LLI(1)

💅 LLI(1) — the lli manual, but make it make sense

ok so real talk, bestie: this is page 1 of the LLVM manual, and it's about lli — the tool that just... runs your LLVM bitcode. No cap. Let's get into it 🫶

---

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

lli [options] [filename] [program args]

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

lli directly executes programs in LLVM bitcode format. Like, it takes your program in LLVM bitcode format and runs it — either with a just-in-time compiler or with an interpreter. Pick your fighter 🔥

Big important vibe check: lli is not an emulator. It will not execute IR of different architectures, and it can only interpret (or JIT-compile) for the host architecture. So don't come at it with some other arch's IR, it's literally not gonna happen 💀

The JIT compiler takes the same arguments as other tools, like llc, but they don't necessarily work for the interpreter. iykyk 🙈

If filename is not specified, then lli reads the LLVM bitcode for the program from standard input. Stdin girlies rise 👑

The optional args specified on the command line are passed to the program as arguments. sweet.

---

🎀 GENERAL OPTIONS 🎀

• -fake-argv0=executable — override the argv[0] value passed into the executing program. little identity crisis, but make it intentional ✨
• -force-interpreter={false,true} — if set to true, use the interpreter even if a just-in-time compiler is available for this architecture. defaults to false.
• -help — print a summary of command line options. the classic "what does anything do" button 💖
• -stats — print statistics from the code-generation passes. this is only meaningful for the just-in-time compiler, at present. so if you're interpreting, lowkey it's not gonna tell you much.
• -time-passes — record the amount of time needed for each code-generation pass and print it to standard error. time it, clock it, stan it ⏱️
• -version — print out the version of lli and exit without doing anything else. zero further commitments, honestly iconic.

---

🦋 TARGET OPTIONS 🦋

• -mtriple=target triple — override the target triple specified in the input bitcode file with the specified string. ⚠️ this **may result in a crash if you pick an architecture which is not compatible with the current system. so like, choose wisely bestie 💀
• *-march=arch* — specify the architecture for which to generate assembly, overriding the target encoded in the bitcode file. see the output of llc -help for a list of valid architectures. by default this is inferred from the target triple or autodetected to the current architecture.
• *-mcpu=cpuname* — specify a specific chip in the current architecture to generate code for. by default this is inferred from the target triple and autodetected to the current architecture. for a list of available CPUs, use: llvm-as < /dev/null | llc -march=xyz -mcpu=help
• *-mattr=a1,+a2,-a3,...* — override or control specific attributes of the target, such as whether SIMD operations are enabled or not. the default set of attributes is set by the current CPU. for a list of available attributes, use: llvm-as < /dev/null | llc -march=xyz -mattr=help

---

🧚 FLOATING POINT OPTIONS 🧚

• -disable-excess-fp-precision — disable optimizations that may increase floating point precision.
• -enable-no-infs-fp-math — enable optimizations that assume no Inf values.
• -enable-no-nans-fp-math — enable optimizations that assume no NAN values.
• -soft-float — causes lli to generate software floating point library calls instead of equivalent hardware instructions. soft launch for your floats 🍓

---

⭐ CODE GENERATION OPTIONS ⭐

• *-code-model=model* — choose the code model from:
  • default: Target default code model
  • tiny: Tiny code model
  • small: Small code model
  • kernel: Kernel code model
  • medium: Medium code model
  • large: Large code model
• -disable-post-RA-scheduler — disable scheduling after register allocation.
• -disable-spill-fusing — disable fusing of spill code into instructions.
• -jit-enable-eh — exception handling should be enabled in the just-in-time compiler.
• -join-liveintervals — coalesce copies (default=true). friendship bracelets for intervals 💖
• -nozero-initialized-in-bss — don't place zero-initialized symbols into the BSS section.
• *-pre-RA-sched=scheduler* — instruction schedulers available (before register allocation):
  • =default: Best scheduler for the target
  • =none: No scheduling: breadth first sequencing
  • =simple: Simple two pass scheduling: minimize critical path and maximize processor utilization
  • =simple-noitin: Simple two pass scheduling: Same as simple except using generic latency
  • =list-burr: Bottom-up register reduction list scheduling
  • =list-tdrr: Top-down register reduction list scheduling
  • =list-td: Top-down list scheduler
• *-regalloc=allocator* — register allocator to use (default=linearscan)
  • =bigblock: Big-block register allocator
  • =linearscan: linear scan register allocator
  • =local: local register allocator
  • =simple: simple register allocator
• *-relocation-model=model* — choose relocation model from:
  • =default: Target default relocation model
  • =static: Non-relocatable code
  • =pic: Fully relocatable, position independent code
  • =dynamic-no-pic: Relocatable external references, non-relocatable code
• -spiller — spiller to use (default=local)
  • =simple: simple spiller
  • =local: local spiller
• *-x86-asm-syntax=syntax* — choose style of code to emit from X86 backend:
  • =att: Emit AT&T-style assembly
  • =intel: Emit Intel-style assembly

---

💀 EXIT STATUS 💀

If lli fails to load the program, it will exit with an exit code of 1. Otherwise, it will return the exit code of the program it executes. so like, it's not being shady — it's just relaying the message fr fr

---

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

• llc(1)

---

🌈 AUTHOR 🌈

Maintained by the LLVM Team (https://llvm.org/). give them their flowers 💐

🎀 COPYRIGHT 🎀

2003-2026, LLVM Project

---

ok that's the whole page, no gatekeeping. go run some bitcode, you got this 💜

signing off from page 23, dated 2026-10-06 — catch you on the next LLI(1), bestie 🦋✨