# theMackabu/ant

javascript for 🐜's, a tiny runtime with big ambitions

Repository: https://github.com/theMackabu/ant
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/themackabu-ant
Homepage: https://antjs.org
Language: C
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: javascript, nodejs, npm, typescript, ant, engine, runtime, antjs, portable
Last push: 2026-09-03T00:58:32+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 83/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 100, release rhythm 98, longevity 20
- inputs: {"age_days": 286, "days_push": 0, "days_rel": 16, "gap_med": 2.5, "n_releases_24m": 39}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1249, forks 30 (observed 2026-09-03T02:15:18.551036+00:00)

## What it is
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
- artifact type: application
- maturity: active
- function: interpreter, compiler, http-server, cli
- domain: programming-languages, developer-tools, web-development, performance
- platform: windows, cli, cross-platform
- tags: javascript-runtime, jit-compiler, serverless, edge-computing, embedded, wintertc, lightweight, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- theMackabu/ant (main) score 83

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-09-03T02:15:18.551036+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T06:15:13.079707+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/theMackabu/ant (fetched 2026-09-03T02:15:18.551036+00:00, sha ff8ddd4c9a8f)
  - homepage: https://antjs.org (fetched 2026-08-29T12:22:48.829845+00:00, sha c3c283b2ee53)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.