Wasmer has introduced Edge.js as a JavaScript runtime that leverages WebAssembly and is designed to safely run Node.js workloads for AI and edge computing. Node apps can run inside a WebAssembly sandbox.
Accessible from edgejs.org and introduced March 16, Edge.js is intended to enable existing Node.js applications to run safely and with startup times impossible to get with containers, according to Wasmer. Instead of introducing new APIs, Edge.js preserves Node compatibility and isolates the unsafe parts of execution using WebAssembly. Existing Node.js applications and native modules can run unmodified while system calls and native modules are sandboxed through WASIX, an extension to the WebAssembly System Interface (WASI). WASIX was designed to make WebAssembly more compatible with POSIX programs, enabling seamless execution of more complex applications in both server and browser environments.
Reimagining Node.js, Edge.js is sandboxed via --safe mode. It is built for AI and serverless workloads, Wasmer said. Edge.js currently supports the V8 and JavaScriptCore JavaScript engines. The architecture is engine-agnostic by design. Plans call for adding support for the QuickJS and SpiderMonkey engines. Additional engines are welcome.
Edge.js is currently about 5% to 20% slower than current Node.js when run natively, and 30% slower when run fully sandboxed with Wasmer. In some cases, when NativeWasm work is intense, as when doing HTTP benchmarks, there could be a bigger gap. Wasmer intends to focus on closing that gap for Edge.js 1.0 and for the next releases of Wasmer.