Piston
A high performance general purpose code execution engine.
---
---
# About
Piston is a high performance general purpose code execution engine. It excels at running untrusted and
possibly malicious code without fear from any harmful effects.
It's used in numerous places including:
* [EMKC Challenges](https://emkc.org/challenges),
* [EMKC Weekly Contests](https://emkc.org/contests),
* [Engineer Man Discord Server](https://discord.gg/engineerman),
* [I Run Code (Discord Bot)](https://github.com/engineer-man/piston-bot) bot as well as 1300+ other servers
and 100+ direct integrations.
To get it in your own server, go here: https://emkc.org/run.
# Public API
- Requires no installation and you can use it immediately.
- Reference the Versions/Execute sections below to learn about the request and response formats.
When using the public Piston API, use the base URL:
```
https://emkc.org/api/v1/piston
```
#### GET
```
https://emkc.org/api/v1/piston/versions
```
#### POST
```
https://emkc.org/api/v1/piston/execute
```
> Important Note: The Piston API is rate limited to 5 requests per second. If you have a need for more requests than that
and it's for a good cause, please reach out to me (EngineerMan#0001) on [Discord](https://discord.gg/engineerman)
so we can discuss potentially getting you an unlimited key.
# Getting Started
### Host System Package Dependencies
- Docker
- Docker Compose
- Node JS
#### After system dependencies are installed, clone this repository:
```sh
# clone and enter repo
git clone https://github.com/engineer-man/piston
```
#### Installation
- docker-compose up
#### CLI Usage
- `cli/execute [language] [file path] [args]`
# Usage
### CLI
```sh
lxc/execute [language] [file path] [args]
```
### API
To use the API, it must first be started. Please note that if root is required to access
LXC then the API must also be running as root. To start the API, run the following:
```
cd api
./start
```
For your own local installation, the API is available at:
```
http://127.0.0.1:2000
```
#### Versions Endpoint
`GET /versions`
This endpoint will return the supported languages along with the current version and aliases. To execute
code for a particular language using the `/execute` endpoint, either the name or one of the aliases must
be provided.
```json
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json
[
{
"name": "awk",
"aliases": ["awk"],
"version": "1.3.3"
},
{
"name": "bash",
"aliases": ["bash"],
"version": "4.4.20"
},
{
"name": "c",
"aliases": ["c"],
"version": "7.5.0"
}
]
```
#### Execute Endpoint
`POST /execute`
This endpoint requests execution of some arbitrary code.
- `language` (**required**) The language to use for execution, must be a string and supported by Piston (see list below).
- `source` (**required**) The source code to execute, must be a string.
- `stdin` (*optional*) The text to pass as stdin to the program. Must be a string or left out of the request.
- `args` (*optional*) The arguments to pass to the program. Must be an array or left out of the request.
```json
{
"language": "js",
"source": "console.log(process.argv)",
"stdin": "",
"args": [
"1",
"2",
"3"
]
}
```
A typical response upon successful execution will contain the `language`, `version`, `output` which
is a combination of both `stdout` and `stderr` but in chronological order according to program output,
as well as separate `stdout` and `stderr`.
```json
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json
{
"ran": true,
"language": "js",
"version": "12.13.0",
"output": "[ '/usr/bin/node',\n '/tmp/code.code',\n '1',\n '2',\n '3' ]",
"stdout": "[ '/usr/bin/node',\n '/tmp/code.code',\n '1',\n '2',\n '3' ]",
"stderr": ""
}
```
If a problem exists with the request, a `400` status code is returned and the reason in the `message` key.
```json
HTTP/1.1 400 Bad Request
Content-Type: application/json
{
"message": "Supplied language is not supported by Piston"
}
```
# Supported Languages
`python`,
# License
Piston is licensed under the MIT license.