchains are not available in the browser.

For deeper architecture detail and the per-capability execution-class decision, see docs/ARCHITECTURE.md and docs/CAPABILITY_MATRIX.md.

Requirements

Dependency	Version	Notes
Node.js	24.x	Required for local development, tests, and builds
pnpm	>= 11	Package manager (corepack enable picks the pinned version)
Go	>= 1.21	Required only for desktop Go execution
Rust (rustc)	stable	Required only for desktop Rust execution
Ruby	any	Optional — desktop system-Ruby mode; the bundled WASM runtime needs nothing

Quickstart

git clone https://github.com/johnny4young/lingua.git
cd lingua
pnpm install
pnpm run dev:desktop

Common commands:

pnpm run dev:web          # browser-only iteration
pnpm run dev:desktop      # real Electron app + renderer dev server
pnpm run dev:web:pro      # web build with throwaway dev license token printed
pnpm run dev:desktop:pro  # desktop build with throwaway dev license token printed
pnpm run smoke:desktop    # repeatable Electron smoke across the native runtime matrix (JS, TS, Python, Go, Rust)
pnpm run build:web        # static web build for app.linguacode.dev

Full contributor workflow — quality checks, i18n contributor flow, UI smoke against the web preview, desktop launcher flags, packaged-app smoke variants, build commands, automation/delivery — lives in docs/DEVELOPMENT.md.

End-user reference — keyboard shortcuts, lingua:// deep links, plugin manifest format, browser-only limitations, browser file access, update behavior — lives in docs/USAGE.md.

Windows contributors: enable symlinks before cloning

CLAUDE.md is a git symlink (mode 120000) that points at AGENTS.md. Linux and macOS follow it transparently. Windows needs one-time setup so git materializes it as a real symlink instead of a text file containing the word AGENTS.md:

1. Enable Developer Mode (Settings → Privacy & security → For developers → Developer Mode on).
2. git config --global core.symlinks true before git clone.

Without this, CLAUDE.md still works as a pointer — it just shows up as a regular text file containing AGENTS.md. Edit AGENTS.md in either case; never edit the symlink.

Where to read next

Contributor and operator entry points:

• docs/DEVELOPMENT.md — clone/install, dev/test/smoke/build commands, Pro testing, automation/delivery.
• docs/USAGE.md — keyboard shortcuts, deep links, plugin manifest format, browser-only limitations, update behavior.
• AGENTS.md — canonical guidance for any agent (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Aider) working in this repo. CLAUDE.md is a symlink pointing to it.
• RELEASE.md — release operator checklist (preconditions, release steps, validation gate, rollback plan).

Architecture and decision records:

• docs/ARCHITECTURE.md — process model, IPC filesystem bridge, watch-state, project lifecycle.
• docs/CAPABILITY_MATRIX.md — which execution class owns each capability today, with promotion rules.
• docs/README.md — full ADR index (build system, debugger, env vars, language packs, Tauri spike, Vim mode, runtime assets).
• src/renderer/README.md — renderer folder map, state ownership, styling rules.

Public-release and security:

• docs/PUBLIC_RELEASE_CHECKLIST.md — gates for changing the source repository visibility to public.
• docs/RELEASE_SECURITY.md — public-release security sign-off checklist.
• SECURITY.md, PRIVACY.md, CONTRIBUTING.md, THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md — public security reporting, privacy posture, contribution rules, runtime dependency notices.

Launch and product collateral:

• docs/press-kit/ — Phase 2 launch asset boilerplate (en + es) — product descriptions, pricing one-pager, founder bio, Show HN / Product Hunt / subreddit drafts.
• docs/seo-pages/ — SEO landing page scaffolds (five language-intent pages) consumed by linguacode.dev.
• docs/lessons/ — first-slice guided lesson scaffolds (en + es).

Glossary

Project-specific acronyms used throughout this repository:

• ADR — Architecture Decision Record. Markdown files under docs/ that capture the why behind a design choice (e.g. docs/RUNTIME_MODES_ADR.md).
• IPC — Inter-Process Communication. Electron's main ↔ renderer message bridge that backs the filesystem, language toolchains, and license verification. See docs/ARCHITECTURE.md.
• WASM — WebAssembly. The bytecode format used to run Go through the desktop bridge and to host the Python (Pyodide) runtime in both desktop and web builds.
• JWT — JSON Web Token. Wire shape of Lingua's offline-verifiable Ed25519-signed license tokens.
• JWK — JSON Web Key. Public-key encoding embedded at build time (VITE_LINGUA_LICENSE_PUBLIC_KEY_JWK) and used by the renderer to verify those tokens.
• SEO — Search Engine Optimization. Discoverability scaffolding for the language-intent landing pages under docs/seo-pages/, consumed by linguacode.dev.
• RL-XXX — RunLang ticket ID. Legacy prefix kept after the rename from RunLang to Lingua; planning items are tracked as RL-NNN throughout the codebase and docs.

License

Lingua is a commercial product distributed under a source-available license. The full terms live in LICENSE; the short version is: the repository is public for evaluation, contributor review, and security auditing, but production, paid, hosted, redistributed, educational-at-scale, or other commercial use requires a separate commercial license from the Licensor. The public checkout is live at linguacode.dev. Redistributing packaged binaries or competing hosted offerings is not permitted.