Onda

Onda is an expressive and performant JIT-compiled audio programming language.

Visit the project's website to try the web compiler and get an introduction to the language.

Code example

Here is a code example for a saw oscillator processed by a resonant filter and an oversampled saturator:

import std/osc
import std/filter

params:
  freq = 110.0 {20.0, 880.0}
  cutoff = 1200.0 {40.0, 12000.0}
  resonance = 1.0 {0.1, 8.0}
  drive = 1.0 {1.0, 10.0}

def soft_clip(x):
  return tanh(x)

proc Saturator:
  params:
    amount = 1.0

  sample 4:
    out1 = soft_clip(in1 * amount)

init:
  osc = std::osc::Saw()
  filter = std::filter::Svf(cutoff = cutoff, q = resonance)
  saturator = Saturator()

block:
  filter.update_coeffs(cutoff, resonance)

  sample:
    tone = osc(freq = freq)
    out1 = saturator(filter(tone), amount = drive)

Take a look at the examples/ folder for more usage examples.

Documentation

CHANGELOG.md: release history and migration notes
docs/syntax.md: language syntax and semantics
docs/info.md: project structure and implementation notes
docs/mir.md: backend-neutral MIR and backend boundary
docs/processor-abi.md: generic processor ABI and target/artifact profiles
crates/onda_compiler_web: in-browser Onda source-to-MIR compiler API
packages/onda_wasm_compiler: packaged source-to-WebAssembly compiler and onda-wasm CLI
packages/onda_binaryen_web: current MIR-to-Wasm backend
packages/onda_processor_abi: compiler-free artifact schema, validation, and integrity helpers
packages/onda_webaudio: optional reusable Web Audio adapter
examples/web/onda_wasm_playground: editable embedded-compiler playground
examples/web/onda_wasm_aot_sample_player: precompiled Wasm sample player and AudioWorklet host
examples/native/raw_processor_object: link and call a native relocatable processor object directly

Precompiled releases

GitHub Releases provides precompiled packages for Linux x64, macOS arm64, and Windows x64. Each package includes the CLI, an Onda Run application entry, static and shared C libraries, public headers, language guide and examples. The Linux archive includes install.sh and uninstall.sh for a per-user CLI and desktop installation.

Tagged releases attach portable tarballs and publish the four public npm packages with provenance: @onda-lang/processor-abi, @onda-lang/binaryen-web, @onda-lang/webaudio, and @onda-lang/wasm-compiler.

The `onda` CLI

The CLI surface is:

onda
onda compile <input.onda>
onda lsp
onda run [input.onda] [--theme <auto|dark|light>]
onda run play <input.onda>
onda run render <input.onda>
onda daemon diagnose <input.onda>
onda daemon stdio

For a full list of all commands and their flags, run the help file via onda --help.

`onda compile`

Compiles an Onda file and optionally emits IR or an object file.

Typical uses:

syntax and semantic checking
inspect graph lowering with --dump-graph
emit backend-neutral MIR for inspection with --emit mir, versioned JSON with --emit mir-json, or compact production transport with --emit mir-messagepack
emit LLVM IR with --emit llvm-ir or --ir
emit a native object file with --emit obj

Examples:

onda compile examples/foundations/sine.onda
onda compile examples/foundations/sine.onda --emit mir
onda compile examples/foundations/sine.onda --emit mir-json --output sine.mir.json
onda compile examples/foundations/sine.onda --emit mir-messagepack --output sine.mir.msgpack
onda compile examples/processors-and-graphs/proc_gain_graph.onda --dump-graph
onda compile examples/foundations/sine.onda --emit llvm-ir
onda compile examples/foundations/sine.onda --emit obj
onda compile examples/foundations/sine.onda --target-triple aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu --emit obj

Cross-target IR and object emission is also supported:

onda compile examples/foundations/sine.onda --target-spec ./targets/arm64.toml --emit obj

`onda run`

Opens the standalone UI window. This can be used to interactively play with the live-running code. Running onda without a command opens the same window with its file picker. The empty view lets you choose the sample rate and compile block size before loading a file. Use Unload to return there and recompile with different settings.

onda
onda run examples/foundations/sine.onda

Run host selection:

egui is the default run host
--webview selects the webview run host explicitly

Useful flags:

--sample-rate
--block-size
--input-device
--output-device
--theme

`onda run play`

Runs the real-time playback/control transport without opening the standalone UI. Parameters can be set via the --set argument.

onda run play examples/foundations/sine.onda --dur 2
onda run play examples/foundations/sine.onda --forever --set freq=220
onda run play examples/buffers-fft-convolution/buffer_looper_read.onda --buffer src=sample.wav

Useful flags:

--dur or --forever
--sample-rate
--block-size
--input-device
--output-device
--set name=value
--buffer name=path

With --control-json, onda run play prints a control handshake on stdout and serves a localhost control socket for run clients.

