Appwire

Live REPL for Node.js — evaluate code inside your running process without restarting.

appwire(ipc:main.ts) > $users = await $app.get(UserService).findAll()
[{ id: 1, email: '[email protected]' }, ...]  18ms

appwire(ipc:main.ts) > $users[0].email
'[email protected]'  0ms

appwire(ipc:main.ts) > .timeit 20 await $app.get(PrismaService).user.count()
42
  runs: 20  avg: 4ms  min: 3ms  max: 8ms

appwire(ipc:main.ts) > .doc $app.get(AuthService)
  AuthService
  Methods:
    login(dto)
    logout(userId)
    validateToken(token)
  Properties:
    jwtService
    usersService

Install

npm install -g appwire

Usage

cd your-project
appwire                          # entry auto-detected from package.json
appwire --entry src/main.ts      # explicit entry
appwire --entry apps/backend/    # directory — entry detected inside

Persist the entry with .appwirerc in your project root:

{ "entry": "src/main.ts" }

Framework Adapters

Optional. Wire your DI container into $app.

NestJS — no import needed. The bootstrap intercepts NestFactory.create and wires $app to the DI container automatically.

Plain Node

import { startAppwireAgent } from 'appwire'

startAppwireAgent({ context: { db, config, redis } })

REPL Commands

| Command | Description | | -------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------- | | .timeit [N] <expr> | Time expression. N runs shows avg/min/max. | | .doc <expr> | Inspect constructor name, methods, and properties. | | .services | List DI services / context keys. | | .vars | List session variables assigned with $name = expr. | | .reload | Restart the app and reconnect. | | .editor | Multi-line mode — Ctrl+D to run, Ctrl+C to cancel. | | .history | Show last 20 entries. | | .exit | Quit. |

Eval Context

| Variable | Description | | --------- | -------------------------------------------------------- | | $app | DI container (NestJS) or context object (plain Node) | | $env | process.env | | $fetch | Global fetch (Node.js 18+) | | $reload | Evict a module from require.cache and re-require it | | require | CJS require resolved from the app's working directory |

$-prefixed variables assigned during a session persist across evals and tab-complete automatically. Use .vars to list them.

MCP server

appwire-mcp exposes Appwire as an MCP server so Claude Code, Cursor, Zed, and Cline can evaluate code in your running app.

appwire-mcp
APPWIRE_ENTRY=src/main.ts appwire-mcp

Tools: evaluate, list_services, ping.

How it works

appwire
  └── reads package.json → detects entry → spawns app
        └── app starts with --require bootstrap.cjs
              ├── VM context: $app, $env, $fetch, $reload, require
              ├── console.* intercepted → streamed to REPL
              └── IPC channel open → waiting for eval requests

appwire REPL
  └── readline → sends { id, code, timeout }
        └── bootstrap evaluates in VM context
              └── returns { id, type, value, duration }

Bootstrap is a self-contained CJS bundle — no external deps, safe to --require into any Node process.

Security

• APPWIRE=1 gates the IPC channel. appwire sets it on spawn; your normal process never has it.
• IPC channel is process-local — only the parent appwire process can send messages.

License

MIT