Treat ( [ { # @ ' positional arg as inline expression

The standalone binary now evaluates a positional argument
that begins with a Lisp form character instead of treating it
as a file path. Matches the convenience shape other Lisp CLIs
offer for one-shot evaluation:

    mino "(+ 1 2)"          -- 3
    mino "[1 2 3]"          -- [1 2 3]
    mino "(println :hi)"    -- :hi  /  nil

Trigger characters: ( [ { # @ '. Anything else is still
treated as a file path. The -- separator forces
file-or-task interpretation; -e EXPR works as before.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

Author: leifericf

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -1,5 +1,28 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## v0.74.3 — One-Shot Expression CLI
+
+The standalone `mino` binary now treats a positional argument
+that begins with a Lisp form character as an inline expression,
+matching the convenience shape other Lisp CLIs offer:
+
+```
+mino "(+ 1 2)"          # 3
+mino "[1 2 3]"          # [1 2 3]
+mino "{:a 1}"           # {:a 1}
+mino "(println :hi)"    # :hi  /  nil
+```
+
+Form characters that trigger expression mode: `(`, `[`, `{`,
+`#`, `@`, `'`. A leading `--` separator forces file-or-task
+interpretation; the explicit `-e EXPR` flag still works either
+way; everything else continues to be treated as a file path.
+File names that happen to start with one of those characters
+need an explicit `--` or path prefix (e.g. `mino ./(name).clj`),
+but that's a vanishingly rare case in practice.
+
+`--help` documents the new shape on its own line under USAGE.
+
 ## v0.74.2 — Heap-Allocated Dynamic Binding Frames
 
 Fixes the v0.74.1 known-issue Windows SIGSEGV during

main.c

@@ -295,6 +295,7 @@ static void print_usage(FILE *out)
         "\n"
         "USAGE:\n"
         "    mino [OPTIONS] [FILE]\n"
+        "    mino [OPTIONS] EXPR             # EXPR starts with ( [ { # @ '\n"
         "    mino [OPTIONS] -e EXPR\n"
         "    mino <SUBCOMMAND> [ARGS...]\n"
         "\n"
@@ -676,6 +677,23 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
         first = argc;
     }
 
+    /* When the first positional argument starts with a character that
+     * unambiguously begins a Lisp form, evaluate it as an expression
+     * instead of treating it as a file path. Matches the convenience
+     * shape other Lisp CLIs offer for `mino "(+ 1 2)"`. The `--`
+     * separator forces file-or-task interpretation; the explicit
+     * `-e EXPR` flag still works either way. */
+    if (!dash_dash && first < argc) {
+        char c = argv[first][0];
+        if (c == '(' || c == '[' || c == '{'
+            || c == '#' || c == '@' || c == '\'') {
+            exit_code = run_eval_expr(S, env, argv[first]);
+            mino_env_free(S, env);
+            mino_state_free(S);
+            return exit_code;
+        }
+    }
+
     /* File mode: evaluate a script and exit. */
     if (first < argc) {
         mino_val_t *result = mino_load_file(S, argv[first], env);

src/mino.h

@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
  */
 #define MINO_VERSION_MAJOR 0
 #define MINO_VERSION_MINOR 74
-#define MINO_VERSION_PATCH 2
+#define MINO_VERSION_PATCH 3
 
 /*
  * Human-readable version string of the *linked* runtime, e.g. "0.48.0".