CLI Reference

The wax binary is the primary interface for the Wax toolchain. It supports conversion between Wax, WebAssembly Text (WAT), and WebAssembly Binary (Wasm) formats.

Usage

wax [OPTIONS] [INPUT]

Positional Arguments

• [INPUT]: Source file to convert/format. Supported extensions: .wax, .wat, .wasm.
  • If omitted, wax reads from stdin.

Options

• -o, --output FILE

  • Output file. Writes to stdout if not specified.

• -f, --format, --output-format FORMAT

  • Specify the output format.
  • Values: wax, wat, wasm.
  • Default: wasm (if not auto-detected from output filename).

• -i, --input-format FORMAT

  • Specify the input format.
  • Values: wax, wat, wasm.
  • Default: Auto-detected from input filename, or wax if reading from stdin.

• -v, --validate

  • Perform validation during conversion.
  • For Wax: Runs type checking.
  • For Wasm Text: Runs well-formedness checks.
  • Disabled by default.

• -s, --strict-validate

  • Perform strict reference validation (for Wasm Text). Overrides default relaxed validation.

• --color WHEN

  • Colorize output.
  • Values: always, never, auto.
  • Default: auto (colors enabled only if output is a TTY).

• --fold

  • Fold instructions into nested S-expressions.
  • Applies typically to Wasm Text output.

• --unfold

  • Unfold instructions into flat instruction lists.
  • Applies typically to Wasm Text output.

• --source-map-file FILE

  • Generate a source map file.

Examples

Convert a Wax file to Wasm binary:

wax input.wax -o output.wasm

Convert a Wasm Text file to Wax (decompilation):

wax input.wat -o output.wax

Format a Wax file (round-trip):

wax input.wax -f wax

Read from stdin and write to stdout:

cat input.wax | wax -f wasm > output.wasm