Jolt Clojure compiler
Hacker ApprovedShares rank 9 of 26 compilers by recommenders
People recommend Jolt as a fast Clojure runtime that builds small single-binary executables and installs quickly. Critics mostly suspect it is AI-generated, and Windows setup is hard.
People recommend Jolt as a fast Clojure runtime that builds small single-binary executables and installs quickly. Critics mostly suspect it is AI-generated, and Windows setup is hard.
22 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 18
- criticize it
- 4
- approval share
- 82%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 18 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 4.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Builds standalone executables that just work
“tried building a standalone executable for the Chess game ... and it simply worked great”
Comment from 8 Aug 2026 in “Jolt: Clojure compiler implemented with Chez Scheme” “It took me just a few minutes to install Jolt and build a native executable”
Comment from 8 Aug 2026 in “Jolt: A Clojure compiler implemented on top of Chez Scheme” “works great to build small self contained apps”
Comment from 8 Aug 2026 in “Jolt: Clojure compiler implemented with Chez Scheme” - Comment from 10 Oct 2026 in “Clojure in the age of language models”
Runs existing Clojure libraries and Ring apps
“my goal is to provide a runtime that supports existing Clojure libraries”
Comment from 11 Aug 2026 in “Jolt: Clojure compiler implemented with Chez Scheme” “I've already got enough of JVM compatibility to run Ring apps”
Comment from 17 Jul 2026 in “A Road to Lisp: Which Lisp” “I see now it just follows all of the :clj conditionals and covers everything you'd need.”
Comment from 12 Aug 2026 in “Jolt: Clojure compiler implemented with Chez Scheme” Usable for personal projects
“I find it's already quite usable for my own personal projects.”
Comment from 11 Aug 2026 in “Jolt: Clojure compiler implemented with Chez Scheme” “It just simply worked for me.”
Comment from 11 Aug 2026 in “Jolt: Clojure compiler implemented with Chez Scheme” Built on Chez Scheme
“Really cool, I see now that most all the the Racket extensions to Chez have been up-streamed which is positive for the health of both projects”
Comment from 11 Aug 2026 in “Jolt: Clojure compiler implemented with Chez Scheme” “It's clojure built on top of Chez Scheme, which is super cool.”
Comment from 17 Jul 2026 in “A Road to Lisp: Which Lisp”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Suspected of being AI-generated slop
“The website in particular uses the exact same copy-paste layout/style produced by LLMs”
Comment from 11 Aug 2026 in “Jolt: Clojure compiler implemented with Chez Scheme” “2k commits in 2 months by a single committer if not slop?”
Comment from 11 Aug 2026 in “Jolt: Clojure compiler implemented with Chez Scheme” “This appears to be vibecoded but not disclosed as such.”
Comment from 11 Aug 2026 in “Jolt: Clojure compiler implemented with Chez Scheme” - Comment from 11 Aug 2026 in “Jolt: Clojure compiler implemented with Chez Scheme”
C interop is awkward
“Jolt has a C FFI, but it's not very convenient, you have to declare each C function yourself”
Comment from 12 Aug 2026 in “Jolt: Clojure compiler implemented with Chez Scheme” “Someone tried to bind Jolt to C and then Odin, and the result is not very enjoyable.”
Comment from 2 Jul 2026 in “Announcing Box3D :: Box2D”
Other compilers people recommend
The four most recommended other compilers, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GCC | 138 | 123 | 53% | 12 | 15 yrs9 owners | — |
| Clang | 74 | 50 | 60% | 12 | — | — |
| Free Pascal compiler | 38 | 7 | 84% | 11 | — | Approved |
| GraalVM Native Image | 31 | 9 | 78% | 11 | — | Approved |
| Jolt Clojure compilerThis page | 18 | 4 | 82% | 5 | — | Approved |
What people said
29 of the 35 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Startup is fast, you get a single binary, and it runs anywhere Chez Scheme runs”
“I think Jolt has a very valid place in all of this”
“Jolt shows what's possible when you drop the JVM entirely.”
“great to have Jolt as an option as well”
“Unfortunately Windows installation of Jolt and Chez is real pain.”
“Jolt has a C FFI, but it's not very convenient, you have to declare each C function yourself”
“the author has the expertise needed to properly design the work and assess the quality of the output”
“closer to alpha software than useless slop”
“I see now it just follows all of the :clj conditionals and covers everything you'd need.”
“I would also not dismiss it as slop”
“It just simply worked for me.”
“The website in particular uses the exact same copy-paste layout/style produced by LLMs”
“I don't think "2k commits in 2 months" is enough to dismiss as slop when it's being developed by a competent Clojure dev.”
“2k commits in 2 months by a single committer if not slop?”
“You're right to be suspicious: it's slop.”
“This appears to be vibecoded but not disclosed as such.”
“I find it's already quite usable for my own personal projects.”
“my goal is to provide a runtime that supports existing Clojure libraries”
“Congrats, this is awesome!”
“Really cool, I see now that most all the the Racket extensions to Chez have been up-streamed which is positive for the health of both projects”
“this will be something I'll be trying to use immediatley”
“it's good to have even more (and more slim!) ways to run Clojure”
“It took me just a few minutes to install Jolt and build a native executable”
“tried building a standalone executable for the Chess game ... and it simply worked great”
“works great to build small self contained apps”
“it sounds like a good fit for using Clojure on something like Heroku”
“It's clojure built on top of Chez Scheme, which is super cool.”
“I've already got enough of JVM compatibility to run Ring apps”
“Someone tried to bind Jolt to C and then Odin, and the result is not very enjoyable.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.