February 16, 2024

114. What's up with LLRT, AWS' new Lambda Runtime?

30 minutes

In this episode, we discuss the new experimental AWS Lambda LLRT Low Latency runtime for JavaScript. We provide an overview of what a Lambda runtime is and how LLRT aims to optimize cold starts and performance compared to existing runtimes like Node.js. We outline the benefits of LLRT but also highlight concerns around its experimental status, lack of parity with Node.js, and reliance on dependencies like QuickJS. Overall, LLRT shows promise but needs more stability, support, and real-world testing before it can be recommended for production use. In the end, we also have an appeal for AWS itself when it comes to investing in the larger JavaScript ecosystem.

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In this episode, we mentioned the following resources:

Episode 104. "Explaining Lambda Runtimes": https://awsbites.com/104-explaining-lambda-runtimes/

LLRT official repository on GitHub: https://github.com/awslabs/llrt

QuickJS official website: https://bellard.org/quickjs/

Lambda performance benchmark by Maxime David: https://maxday.github.io/lambda-perf/

Richard Davidson on GitHub: https://github.com/richarddavison

Fabrice Bellard on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabrice_Bellard

QuickJS-ng fork: https://github.com/quickjs-ng/quickjs

QuickJS issue where users debate whether the project is dead or alive: https://github.com/bellard/quickjs/issues/188

WinterCG initiative: https://wintercg.org/

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