`onda run render`

Offline render through the run pipeline. This is useful when you want to render out to a wav file without running real-time playback.

onda run render examples/foundations/sine.onda --output ./onda_out.wav --dur 5 --set freq=220

Useful flags:

--output
--dur
--sample-rate
--block-size
--set name=value
--buffer name=path

`onda daemon diagnose`

Runs daemon-backed analysis for a file and reports diagnostics.

onda daemon diagnose examples/foundations/sine.onda

`onda daemon stdio`

Starts the daemon control transport over stdio. This is intended for tool/editor integration rather than everyday manual use.

onda daemon stdio

`onda lsp`

Starts the Onda language server over stdio.

onda lsp

Current LSP support includes:

open, change, save, and close document tracking
immediate diagnostics on open/save and debounced diagnostics while editing
semantic tokens for constants, params, ports, and init-scoped variables

Updating the project version

After changing [workspace.package].version in Cargo.toml, synchronize Cargo.lock, the npm package manifests, internal package dependencies, and package-lock.json:

./scripts/sync-versions.sh

PowerShell:

.\scripts\sync-versions.ps1

Pass --check to the Bash script or -Check to the PowerShell script to verify without modifying files. CI and release workflows run this check automatically.

Wire-format versions are maintained independently in format-versions.json. The same sync command propagates them to the Rust, JavaScript, TypeScript, C, and example-facing constants.

Building `onda` from source

Initialize submodules.

git submodule update --init --recursive

Bootstrap LLVM.

Windows PowerShell:

./scripts/bootstrap-llvm.ps1

macOS/Linux:

./scripts/bootstrap-llvm.sh

Local builds use deps/llvm-bootstrap to build LLVM from source on all platforms. When CI is set, the bootstrap scripts may download a matching prebuilt LLVM package instead.

Build the CLI:

cargo build -p onda_cli --release

This produces the onda executable in target/release/.

Build the static and shared libraries if needed:

To build the C API in release mode:

cargo build -p onda_api --release

This produces the onda C API library artifacts in target/release/ along with the public header in include/onda.h. Depending on platform/toolchain, that includes the static library and the shared library import/runtime pair. On Windows, the shipped static onda.lib is built with the static MSVC CRT (/MT), so hosts linking that library should use a compatible runtime choice.

Already-compiled native processor objects do not require libonda: include include/onda_processor_abi.h, link the emitted object with the application, and call its raw entrypoints directly. The paired JSON descriptor supplies storage sizes, alignments, defaults, and interface layouts. See the native raw-object example for a complete link command.

Editor support

VSCode

The VSCode extension lives in the standalone onda-lang/onda-vscode repository. It provides:

.onda and .on language registration
builtin LSP through onda lsp
Onda: Run File for launching the onda run --webview UI directly in-editor

Neovim

The Neovim plugin lives in the standalone onda-lang/onda-nvim repository. It provides:

.onda and .on filetype detection
builtin LSP through onda lsp
:OndaRunFile for launching the standalone run window

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 355 Commits
.cargo		.cargo
.github/workflows		.github/workflows
assets		assets
cmake		cmake
crates		crates
deps		deps
docs		docs
examples		examples
include		include
packages		packages
scripts		scripts
stdlib/std		stdlib/std
targets		targets
tests		tests
ui		ui
website		website
.gitattributes		.gitattributes
.gitignore		.gitignore
.gitmodules		.gitmodules
AGENTS.md		AGENTS.md
CHANGELOG.md		CHANGELOG.md
Cargo.lock		Cargo.lock
Cargo.toml		Cargo.toml
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
format-versions.json		format-versions.json
package-lock.json		package-lock.json
package.json		package.json

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Onda

Code example

Documentation

Precompiled releases

The `onda` CLI

`onda compile`

`onda run`

`onda run play`

`onda run render`

`onda daemon diagnose`

`onda daemon stdio`

`onda lsp`

Updating the project version

Building `onda` from source

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Onda

Code example

Documentation

Precompiled releases

The onda CLI

onda compile

onda run

onda run play

onda run render

onda daemon diagnose

onda daemon stdio

onda lsp

Updating the project version

Building onda from source

Editor support

VSCode

Neovim

About

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The `onda` CLI

`onda compile`

`onda run`

`onda run play`

`onda run render`

`onda daemon diagnose`

`onda daemon stdio`

`onda lsp`

Building `onda` from source