kipferl build

kipferl build packages a Python script for macOS or Linux. The default universal mode produces one executable containing the loader, Rust-hosted PocketPy runtime, and transformed application. The target machine does not need Kipferl, Python, Rust, Cargo, libc, or musl installed.

kipferl build app.py -o app
./app

Runtime profiles

Kipferl analyzes static imports and selects one of two prebuilt runtimes. This is profile-based tree shaking: optional Rust dependency trees are removed at compile time, while users still get a fast build without installing a compiler.

The measurements above use the same minimal application and the v0.6 release profile. Exact size varies by target and source payload.

The core profile includes JSON, CSV, XML, INI/configparser, argparse, collections, filesystem/path APIs, subprocess, signals, logging, tui, and the rest of the dependency-light runtime surface. These imports select the full profile:

Kipferl chooses the full profile when it sees __import__, importlib, exec, eval, a relative import, or syntax it cannot resolve safely. A conservative fallback makes the result larger, never knowingly incomplete. The build output shows the selected profile and every reason for choosing full.

✓ Runtime profile full (complete compatibility)
  Full runtime: sqlite3 requires the SQLite capability

Use --full-runtime as an escape hatch for imports hidden behind application logic or generated at runtime:

kipferl build app.py -o app --full-runtime

Targets

kipferl build app.py -o app-macos --target macos-aarch64
kipferl build app.py -o app-intel --target macos-x86_64
kipferl build app.py -o app-linux --target linux-x86_64
kipferl build app.py -o app-linux-arm --target linux-aarch64

Cross-builds download signed-release components once and verify their SHA-256 checksums before packaging. Linux artifacts are statically linked with musl and do not depend on a target system libc.

Other modes

kipferl build app.py -o app --mode executable
kipferl build app.py -o app.py --mode single

--full-runtime only applies to universal builds because the other modes do not embed a runtime.