a vs REPL

a-Shell is a complete local terminal emulator, allowing to run most Unix commands on your iOS device. You can transfer files using scp and curl, edit them with vim and ed, process them using grep, awk and sed. You can work with git repositories using lg2.  Most commands are compiled for iOS native Arm64 format, making them fast and well integrated with the BSD Unix that powers iOS/iPadOS. a-Shell includes Python, Lua, Perl, JavaScript, C, C++ for programming and TeX (texlive 2025, with Tikz and LuaTeX) for text processing. There are also multiple network utilities: nslookup, ping, whois, ifconfig... Type help for help, help -l to get the full list of commands. a-Shell can be controlled from Shortcuts: run commands in order, process files in a-Shell, get the results as text or files, transfer files to other apps... a-shell uses iOS 13+ “multiple windows” ability, so you can run multiple shells at the same time, with different commands, in different directories. You can edit a file in one window with vim and process it in the other with python. Compile your C or C++ programs to webAssembly using clang or clang++, and execute the resulting binary. A complete webAssembly SDK is included (WASI-libc). a-Shell is the complete version. If you need a smaller app, and you don't need a C compiler, a TeX engine, or numpy and matplotlib, there is a-Shell mini.

REPL is a native code runner for Python and JavaScript — built for the AI era. When your favorite AI gives you code, where do you test it? REPL lets you paste code directly from AI conversations, run it instantly, and copy the results back. No laptop required. FEATURES - Native Python 3.11 — Real CPython running locally on your device, not a web interpreter - JavaScript Engine — Powered by iOS JavaScriptCore - Persistent State — Variables survive between runs, like a true REPL - Share Sheet — Send code from any app directly to REPL - History — Access your last 50 code runs - Smart Parsing — Automatically extracts code from markdown fences - Offline — Everything runs locally, no internet needed - Dark Mode — Easy on the eyes BUILT FOR AI WORKFLOWS Copy code from ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or any AI assistant. Paste into REPL. Tap Run. See results. Copy output back to your conversation. Iterate faster than ever. TECHNICAL DETAILS Python: Full CPython 3.11 interpreter embedded natively JavaScript: Apple's JavaScriptCore engine Storage: Code history saved locally Privacy: No data leaves your device