https://github.com/theMackabu/ant
javascript for π's, a tiny runtime with big ambitions
https://github.com/theMackabu/ant
ant antjs engine javascript nodejs npm portable runtime typescript
Last synced: 10 days ago
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javascript for π's, a tiny runtime with big ambitions
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/theMackabu/ant
- Owner: theMackabu
- License: mit
- Created: 2025-11-20T23:17:01.000Z (9 months ago)
- Default Branch: master
- Last Pushed: 2026-07-28T03:56:53.000Z (11 days ago)
- Last Synced: 2026-07-28T04:07:15.225Z (11 days ago)
- Topics: ant, antjs, engine, javascript, nodejs, npm, portable, runtime, typescript
- Language: C
- Homepage: https://antjs.org
- Size: 13.9 MB
- Stars: 1,017
- Watchers: 2
- Forks: 28
- Open Issues: 12
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- Contributing: CONTRIBUTING.md
- License: LICENSE.txt
- Code of conduct: CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
- Security: SECURITY.md
- Governance: GOVERNANCE.md
- Agents: AGENTS.md
Awesome Lists containing this project
- my-awesome-list - ant
README
# π Ant
_An ant carries 50Γ its weight. So does this one._
Ant is a lightweight, high-performance JavaScript runtime built from scratch.
Built to carry more than it weighs without compromising performance.
```bash
$ ls -lh ant
-rwxr-xr-xβ 8.9Mβ ant*
# built with -Os
-rwxr-xr-xβ 4.4Mβ ant*
```
## Table of contents
- [Why Ant?](#why-ant)
- [Installation](#installation)
- [Benchmarks](#benchmarks)
- [Spec conformance](#spec-conformance)
- [Building Ant](#building-ant)
- [Security](#security)
- [Community](#community)
- [Contributing to Ant](#contributing-to-ant)
## Why Ant?
| | Ant | Node | Bun | Deno |
| ------------------- | ---------- | ------- | ------ | ------ |
| Binary size | **~9 MB** | ~120 MB | ~60 MB | ~90 MB |
| Cold start | **~5 ms** | ~31 ms | ~13 ms | ~25 ms |
| Engine | Ant Silver | V8 | JSC | V8 |
| JIT | β | β | β | β |
| WinterTC conformant | β | partial | β | β |
Ant is designed for environments where size and startup time matter: serverless functions, edge computing, embedded systems, CLI tools, and anywhere you'd want JavaScript but can't afford a 50MB+ runtime.
The engine, Ant Silver is hand-built, not a wrapper around V8, JSC, or SpiderMonkey. The JIT compiler uses a fork of [MIR](https://github.com/themackabu/mir), a lightweight backend that enables near compiled performance.
## Installation
```bash
curl -fsSL https://antjs.org/install | bash
```
## Spec conformance
Ant targets the [WinterTC Minimum Common API](https://min-common-api.proposal.wintertc.org/) specification, the standard for server-side JavaScript interoperability developed by Ecma TC55.
| Suite | Pass rate | Notes |
| ------------ | --------- | ------------------------------------------ |
| compat-table | **100%** | 1511/1511 (ES1βES5, ES6, ES2016+, ESNext) |
| test262 | ~64% | Improving; focus is on real-world coverage |
## Benchmarks
### Cold start
Measures the time to import [Hono](https://hono.dev), register routes, and exit. Each runtime loads the same `bench-coldstart.js` script from `examples/npm/hono/` that creates a Hono app with two routes, prints "ready", and calls `process.exit(0)`. No HTTP server is actually started, this isolates module resolution and initialization overhead.
Measured with hyperfine (10 warmup runs, 100 timed runs):
```bash
hyperfine --warmup 10 --runs 100 \
'ant examples/npm/hono/bench-coldstart.js' \
'node examples/npm/hono/bench-coldstart.js' \
'bun examples/npm/hono/bench-coldstart.js' \
'deno run --allow-read --allow-env examples/npm/hono/bench-coldstart.js'
```
| Runtime | Mean | Min | Max | Relative |
| ------- | ---------- | ------- | ------- | ------------ |
| **Ant** | **5.5 ms** | 4.9 ms | 6.1 ms | **1.00** |
| Bun | 10.6 ms | 9.5 ms | 13.8 ms | 1.93Γ slower |
| Deno | 24.8 ms | 22.2 ms | 29.4 ms | 4.51Γ slower |
| Node | 28.7 ms | 27.1 ms | 31.2 ms | 5.22Γ slower |
Environment
| Detail | Value |
| -------- | --------------------------------- |
| Hardware | Apple M5 Pro, 64 GB RAM, 18 cores |
| OS | macOS 26.5.1 (arm64) |
| Ant | 12.1.15dd25d.1 |
| Node | 26.2.0 |
| Bun | 1.3.14 |
| Deno | 2.8.3 |
## Building Ant
See [BUILDING.md](BUILDING.md) for instructions on how to build Ant from source and a list of supported platforms.
## Security
For information on reporting security vulnerabilities in Ant, see [SECURITY.md](SECURITY.md).
## Community
- [Discord](http://discord.gg/CH7YSjWGzY)
- [Blog: Working was the beginning](https://themackabu.dev/blog/ant-part-two)
- [DeepWiki: Ant internals](https://deepwiki.com/theMackabu/ant)
## Contributing to Ant
We welcome contributions through pull request. See [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md) for more details.
For information about the governance of Ant, see [GOVERNANCE.md](GOVERNANCE.md).