Ant 0.11.0

A major compatibility release focused on modern JavaScript behavior, richer networking APIs, stronger Node support, and a runtime that feels much more complete in real-world app code.

Highlights

ES6 & Proxy correctness

• Private class brands now behave properly
• Proxy, Reflect, own-key ordering, and Object.assign got a broad correctness pass
• Classes, typed arrays, parser edge cases, and with () {} behavior all moved closer to spec

Networking APIs

• Added WebSocket
• Added EventSource
• Added a ant:rpc module

Node/npm compatibility

• Better compatibility for real packages, including the Discord example
• Improved node:http/https behavior and CommonJS export handling
• Better socket, TLS, and connect-failure behavior

Memory & runtime cleanup

• Lower allocation pressure and less transient buffer churn
• Better GC marking across more native-backed modules
• Safer native object layout and pointer handling

Performance

• Faster string building
• Better JIT behavior for numeric loops and bailout snapshots
• More benchmark coverage to track regressions and wins

Developer experience

• console.inspect for strings
• Broader spec and regression coverage across the runtime

Compatibility Scoreboard

| Area | Status |
| --------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| compat-table | 1511 / 1511 passing |
| test262 | ~64% passing |
| Big wins this release | Proxies, Reflect, private brands, WebSocket, EventSource, Node/npm compatibility |

Try It Now

• RPC example server: examples/rpc/server.js
• RPC example client: examples/rpc/client.js

• Added proper brand-based private class support
• Added Array.isTemplateObject
• Fixed class-method enumerability behavior
• Enabled implicit strict mode for classes
• Fixed typed-array and parser ES6 compatibility cases
• Improved proxy behavior across a broad fixing pass
• Improved Reflect behavior
• Fixed own-key ordering regressions
• Cleaned up Object.assign behavior
• Added a better IsArray check for userland-facing paths
• Fixed js_to_primitive exotic-helper behavior
• Added more with () {} correctness fixes
• Fixed thrown set-trap behavior
• Emitted proper URLSearchParams array lengths
• Fixed constructor-wrapper target-depth lookup
• Fixed static-child this behavior
• Fixed CommonJS export namespace behavior

• Improved ES6 function name support
• Improved handling of explicit function length
• Improved object primitive handling
• Improved symbol primitive behavior
• Improved Annex B string compatibility
• Added more Annex B follow-up fixes
• Improved string tags for newer builtins
• Improved string_builder_t performance
• Added console.inspect support for strings
• Updated string specs and template-string coverage
• Fixed a small .splice edge case
• Improved flatMap performance
• Fixed JSON and object behavior in more ES6-leaning cases

• Added EventSource
• Added WebSocket
• Added a basic ant:rpc module
• Added spec coverage for EventSource and WebSocket
• Added RPC examples
• Added Node compatibility needed for the Discord npm example
• Added a Discord example app
• Improved node:http/https compatibility for more userland packages
• Replaced the older tls.mjs path with a tls.c stub implementation
• Improved TLS handle draining
• Emitted synchronous connect failures on a microtask
• Allowed better cleanup when listeners are aborted
• Fixed stdin lockups
• Fixed connection cleanup in net
• Added better protocol, upgrade, TLS, and socket coverage in tests

• Reduced allocation pressure in hot paths
• Reduced transient buffer usage
• Added a temporary parse arena with rewinding for short-lived parse work
• Added finalizers for Request and Response
• Added GC marking for crypto, events, LMDB, TLS, N-API, generators, and sockets
• Improved native object layout by moving away from ANT_PTR
• Stopped storing pointers in SLOT_DATA
• Unified the native tag API
• Removed redundant pointer-type checks in native paths
• Reduced sv_func memory significantly with a sidecar layout
• Added a hot path for both sidecar layouts
• Reduced object size in some hot allocation paths
• Fixed a MIR leak during bailout/unload paths
• Fixed miscellaneous memory leaks
• Improved stream allocation shapes
• Optimized padding and memory layout for internals

