[][src]Crate wasmer

This crate contains the wasmer API. The wasmer API facilitates the efficient, sandboxed execution of WebAssembly (Wasm) modules.

Here's an example of the wasmer API in action:

use wasmer::{Store, Module, Instance, Value, imports};

fn main() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
    let module_wat = r#"
    (module
    (type $t0 (func (param i32) (result i32)))
    (func $add_one (export "add_one") (type $t0) (param $p0 i32) (result i32)
        get_local $p0
        i32.const 1
        i32.add))
    "#;

    let store = Store::default();
    let module = Module::new(&store, &module_wat)?;
    // The module doesn't import anything, so we create an empty import object.
    let import_object = imports! {};
    let instance = Instance::new(&module, &import_object)?;

    let add_one = instance.exports.get_function("add_one")?;
    let result = add_one.call(&[Value::I32(42)])?;
    assert_eq!(result[0], Value::I32(43));

    Ok(())
}

For more examples of using the wasmer API, check out the wasmer examples.


Table of Contents

Wasm Primitives

In order to make use of the power of the wasmer API, it's important to understand the primitives around which the API is built.

Wasm only deals with a small number of core data types, these data types can be found in the Value type.

In addition to the core Wasm types, the core types of the API are referred to as "externs".

Externs

An Extern is a type that can be imported or exported from a Wasm module.

To import an extern, simply give it a namespace and a name with the imports macro:

let memory = Memory::new(&store, MemoryType::new(1, None, false)).unwrap();
imports! {
    "env" => {
         "my_function" => Function::new_native(store, || println!("Hello")),
         "memory" => memory,
    }
}

And to access an exported extern, see the Exports API, accessible from any instance via instance.exports:

let memory = instance.exports.get_memory("memory")?;
let memory: &Memory = instance.exports.get("some_other_memory")?;
let add: NativeFunc<(i32, i32), i32> = instance.exports.get_native_function("add")?;
let result = add.call(5, 37)?;
assert_eq!(result, 42);

These are the primary types that the wasmer API uses.

Functions

There are 2 types of functions in wasmer:

  1. Wasm functions
  2. Host functions

A Wasm function is a function defined in a WebAssembly module that can only perform computation without side effects and call other functions.

Wasm functions take 0 or more arguments and return 0 or more results. Wasm functions can only deal with the primitive types defined in Value.

A Host function is any function implemented on the host, in this case in Rust.

Host functions can optionally be created with an environment that implements WasmerEnv. This environment is useful for maintaining host state (for example the filesystem in WASI).

Thus WebAssembly modules by themselves cannot do anything but computation on the core types in Value. In order to make them more useful we give them access to the outside world with imports.

If you're looking for a sandboxed, POSIX-like environment to execute Wasm in, check out the wasmer-wasi crate for our implementation of WASI, the WebAssembly System Interface.

In the wasmer API we support functions which take their arguments and return their results dynamically, Function, and functions which take their arguments and return their results statically, NativeFunc.

Memories

Memories store data.

In most Wasm programs, nearly all data will live in a Memory.

This data can be shared between the host and guest to allow for more interesting programs.

Globals

A Global is a type that may be either mutable or immutable, and contains one of the core Wasm types defined in Value.

Tables

A Table is an indexed list of items.

Project Layout

The Wasmer project is divided into a number of crates, below is a dependency graph with transitive dependencies removed.

While this crate is the top level API, we also publish crates built on top of this API that you may be interested in using, including:


The Wasmer project has two major abstractions:

  1. Engines
  2. Compilers

These two abstractions have multiple options that can be enabled with features.

Engines

An engine is a system that uses a compiler to make a WebAssembly module executable.

Compilers

A compiler is a system that handles the details of making a Wasm module executable. For example, by generating native machine code for each Wasm function.

Features

This crate's features can be broken down into 2 kinds, features that enable new functionality and features that set defaults.

