GoKawiildotcl
Common Lisp implementation on .NET. Lisp source is compiled to CIL (Common Intermediate Language) and runs on the .NET JIT — so the same Lisp image runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux across x86-64 and ARM64 without per-platform porting work.
Broadly conforms to the ANSI Common Lisp standard — verified against the ansi-test suite.
What dotcl is good for
Embedding Common Lisp in .NET applications. dotcl.runtime is a regular .NET library; you load it from any C# / F# / VB.NET project, evaluate Lisp code, and call back and forth.
is a regular .NET library; you load it from any C# / F# / VB.NET project, evaluate Lisp code, and call back and forth. Writing .NET code in Lisp. The dotnet: package gives direct access to .NET types: (dotnet:new "System.Text.StringBuilder") , (dotnet:invoke sb "Append" "x") , (dotnet:static "System.Math" "Sin" 1.0) . You can subclass .NET types from Lisp via dotnet:define-class — the compiler emits real .NET classes, so frameworks like MAUI, ASP.NET Core, and MonoGame just see them as ordinary subclasses.
The package gives direct access to .NET types: , , . You can subclass .NET types from Lisp via — the compiler emits real .NET classes, so frameworks like MAUI, ASP.NET Core, and MonoGame just see them as ordinary subclasses. Cross-platform CL with NuGet ecosystem access. Any NuGet package is reachable from Lisp; any Quicklisp library that doesn't rely on SBCL-only internals tends to work too (asdf, alexandria, etc. are routinely loaded).
Quick start
# One-time bootstrap: cross-compile dotcl's compiler with Roswell/SBCL. make cross-compile # Install as a `dotnet tool`-style global command. make install # REPL dotcl repl # Evaluate a form dotcl --eval " (format t \" hello, ~a~% \" (lisp-implementation-type)) " # Run a file dotcl --load my-program.lisp
After the first cross-compile, dotcl can self-host: DOTCL_LISP=dotcl make cross-compile rebuilds the compiler using dotcl itself.
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