Documentation

Getting Started with RunMat

Get up and running with RunMat in minutes. This guide will walk you through installation, basic usage, and your first interactive session.

Installation

Linux & macOS
curl -fsSL https://runmat.org/install.sh | sh
Windows
iwr https://runmat.org/install.ps1 | iex
More Installation Options

Your First RunMat Session

1Start the Interactive REPL

Open your terminal and start RunMat:

$ runmat
RunMat v0.0.1 by Dystr (https://dystr.com)
High-performance MATLAB/Octave runtime with JIT compilation and GC
JIT compiler: enabled (Cranelift optimization level: Speed)
Garbage collector: "default"
No snapshot loaded - standard library will be compiled on demand
Type 'help' for help, 'exit' to quit, '.info' for system information
runmat>
2Try Basic Calculations

Start with simple arithmetic and variables:

runmat>
x = 5
ans = 5
runmat>
y = 3.14
ans = 3.14
runmat>
result = x * y + 2
ans = 17.7
3Work with Matrices

Create and manipulate matrices using familiar MATLAB syntax:

runmat>
A = [1, 2, 3; 4, 5, 6]
ans = [1 2 3; 4 5 6]
runmat>
B = A * 2
ans = [2 4 6; 8 10 12]
runmat>
C = A + B
ans = [3 6 9; 12 15 18]
4Create Your First Plot

Generate beautiful plots with GPU acceleration:

runmat>
x = [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
ans = [0 1 2 3 4 5]
runmat>
y = [0, 1, 4, 9, 16, 25]
ans = [0 1 4 9 16 25]
runmat>
plot(x, y)
[Interactive plot window opens]
Interactive window with zoom, pan, and rotate controls

Running MATLAB Scripts

Execute .m Files

Run existing MATLAB/Octave scripts directly:

# Run a script file
runmat script.m
# Run with specific options
runmat run --jit-threshold 100 simulation.m

Most MATLAB and GNU Octave scripts will run without modification. Check our compatibility guide for details.

Jupyter Notebook Integration

1Install RunMat as a Jupyter Kernel

Make RunMat available as a kernel in Jupyter notebooks:

runmat --install-kernel
RunMat Jupyter kernel installed successfully!
Kernel directory: ~/.local/share/jupyter/kernels/runmat
One-time setup that works with existing Jupyter installations
2Start Jupyter and Select RunMat

Launch Jupyter and create notebooks with the RunMat kernel:

# Start Jupyter Notebook
jupyter notebook
# Or Jupyter Lab
jupyter lab
# Then select "RunMat" when creating a new notebook
Full MATLAB syntax support with 150x faster execution than GNU Octave
3Verify Installation

Check that the RunMat kernel is properly installed:

jupyter kernelspec list
Available kernels:
python3 /usr/local/share/jupyter/kernels/python3
runmat ~/.local/share/jupyter/kernels/runmat

If you don't see RunMat listed, ensure Jupyter is installed and try running the install command again.

Next Steps

Learn the Fundamentals

Dive deeper into RunMat's features and capabilities.

How RunMat Works
Explore Examples

See RunMat in action with real-world examples.

Need Help?

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