nub

nub bundles the tools you already run a dozen times a day into one fast binary: it runs TypeScript files, executes your package scripts, fetches and runs packages from npm, installs dependencies, and manages Node versions. Written in Rust, it's pitched as a faster drop-in for tsx, npx, pnpm run, and pnpm install all at once. MIT-licensed, free, no accounts.

There's nothing to host or operate. You install one binary and it replaces a handful of separate tools. The speed claims are real on paper: roughly 3x faster file startup than tsx, much faster script dispatch than pnpm run, and pnpm-compatible installs. It also blocks postinstall scripts by default and checks dependencies against the osv.dev vulnerability database, which is a nice touch most runners skip.

Solo: worth a try if your script and install times annoy you. Small teams: same, but pin a version so everyone runs the same toolchain. Large teams: be cautious. This is a young project trying to replace five mature tools, and consolidating your whole dev workflow onto one new binary is a bet on its maintenance.

The catch: it is early, and "all-in-one" means a single point of failure for running, installing, and version-managing your project. When it breaks, it breaks everything at once, and you are leaning on a much smaller maintainer base than pnpm or Node itself.