babashka.nrepl

The nREPL server from babashka as a library, so it can be used from other sci-based CLIs.

Sci is available here: https://github.com/babashka/sci

Usage

To start a server, call babashka.nrepl.server/start-server!. To stop a server call babashka.nrepl.server/stop-server!

Starting a Server

Before you start a server you will need to create a sci context:

(require '[sci.core :as sci])
(require '[sci.addons :as addons])

(def opts (-> {:namespaces {'foo.bar {'x 1}}} addons/future))
(def sci-ctx (sci/init opts))

A sci context is derived from options as documented in sci.core/eval-string and contains the runtime state of a sci session. This context is re-used over successive REPL invocations.

To start an nREPL server in your project, call babashka.nrepl.server/start-server!. The call takes two arguments, your initial sci context and some options including the IP address to bind to, the port number and optional debug and quiet flags. E.g.:

(babashka.nrepl.server/start-server! sci-ctx {:host "127.0.0.1" :port 23456})
;; Started nREPL server at 127.0.0.1:23456

If :debug is set to true, the nREPL server will print to stdout all the messages it is receiving over the nREPL channel.

If :debug-send is set to true, the server will also print the messages it is sending.

if :quiet is set to true, the nREPL server will not print out the message "starting nREPL server at...". If not specified then :quiet defaults to false, and the message will be printed.

If :port is not specified, it defaults to 1667.

If :host is not specified, it defaults to 0.0.0.0 (bind to every interface).

If :xform is not specified, it defaults to babashka.nrepl.server.middleware/default-xform. See the middleware docs for more info.

Options can contain a :describe map which will be merged in with the response for the :describe op.

If no options hashmap is specified at all, all the defaults will be used. Thus the following is a valid way to launch an nREPL server.

(babashka.nrepl.server/start-server! sci-ctx)
;; Started nREPL server at 0.0.0.0:1667

Stopping a Server

Pass the result you received from start-server! to stop-server! to shut down the server.

(->
  (babashka.nrepl.server/start-server! sci-ctx)
  (babashka.nrepl.server/stop-server!))
Started nREPL server at 0.0.0.0:1667
nil

Parsing an nREPL options string

Use babashka.nrepl.server/parse-opt to parse strings like:

(babashka.nrepl.server/parse-opt "localhost:1667")
;;=> {:host "localhost", :port 1667}
(babashka.nrepl.server/parse-opt "1667")
;;=> {:host nil, :port 1667}

You can pass the return value of parse-opt to start-server!:

(babashka.nrepl.server/start-server!
    sci-ctx
    (babashka.nrepl.server/parse-opt "localhost:23456"))

Middleware

Babashka's nrepl server supports middleware for customizing, augmenting, and extending the server's default behavior. If you'd like to add logging, extra nrepl operations, or other extensions, check out the middleware documentation.

Tips and Tricks

Blocking after launching

Often you will want to launch the server and then block execution until the server is shutdown (at which point the code will continue executing), or ctrl-C is pressed (at which point the process will exit). This can be achieved as follows:

(babashka.nrepl.server/start-server! sci-ctx {:host "127.0.0.1"
                                              :port 1667})
@(promise)

Complaints about clojure.main/repl-requires

Connecting to the nREPL from CIDER gives:

;; nREPL:
clojure.lang.ExceptionInfo: Could not resolve symbol: clojure.main/repl-requires [at line 1, column 42]

This is because some nREPL clients use clojure.main/repl-requires to find a list of automatic requires to run at the beginning of the nREPL. Simply supply a value in you sci bound namespace for this value:

(-> sci-ctx
    (assoc-in [:namespaces 'clojure.main 'repl-requires]
        '[[clojure.repl :refer [dir doc]]])
    sci.addons/future
    sci.core/init
    babashka.nrepl.server/start-server!)

Authors

The main body of work was done by Michiel Borkent (@borkdude). Addition rework and some added functionality was done by Crispin Wellington (@retrogradeorbit). Middleware support added by Adrian Smith (@phronmophobic).

License

The project code is Copyright © 2019-2020 Michiel Borkent

It is distributed under the Eclipse Public License 1.0 (http://opensource.org/licenses/eclipse-1.0.php)