Ross ROSS = Recommend OSS · open-source software intelligence for agents

theMackabu/ant

javascript for 🐜's, a tiny runtime with big ambitions observed · 2026-09-03

github.com/theMackabu/ant · homepage · C · MIT (permissive) observed · 2026-09-03

Health v2 · maintenance only

83/100

  • Activity 100
  • Release rhythm 98
  • Longevity 20
How is this computed?

round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10) — computed 2026-09-03. Adoption (stars, forks) is never an input.

  • gap_med: 2.5
  • age_days: 286
  • days_rel: 16
  • days_push: 0
  • n_releases_24m: 39

Full methodology

Adoption not part of the score

1249 stars · 30 forks observed · 2026-09-03

What it is AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, 2026-08-30, confidence not recorded

Ant is a lightweight, high-performance JavaScript runtime built from scratch in C, featuring its own hand-built engine (Ant Silver) with a JIT compiler based on a fork of MIR. It targets the WinterTC Minimum Common API specification and is designed for environments where binary size (~9 MB) and cold start time (~5 ms) matter, such as serverless functions, edge computing, and embedded systems.

Use cases

  • run javascript scripts with a tiny fast runtime
  • deploy javascript to serverless functions with minimal cold start
  • run javascript on edge computing environments
  • embed a javascript runtime in an application or device
  • build cli tools in javascript without node.js
  • run javascript on resource-constrained or embedded systems

When to choose

  • binary size and startup time are critical constraints
  • you need a self-contained javascript runtime without v8 or jsc
  • building serverless or edge functions where cold start matters
  • embedding javascript in embedded systems or small binaries
  • you want a wintertc-conformant server-side javascript runtime

When to avoid

  • you need full test262 spec conformance (currently ~65%)
  • you rely on the mature node.js ecosystem and native addons
  • you need battle-tested production stability like node, bun, or deno
  • your project depends on node-specific apis beyond wintertc

Facets

application · maturity active

interpreter compiler http-server cli programming-languages developer-tools web-development performance windows cli cross-platform javascript-runtime jit-compiler serverless edge-computing embedded wintertc lightweight linux macos

2 sources

Member repositories

RepositoryRoleHealth v2
theMackabu/antmain83

For agents

markdown · JSON · MCP: product_card(name="theMackabu/ant")

Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00 · Report a problem