BrowserPod 3.0 runs unmodified Rust applications in the browser
Leaning Technologies' client-side virtual machine now runs unmodified Rust applications in the browser, with ripgrep, starship and jj-vcs confirmed and most Rust command line software expected to work.
Leaning Technologies has released BrowserPod 3.0. Its client-side virtual machine can now run unmodified Rust applications in the browser, removing a long-standing limitation for developers targeting the browser from Rust. The company has verified ripgrep, starship and jj-vcs running unaltered in a browser tab, and expects most Rust command line software to work.
BrowserPod is an API comparable with cloud sandboxes such as Daytona, though it is most often compared to WebContainers by StackBlitz. Like WebContainers, BrowserPod uses WebAssembly to provide a sandboxed virtual machine running client-side in a browser tab, executing software on the end user’s machine rather than in a server-side container. BrowserPod implements the Linux syscall interface, so existing programs can be compiled for it with little or no change.
Rust support required a departure from the standard toolchain. Yuri Iozzelli, Principal Software Engineer at Leaning Technologies, said the team had first intended to support the browser’s established target rather than build its own:
Our original plan was to implement a WASI (WebAssembly System Interface) layer on top of BrowserPod. This solution would make any program targeting WASI immediately compatible with BrowserPod, whether it’s written in Rust, Go, C, or anything else. But when trying to compile existing Rust programs to WASI, we quickly realized that it’s not just a matter of switching build targets.
WASI provides for neither thread usage nor the spawning of external programs, both of which are routine in Rust command line tooling. Leaning Technologies instead added a compilation target of its own, wasm32-browserpod-linux-musl. Compiled against BrowserPod’s syscall layer, a program retains its threading and process model, along with filesystem access, outbound network access for package downloads and API calls, and inbound connections that expose a development server running in the tab.
Where StackBlitz has moved largely towards AI coding products, Leaning Technologies has continued to broaden BrowserPod’s runtime support, shipping Node.js, Python and Rust within the year. Node.js arrived in version 1.0 in February and version 2.0 added a bash shell, git and core Linux utilities in April, along with Python in preview. The company plans to release support for Ruby, Go and Linux-class workloads by the end of the year.
BrowserPod 3.0 is available now. API documentation is published at browserpod.io/docs, and API keys are issued through console.browserpod.io.
About Leaning Technologies
Leaning Technologies Ltd builds WebAssembly runtimes that allow desktop and server-based software to run inside the browser, on the user's own machine rather than on a server. Its projects include BrowserPod, CheerpJ and WebVM, which together have over one million users and more than 18,000 GitHub stars. Over 100 organisations use its technology, among them NASA, Ticketmaster and Siemens. Founded in 2015, it has grown organically and rapidly since. Leaning Technologies operates from Leeds, UK and Amsterdam, Netherlands. It is led by its founders Stefano De Rossi (CEO) and Alessandro Pignotti (CTO). More at leaningtech.com .
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