---
title: 'Using `d8`'
description: 'd8 is V8’s own developer shell.'
---
[`d8`](https://crsrc.org/c/v8/src/d8/) is V8’s own developer shell.

`d8` is useful for running some JavaScript locally or debugging changes you have made to V8. [Building V8 using GN](/docs/build-gn) for x64 outputs a `d8` binary in `out/x64.optdebug/d8`. You can call `d8` with the  `--help` argument for more information about usage and flags.

## Print to the command line

Printing output is probably going to be very important if you plan to use `d8` to run JavaScript files rather than interactively. This can be achieved using `console.log`:

```bash
$ cat test.js
console.log('Hello world!');

$ out/x64.optdebug/d8 test.js
Hello world!
```

`d8` also comes with a global `print` function that does the same thing. However, `console.log` is preferred over `print` since it works in web browsers as well.

## Read input

Using `read()` you can store the contents of a file into a variable.

```js
d8> const license = read('LICENSE');
d8> license
"This license applies to all parts of V8 that are not externally
maintained libraries.  The externally maintained libraries used by V8
are:
… (etc.)"
```

Use `readline()` to interactively enter text:

```js
d8> const greeting = readline();
Welcome
d8> greeting
"Welcome"
```

## Load external scripts

`load()` runs another JavaScript file in the current context, meaning that you can then access anything declared in that file.

```js
$ cat util.js
function greet(name) {
  return 'Hello, ' + name;
}

$ d8
d8> load('util.js');
d8> greet('World!');
"Hello, World!"
```

## Pass flags into JavaScript

It’s possible to make command-line arguments available to your JavaScript code at runtime with `d8`. Just pass them after `--` on the command line. You can then access them at the top-level of your script using the `arguments` object.

```bash
out/x64.optdebug/d8 -- hi
```

You can now access an array of the arguments using the `arguments` object:

```js
d8> arguments[0]
"hi"
```

## More resources

[Kevin Ennis’s D8 Guide](https://gist.github.com/kevincennis/0cd2138c78a07412ef21) has really good information about exploring V8 using `d8`.

Background of the name `d8`: very early on, V8 had a “[sample shell](https://crsrc.org/c/v8/samples/shell.cc)”, whose purpose was to demonstrate how V8 could be embedded to build a JavaScript shell. It was intentionally minimalist, and was simply called “shell”. Soon after, a “developer shell” was added with more convenience features to aid developers in their daily work, and it needed a name too. The original reason why “d8” was chosen as a name is lost to history; it caught on because “eveloper” is 8 omitted characters, so “d8 shell” makes sense as an abbreviation, and also fits in nicely with “V8” as the project name.