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

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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🔖 Chapters:

00:00 Intro
01:09 Revisiting Lambda and Lambda runtimes and how they work
02:40 LLRT overview and goals - optimized for Lambda
04:54 LLRT implementation details: Rust
08:21 LLRT implementation details: QuickJS
11:50 Performance and benchmark comparisons to Node.js
15:05 Recommendations on using LLRT cautiously for now
18:23 Support for the AWS SDK
19:58 LLRT tooling
21:53 Summary of our recommendation
23:01 Other things to be aware of about LLRT
22:59 Additional concerns around stability and fragmentation
25:31 Final assessment and thoughts on the future of LLRT
27:42 An appeal for AWS to contribute back to the Node.js and the JavaScript ecosystem
29:10 Conclusion and call for feedback


In this episode, we mentioned the following resources:

- Episode 104. "Explaining Lambda Runtimes": https://awsbites.com/104-explaining-l...
- 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...
- 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/is...
- WinterCG initiative: https://wintercg.org/


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