Wasm Engine

An OS-Level Runtime Engine Blueprint

Overview

Wasm Engine is a conceptual blueprint for a high-performance, OS-level runtime engine designed to run complex, resource-intensive applications on desktop platforms. It is architected to maximize CPU and GPU throughput by combining the strengths of Electron, Servo, and WebAssembly (WASM).

This project serves as a foundational guide for building applications that require:

• High-performance rendering: Leveraging the Servo rendering engine for GPU-accelerated layout and drawing.
• CPU-heavy computation: Offloading complex calculations, simulations, and data processing to highly optimized WASM modules.
• Modern, responsive UI: Using Electron to provide a familiar and flexible user interface layer with native OS integrations.

Core Architecture

The architecture is detailed in the Architecture Design Document (ADD). It is based on three primary components:

1. Electron Layer: Manages the user interface, OS-level integrations, and the orchestration of background tasks.
2. Servo Layer: A dedicated, multi-threaded rendering engine for all visual output, ensuring smooth, high-framerate graphics.
3. WebAssembly (WASM) Layer: A pool of worker threads running compiled Rust or C++ modules for demanding computational tasks.

Communication and data transfer between these layers are optimized for near-zero-copy memory sharing, using SharedArrayBuffer to prevent bottlenecks.

Project Philosophy

• Blueprint, Not a Framework: This repository contains the architectural documentation and foundational structure to guide developers in building their own engine. It is not a ready-to-use framework but a starting point for a highly customized implementation.
• Performance First: Every architectural decision is geared towards minimizing latency and maximizing parallelism.
• Scalability: The design allows for scaling computational and rendering workloads across multiple CPU cores.

Getting Started

This project is currently in the blueprint phase. The next steps involve:

1. Setting up the build pipelines for the Rust-based Servo and WASM components.
2. Establishing the IPC and shared memory channels between the Electron, Servo, and WASM layers.
3. Developing a "Hello World" application to demonstrate the end-to-end data flow.

Directory Structure

.
├── apps/                 # Main application code (e.g., Electron app)
├── docs/                 # Project documentation
│   └── ADD-electron-servo-wasm.md
├── packages/             # Reusable modules (e.g., Servo bindings, WASM crates)
└── README.md