• Fixed buffer offset safety issues
• Fixed Buffer#indexOf range handling
• Fixed UTF-8 buffer handling edge cases
• Improved stream allocation behavior
• Added more readable/writable state predicate coverage
• Improved timers, event listeners, and stream lifecycle behavior
• Updated event listener globals and related compatibility paths
• Enabled WASM SIMD

• Optimized JIT numeric local loops
• Hardened JIT bailout snapshots
• Added a broad runtime/perf pass on the proxy-es6 branch
• Improved performance in several proxy and object-model hot paths
• Improved T_CFUNC promotion fallback behavior
• Added deeper microbench coverage
• Added more advanced Fibonacci benchmarks

To install Ant v0.11.0:

curl -fsSL https://ant.themackabu.com/install | bash

Patch Notes

Ant v0.10.2 is a tiny patch release focused on user directory behavior.

• Ant now respects XDG paths more consistently.
• Ant also keeps working with the legacy $HOME/.ant layout, so existing setups do not break.

To install Ant v0.10.2:

curl -fsSL https://ant.themackabu.com/install | bash

[!CAUTION]
Ant binaries for 0.10.0 have been removed due to a critical bug in number parsing

Release Notes

Release v0.10.0 is a broad step forward for the language surface, Node compatibility, async/generator semantics, crash reporting, FFI, runtime performance, and developer tooling.

Language & ECMAScript Features

• Added support for yield and generator functions
• Added spec-shaped async generator prototype chains
• Implemented explicit resource management support
• Added parser, compiler, and runtime support for using, await using, and throw expressions
• Added disposal symbols, SuppressedError, DisposableStack, and AsyncDisposableStack
• Wired disposal cleanup through blocks, returns, breaks, continues, for...of, and async disposal paths
• Added async-iterator helper plumbing needed by the new resource-management flow
• Implemented Set.prototype.union
• Implemented Set.prototype.intersection
• Implemented Set.prototype.difference
• Implemented Set.prototype.symmetricDifference
• Implemented Set.prototype.isSubsetOf
• Implemented Set.prototype.isSupersetOf
• Implemented Set.prototype.isDisjointFrom
• Added Map / WeakMap upsert support
• Added BigInt64Array
• Added Uint8Array base64 helpers
• Added Uint8Array hex helpers
• Added regexp index-group support
• Fixed ES2019 symbol descriptions and function source-string behavior

Async, Generators & Coroutine Semantics

• Stabilized async coroutines across more reentrant and callback-heavy cases
• Fixed async generator await / yield interactions
• Fixed async-generator overlap semantics
• Fixed reentrant async-generator next() behavior
• Added focused async-iterator and async-materialization coverage
• Compiled async iteration correctly alongside TLA
• Redesigned lazy-start and materialization cases
• Switched coroutine tracking to a linked-list model
• Only destroy coro->vm when the coroutine is actually reaped
• Added promise assimilation helpers
• Cleaned up dead code in promise paths
• Used the active VM/coroutine more consistently for tracing and async work
• Improved promise-job resume and dead-await/TLA fast-path coverage

Node Compatibility & Builtin Coverage

• Expanded compatibility across builtins and npm packages
• Added Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptors
• Treated native C functions as objects for Object-prototype operations
• Preserved display names for builtin module namespaces
• Used node: aliases in missing named export errors
• Attached module-context metadata to cached builtin namespaces
• Registered FS constants as the constants module
• Added fs.chmod / fs.chmodSync support for numeric and octal-string modes
• Added fs.readlink / fs.readlinkSync
• Exported more FS open/stat mode constants
• Added fs.realpath.native callback compatibility
• Added registered path/posix and path/win32 variants
• Added buffer constants including kMaxLength, kStringMaxLength, and INSPECT_MAX_BYTES
• Added util.callbackify
• Added util.aborted for AbortSignal-driven promises
• Added process.listeners
• Added process.emitWarning formatting and warning-event payload support
• Added stream default high water mark getters/setters
• Improved fs/promises FileHandle compatibility
• Improved util.promisify behavior
• Improved EventEmitter.listeners()
• Improved console instance routing and trace sink behavior
• Added SubtleCrypto.digest
• Exposed node:url.parse
• Improved node:net client shim coverage
• Wired CommonJS exports onto Object.prototype semantics more cleanly
• Made EventEmitter inherit from the expected function/object shape

