Appwire — Live App REPL for Node.js

Run code inside your running app. No restarts. No debug endpoints.

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

appwire(ipc:main.ts) > $users[0].email
'alice@example.com'  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)

---

Inspect live state

Read env vars, in-memory caches, active connections, and feature flags while the app runs.

Call services directly

$app.get(UserService).findAll() returns the real service instance — no HTTP layer, no test harness.

Benchmark in context

.timeit 100 expr times anything against real data with real DI. Numbers reflect production conditions.

Save results as variables

$x = expr stores any result for the session. Tab-completes. Listed by .vars.

---

How it works

Appwire has two parts that meet at an IPC channel:

• Bootstrap — a self-contained script injected into your app via --require. Opens an IPC channel, sets up a VM context ($app, $env, $fetch, $reload, require), and intercepts console.*.
• REPL — the appwire binary connects over IPC, sends code to evaluate, and streams results and logs back.

Your app runs normally. Appwire sits alongside it.

---

Quickstart

npm install -g appwire
cd your-project
appwire

Appwire detects your entry point from package.json. If it can’t:

appwire --entry src/main.ts        # explicit file
appwire --entry apps/backend/      # directory — entry detected inside

Or add a .appwirerc to your project root to avoid repeating --entry:

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

---

Framework Adapters

Adapters wire your framework’s DI container into $app. Without one, you still get $env, $fetch, and require.

NestJS

app.module.ts

export class AppModule {}

$app.get(ServiceName) resolves any injectable. .services lists the full DI container.

Plain Node

import { startAppwireAgent } from 'appwire'

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

Everything in context is available by name in the REPL. .services lists the keys.

---

Session variables

Assign any result to a $-prefixed variable — it persists for the rest of the session:

appwire > $users = await $app.get(UserService).findAll()
[{ id: 1, email: 'alice@example.com' }, ...]  18ms

appwire > $users[0].email
'alice@example.com'  0ms

appwire > $svc = $app.get(UserService)
UserService {}  0ms

appwire > $svc.findById(1)
{ id: 1, email: 'alice@example.com' }  4ms

Variables tab-complete automatically and are listed by .vars.

---

Security

• Agent only activates under NODE_ENV=development. A no-op in production regardless of how the process starts.
• IPC channel is process-local. Only the parent appwire process can send messages. No network exposure.

---

Learn more

IPC mode

Entry detection, .appwirerc, TypeScript runtimes, auto-reconnect. → IPC mode guide

MCP server

Use appwire from Claude Code, Cursor, Zed, or Cline. → MCP server guide

CLI reference

All dot-commands, flags, eval context variables, and session variables. → CLI reference