The features that enable new functionality are:

  • jit - enable the JIT engine. (See wasmer-jit)
  • native - enable the native engine. (See wasmer-native)
  • cranelift - enable Wasmer's Cranelift compiler. (See wasmer-cranelift)
  • llvm - enable Wasmer's LLVM compiler. (See wasmer-llvm)
  • singlepass - enable Wasmer's Singlepass compiler. (See wasmer-singlepass)
  • wat - enable wasmer to parse the WebAssembly text format.

The features that set defaults come in sets that are mutually exclusive.

The first set is the default compiler set:

  • default-cranelift - set Wasmer's Cranelift compiler as the default.
  • default-llvm - set Wasmer's LLVM compiler as the default.
  • default-singlepass - set Wasmer's Singlepass compiler as the default.

The next set is the default engine set:

  • default-jit - set the JIT engine as the default.
  • default-native - set the native engine as the default.

By default the wat, default-cranelift, and default-jit features are enabled.

Re-exports

pub use wasmer_compiler::wasmparser;

Modules

vm

The vm module re-exports wasmer-vm types.

Macros

imports

Generate an ImportObject easily with the imports! macro.

Structs

Array

The Array marker type. This type can be used like WasmPtr<T, Array> to get access to methods

Atomically

Atomically.

BaseTunables

Tunable parameters for WebAssembly compilation. This is the reference implementation of the Tunables trait, used by default.

Bytes

Units of WebAssembly memory in terms of 8-bit bytes.

Cranelift

Global configuration options used to create an wasmer_engine::Engine and customize its behavior.

ExportType

A descriptor for an exported WebAssembly value.

Exports

Exports is a special kind of map that allows easily unwrapping the types of instances.

ExportsIterator

An iterator over exports.

Features

Controls which experimental features will be enabled. Features usually have a corresponding WebAssembly proposal.

FrameInfo

Description of a frame in a backtrace for a RuntimeError::trace.

Function

A WebAssembly function instance.

FunctionType

The signature of a function that is either implemented in a Wasm module or exposed to Wasm by the host.

Global

A WebAssembly global instance.

GlobalType

WebAssembly global.

HostRef

Represents a piece of data located in the host environment.

ImportObject

All of the import data used when instantiating.

ImportObjectIterator

Iterator for an ImportObject's exports.

ImportType

A descriptor for an imported value into a wasm module.

Instance

A WebAssembly Instance is a stateful, executable instance of a WebAssembly Module.

Item

The Item marker type. This is the default and does not usually need to be specified.

JIT

The JIT builder

JITArtifact

A compiled wasm module, ready to be instantiated.

JITEngine

A WebAssembly JIT Engine.

LazyInit

Lazily init an item

LocalFunctionIndex

Index type of a function defined locally inside the WebAssembly module.

Memory

A WebAssembly memory instance.

MemoryType

A descriptor for a WebAssembly memory type.

MemoryView

A view into a memory.

MiddlewareError

A error in the middleware.

MiddlewareReaderState

The state of the binary reader. Exposed to middlewares to push their outputs.

Module

A WebAssembly Module contains stateless WebAssembly code that has already been compiled and can be instantiated multiple times.

NamedResolverChain

A Resolver that links two resolvers together in a chain.

NativeFunc

A WebAssembly function that can be called natively (using the Native ABI).

Pages

Units of WebAssembly pages (as specified to be 65,536 bytes).

RuntimeError

A struct representing an aborted instruction execution, with a message indicating the cause.

Store

The store represents all global state that can be manipulated by WebAssembly programs. It consists of the runtime representation of all instances of functions, tables, memories, and globals that have been allocated during the lifetime of the abstract machine.

Table

A WebAssembly table instance.

TableType

A descriptor for a table in a WebAssembly module.

Target

This is the target that we will use for compiling the WebAssembly ModuleInfo, and then run it.

Triple

A target "triple". Historically such things had three fields, though they've added additional fields over time.

WasmPtr

A zero-cost type that represents a pointer to something in Wasm linear memory.

Enums

Architecture

The "architecture" field, which in some cases also specifies a specific subarchitecture.

CallingConvention

The calling convention, which specifies things like which registers are used for passing arguments, which registers are callee-saved, and so on.