Runtime, Compiler & JIT

Under the hood, Ant changed a lot:

• Reduced compile time by removing a fast-path bypass
• Reworked Silver string building around a builder-backed path instead of deep rope-heavy append chains
• Taught the VM, compiler, JIT glue, and GC to preserve and flush builder-backed strings
• Rewrote the string pool for performance
• Threaded more string operations through the JIT
• Added broader OP_SPECIAL(1..3) JIT support for super, this, and import metadata
• Fixed a JIT method-call stack-growth regression
• Improved regex compile speed
• Added regexp abstract exec work
• Migrated Array.prototype.includes into a dedicated opcode
• Optimized the dense-array includes fast path
• Improved dense and overall array indexing performance
• Fixed ES2016 conformance regressions introduced along the way
• Undid an arguments-lowering change that regressed behavior
• Added safer entry frame-pointer handling in the engine
• Avoided VM stack relocation pitfalls in destructuring iterator helpers
• Removed unused T_CLOSURE
• Allowed promotion from T_CFUNC to metadata-backed objects
• Stored native functions exactly during assignment
• Allowed constructed C-function prototypes during promotion
• Fixed super lookup for extracted static methods and constructors
• Moved array/object prototype references under the symbol struct

Memory Management & Correctness

• Added write barriers for slots inside pipes, writable streams, and readable streams
• Adjusted GC thresholds as part of broader promise/runtime tuning
• Updated RSS reporting to reflect truer usage
• Fixed iterable WeakMap regressions
• Added a proper ERRNO path for FS modules
• Fixed N-API exception handling
• Prevented row/column assignment bugs in process/TTY paths
• Shared enumerable-property iteration between spread and assign
• Centralized proxy enumeration in smaller runtime fixes
• Added inspect support for Headers, Request, and Response
• Allowed generator/map support for object keys in Object.fromEntries-style paths

Streams, Fetch, URL & Server

• Migrated process.stdout and process.stdin to ReadableStream-based plumbing
• Aligned stdio encoding behavior and fixed TTY teardown on exit
• Improved stream lifecycle behavior around flowing startup and transform callbacks
• Rejected invalid readable-stream chunks more consistently
• Handled broader stream chunks in reporting paths and cancelled abandoned bodies
• Added fetch redirect support
• Added proper URL parsing for hashable paths
• Added a fast URL parsing path
• Added proper idle/request timeouts in the server
• Fixed a server string-buffer oversight
• Prevented tlsuv from closing a request before completion

FFI, WASM, Intl & Platform Work

• Rewrote the entire FFI module
• Cleaned up related reflect/internal_prop behavior around the FFI rewrite
• Removed unused T_FFI
• Added new FFI wrapper coverage and refreshed the SQLite example
• Migrated Intl into a dedicated module
• Added a Lua example
• Added WASM table fixtures
• Allowed faster WASM paths
• Handled WASM exit messages more cleanly
• Prevented WASM from throwing stack-related failures in specific paths
• Prevented WASI from starting unless running as a reactor
• Removed a duplicate WAMR check
• Improved the WASM demo and demo script
• Switched to a patched MIR (http://github.com/themackabu/mir)
• Bumped Windows stack limits
• Used pthread_get_stacksize_np correctly
• Added arena/mmap hints and Linux-specific arena tuning

Crash Handling & js.report

• Added a native crash handler
• Added Windows crash-handler support
• Added upload-based crash reporting
• Improved crash error-print formatting
• Improved crash-message summaries

Install

curl -fsSL https://ant.themackabu.com/install | bash