---
title: Learn MatchBox
summary: Ten short lessons from your first script to a native executable, with a live playground on every page.
icon: phosphor-duotone:graduation-cap
tags: [course]
---

MatchBox is the Rust runtime for BoxLang. This course takes you from a first script to a native executable in ten short lessons. You do not need to install anything to start: every code sample has a **Run this in your browser** button that opens a real MatchBox runtime, compiled to WebAssembly, right under the code. Edit the sample, break it, run it again.

Your progress is remembered in this browser, so you can stop and pick up where you left off.

::: course id="learn-matchbox" :::

## Before you start

You should know the basics of at least one programming language. You do not need to know BoxLang, CFML or Rust. The lessons that install tools or build files (lessons 2 and 9) show commands for your own terminal, because a browser tab cannot do those. Everything else runs on this page.

The playground has limits: a run stops after 5 seconds, source and output are capped at 64 KiB, and there are no files, network or Java. See the [playground page](../playground.md) for the full list.