CompileError

The WebAssembly.CompileError object indicates an error during WebAssembly decoding or validation.

CpuFeature

The nomenclature is inspired by the cpuid crate. The list of supported features was initially retrieved from cranelift-native.

CraneliftOptLevel

Possible optimization levels for the Cranelift codegen backend.

DeserializeError

The Deserialize error can occur when loading a compiled Module from a binary.

Export

The value of an export passed from one instance to another.

ExportError

The ExportError can happen when trying to get a specific export Extern from the Instance exports.

ExportIndex

An entity to export.

Extern

An Extern is the runtime representation of an entity that can be imported or exported.

ExternRef

Represents an opaque reference to any data within WebAssembly.

ExternType

A list of all possible types which can be externally referenced from a WebAssembly module.

GlobalInit

Globals are initialized via the const operators or by referring to another import.

HostEnvInitError

An error while initializing the user supplied host env with the WasmerEnv trait.

InstantiationError

An error while instantiating a module.

LinkError

The WebAssembly.LinkError object indicates an error during module instantiation (besides traps from the start function).

MemoryError

Error type describing things that can go wrong when operating on Wasm Memories.

Mutability

Indicator of whether a global is mutable or not

OperatingSystem

The "operating system" field, which sometimes implies an environment, and sometimes isn't an actual operating system.

ParseCpuFeatureError

The error that can happen while parsing a str to retrieve a CpuFeature.

SerializeError

The Serialize error can occur when serializing a compiled Module into a binary.

Type

A list of all possible value types in WebAssembly.

VMExport

The value of an export passed from one instance to another.

ValType

A list of all possible value types in WebAssembly.

WasmError

A WebAssembly translation error.

Constants

HOST

The Triple of the current host.

VERSION

Version number of this crate.

WASM_MAX_PAGES

The number of pages we can have before we run out of byte index space.

WASM_MIN_PAGES

The minimum number of pages allowed.

WASM_PAGE_SIZE

WebAssembly page sizes are fixed to be 64KiB. Note: large page support may be added in an opt-in manner in the future.

Traits

ChainableNamedResolver

A trait for chaining resolvers together.

CompilerConfig

The compiler configuration options.

Engine

A unimplemented Wasmer Engine.

Exportable

This trait is used to mark types as gettable from an Instance.

FromToNativeWasmType

A trait to convert a Rust value to a WasmNativeType value, or to convert WasmNativeType value to a Rust value.

FunctionMiddleware

A function middleware specialized for a single function.

HostFunction

The HostFunction trait represents the set of functions that can be used as host function. To uphold this statement, it is necessary for a function to be transformed into a pointer to VMFunctionBody.

HostInfo
LikeNamespace

The LikeNamespace trait represents objects that act as a namespace for imports. For example, an Instance or Namespace could be considered namespaces that could provide imports to an instance.

ModuleMiddleware

A shared builder for function middlewares.

NamedResolver

Import resolver connects imports with available exported values.

Resolver

Import resolver connects imports with available exported values.

StoreObject

A trait represinting any object that lives in the Store.

Tunables

An engine delegates the creation of memories, tables, and globals to a foreign implementor of this trait.

ValueType

Trait for a Value type. A Value type is a type that is always valid and may be safely copied.

WasmTypeList

The WasmTypeList trait represents a tuple (list) of Wasm typed values. It is used to get low-level representation of such a tuple.

WasmerEnv

Trait for initializing the environments passed to host functions after instantiation but before execution.

Functions

is_wasm

Check if the provided bytes are wasm-like

raise_user_trap

Raises a user-defined trap immediately.

wat2wasm

Parses in-memory bytes as either the WebAssembly Text format, or a binary WebAssembly module.

Type Definitions

Val

WebAssembly computations manipulate values of basic value types:

Value

WebAssembly computations manipulate values of basic value types:

WasmResult

A convenient alias for a Result that uses WasmError as the error type.

Derive Macros

WasmerEnv

Implement WasmerEnv for your type with #[derive(WasmerEnv)].