docs.sheetjs.com/docz/docs/03-demos/20-cli/21-txiki.md

---
title: TxikiJS Standalone Apps
sidebar_label: txiki.js
pagination_prev: demos/desktop/index
pagination_next: demos/data/index
sidebar_custom_props:
  summary: Compiled apps powered by QuickJS and txiki.js
---

import current from '/version.js';
import Tabs from '@theme/Tabs';
import TabItem from '@theme/TabItem';
import CodeBlock from '@theme/CodeBlock';

`txiki.js` is a small runtime powered by [QuickJS](/docs/demos/engines/quickjs).

[SheetJS](https://sheetjs.com) is a JavaScript library for reading and writing
data from spreadsheets.

This demo uses `txiki.js` and SheetJS to create a standalone CLI tool for
parsing spreadsheets and generating CSV rows.

:::caution TxikiJS support is considered experimental.

Great open source software grows with user tests and reports. Any issues should
be reported to the `txiki.js` project for further diagnosis.

:::

## Integration Details

The [SheetJS Standalone scripts](/docs/getting-started/installation/standalone)
can be evaluated and consumed in TxikiJS.

The platform provides APIs for filesystem operations that differ from NodeJS:

- `tjs.readFile` reads raw data from a specified filename and returns a Promise
  that resolves to a `Uint8Array`
- `tjs.args` is an array of arguments. In the compiled program, the first value
  will be the program name and the second value will be the first argument.

The SheetJS filesystem methods ([`readFile`](/docs/api/parse-options) and
[`writeFile`](/docs/api/parse-options)) do not recognize the `txiki.js` APIs.
Fortunately, `read` and `write` directly work with `Uint8Array` data.

The following example reads and parses `pres.xlsx` in the current directory:

```js title="Parse pres.xlsx in TxikiJS"
/* read data from pres.xlsx into a Uint8Array */
const data = await tjs.readFile("pres.xlsx");

/* parse data and generate a SheetJS workbook object */
const wb = XLSX.read(data);
```

### Script Requirements

The compiler does not bundle scripts automatically. Scripts that exclusively use
web APIs, SheetJS API methods, and `tjs` API methods can be bundled and compiled.

[`esbuild`](/docs/demos/frontend/bundler/esbuild) is the recommended bundler.

For example, the following script accepts one command line argument, parses the
specified file using `tjs.readFile` and the SheetJS `read` method[^1], generates
CSV text from the first sheet using `sheet_to_csv`[^2], and prints the result:

```js title="sheet2csv.js (before bundling)"
const XLSX = require("./xlsx.full.min");

/* tjs.args[1] is the first argument to the script */
const filename = tjs.args[1];

/* read and parse file */
const data = await tjs.readFile(filename);
const wb = XLSX.read(data);

/* generate CSV of first sheet */
const ws = wb.Sheets[wb.SheetNames[0]];
const csv = XLSX.utils.sheet_to_csv(ws);

/* print to terminal */
console.log(csv);
```

## Complete Example

:::note Tested Deployments

This demo was tested in the following deployments:

| Architecture | TxikiJS   | Date       |
|:-------------|:----------|:-----------|
| `darwin-x64` | `24.12.0` | 2025-04-19 |
| `darwin-arm` | `24.12.0` | 2025-04-19 |
| `win11-x64`  | `24.12.0` | 2025-04-19 |
| `win11-arm`  | `24.12.0` | 2025-04-19 |
| `linux-x64`  | `24.12.0` | 2025-04-19 |
| `linux-arm`  | `24.12.0` | 2025-04-19 |

:::

:::caution pass

TxikiJS on Windows on ARM uses the X64 compatibility layer. It does not generate
a native ARM64 binary!

:::

0) Create a new project folder and download `txiki.js`[^3]:

<Tabs groupId="triple">
  <TabItem value="darwin-x64" label="MacOS">

```bash
mkdir sheetjs-txiki
cd sheetjs-txiki
curl -LO https://github.com/saghul/txiki.js/releases/download/v24.12.0/txiki-macos.zip
unzip txiki-macos.zip
mv txiki-macos/tjs .
chmod +x tjs
```

  </TabItem>
  <TabItem value="linux-x64" label="Linux">

```bash
mkdir sheetjs-txiki
cd sheetjs-txiki
git clone --recursive https://github.com/saghul/txiki.js --shallow-submodules
cd txiki.js
make
cp build/tjs ../
cd ..
```

  </TabItem>
  <TabItem value="win11-x64" label="Windows">

```bash
mkdir sheetjs-txiki
cd sheetjs-txiki
curl.exe -LO https://github.com/saghul/txiki.js/releases/download/v24.12.0/txiki-windows-x86_64.zip
tar xf txiki-windows-x86_64.zip
mv txiki-windows-x86_64\* .
```

  </TabItem>
</Tabs>

1) Download the test file https://docs.sheetjs.com/pres.numbers:

```bash
curl -LO https://docs.sheetjs.com/pres.numbers
```

:::note pass

In PowerShell, the command may fail with a parameter error:

```
Invoke-WebRequest : A parameter cannot be found that matches parameter name 'LO'.
```

`curl.exe` must be invoked directly:

```bash
curl.exe -LO https://docs.sheetjs.com/pres.numbers
```

:::

2) Save the [contents of the `sheet2csv.js` code block](#script-requirements)
to `sheet2csv.js` in the project folder.

```bash
curl -LO https://docs.sheetjs.com/txikijs/sheet2csv.js
```

:::note pass

In PowerShell, the command may fail with a parameter error:

```
Invoke-WebRequest : A parameter cannot be found that matches parameter name 'LO'.
```

`curl.exe` must be invoked directly:

```bash
curl.exe -LO https://docs.sheetjs.com/txikijs/sheet2csv.js
```

:::

3) Download the SheetJS Standalone script and move to the project directory:

<ul>
<li><a href={`https://cdn.sheetjs.com/xlsx-${current}/package/dist/xlsx.full.min.js`}>xlsx.full.min.js</a></li>
</ul>

<CodeBlock language="bash">{`\
curl -LO https://cdn.sheetjs.com/xlsx-${current}/package/dist/xlsx.full.min.js`}
</CodeBlock>

:::note pass

In PowerShell, the command may fail with a parameter error:

```
Invoke-WebRequest : A parameter cannot be found that matches parameter name 'LO'.
```

`curl.exe` must be invoked directly:

<CodeBlock language="bash">{`\
curl.exe -LO https://cdn.sheetjs.com/xlsx-${current}/package/dist/xlsx.full.min.js`}
</CodeBlock>

:::

4) Bundle the script:

```js
npx -y esbuild sheet2csv.js --bundle --outfile=bundle.js --platform=neutral
```

5) Compile and run `sheet2csv`:

```bash
./tjs compile bundle.js sheet2csv
./sheet2csv pres.numbers
```

The program should display the same CSV contents as the script:

```text title="Expected Output"
Name,Index
Bill Clinton,42
GeorgeW Bush,43
Barack Obama,44
Donald Trump,45
Joseph Biden,46
```

[^1]: See [`read` in "Reading Files"](/docs/api/parse-options)
[^2]: See [`sheet_to_csv` in "CSV and Text"](/docs/api/utilities/csv#delimiter-separated-output)
[^3]: When this demo was last tested, the [ZIP archive for version `24.12.0`](https://github.com/saghul/txiki.js/releases/tag/v24.12.0) was downloaded and extracted.