Shards
The facts below are what the maker publishes about Shards, checked and dated. Our editors have not written about it yet.
Plans and prices
From Shards's own pricing page, checked 12 Oct 2026.
| Plan | Price | What it gives you |
|---|---|---|
| Crystal / Shards | Free | No paid product plans are listed; corporate sponsorship starts at $5,000/month |
The facts
Each one read from Shards's own pages, with the date it was checked.
What it does
- C bindings
- Crystal can call C library functions natively without runtime overhead.checked 12 Oct 2026
- C interoperability
- Crystal supports bindings to C libraries and calls library functions natively.checked 12 Oct 2026
- Commands
- Available commands include build, check, init, install, list, prune, update, and version.checked 12 Oct 2026
- Commercial support
- Corporate sponsorship tiers start at $5,000/month, with partnership models discussed by contacting the project.checked 12 Oct 2026
- Concurrency
- Crystal uses green threads called fibers, which communicate through channels.checked 12 Oct 2026
- Crystal language
- Crystal is a general-purpose, object-oriented compiled language with Ruby-inspired syntax, static type checking, and type inference.checked 12 Oct 2026
- Dependency configuration
- Shards reads project dependencies from a shard.yml file.checked 12 Oct 2026
- Dependency sources
- Shards fetches dependency source code from the repositories specified in the project configuration.checked 12 Oct 2026
- Distribution model
- The official site describes Shards as a distributed dependency manager without a centralized repository.checked 12 Oct 2026
- Governance
- Crystal is governed by a steering council, which works to maintain the quality and stability of the language, compiler, standard library, and related projects.checked 12 Oct 2026
- Installation
- Crystal packages and installation options are listed for Linux, macOS, Windows, Android, and other systems; Shards is usually distributed with Crystal or available as a separate package.checked 12 Oct 2026
- Integration
- The install page lists an official GitHub Actions integration using crystal-lang/install-crystal@v1.checked 12 Oct 2026
- License
- The Crystal site states that the language is licensed under Apache License 2.0.checked 12 Oct 2026
- Package configuration
- The homepage shows dependencies specified by repository and version in shard.yml.checked 12 Oct 2026
- Project governance
- Crystal is an open-source project led by a core team under the guidance of a steering council.checked 12 Oct 2026
- Project type
- Crystal is an open-source, general-purpose, object-oriented compiled language with Ruby-inspired syntax and static type checking.checked 12 Oct 2026
- Purpose
- Shards is Crystal’s dependency manager for managing dependencies for Crystal projects and libraries.checked 12 Oct 2026
- Reproducible installs
- Shards writes resolved versions or Git commits to shard.lock so installs can use the same dependency versions again.checked 12 Oct 2026
- Standard library
- Crystal’s standard library includes libraries intended to help developers start projects right away.checked 12 Oct 2026
- Support
- The project directs users to its community forum and Discord for help.checked 12 Oct 2026
- What it is
- Shards is a distributed dependency manager for Crystal libraries, with no centralized repository.checked 12 Oct 2026
The company
- Maker
- The website says the Crystal language was born and raised at Manas.Tech.checked 12 Oct 2026
Where it runs
- Supported platforms
- The install page lists Linux, macOS, and Windows, and lists Android installation through community-maintained Termux packages.checked 12 Oct 2026
- Windows status
- Windows support is a preview and is described as not yet complete, but largely usable.checked 12 Oct 2026
