Frequently Asked Questions

SWC (Speedy Web Compiler) is a super-fast TypeScript/JavaScript compiler written in Rust. It's designed to be significantly faster than alternatives like Babel while maintaining compatibility and offering additional features. SWC provides both a Rust library and JavaScript bindings, making it accessible to both Rust and JavaScript developers.

Installation depends on your use case:

• For JavaScript projects: Install via npm: npm install @swc/core
• For Rust projects: Add to your Cargo.toml: swc = "version"
• As a CLI tool: npm install @swc/cli

For detailed installation instructions, visit our documentation.

• Usage: Node.js v10 or higher
• Development: Node.js v20 or higher
• Rust: Minimum Supported Rust Version (MSRV) is 1.73
• Operating Systems: Windows, macOS, Linux

SWC supports:

• JavaScript (ES3+)
• TypeScript
• JSX
• Flow
• React, Vue, and other popular frameworks
• Minification
• Bundling (with SWC plugins)
• Tree-shaking
• Source maps
• And many more transformation features

SWC offers several advantages over Babel:

• Performance: SWC is significantly faster (10-100x) due to Rust implementation
• Memory Usage: Lower memory consumption
• Babel Compatibility: SWC aims to be Babel-compatible, making migration easier
• Additional Features: Built-in bundling and minification capabilities
• Plugin System: Extensible architecture for custom transformations

For a detailed comparison, see our Babel migration guide.

Yes! SWC integrates with popular build tools:

• Webpack: Use @swc/webpack loader
• Rollup: Use @rollup/plugin-swc
• Vite: Use vite-plugin-swc
• Next.js: SWC is the default compiler in Next.js
• Create React App: Use craco or eject to customize

SWC is significantly faster than JavaScript-based compilers:

• 10-100x faster than Babel for many operations
• 50-70% faster than TypeScript compiler
• Lower memory usage during compilation
• Better parallelization capabilities

For benchmark results, see our performance benchmarks.

The performance advantages come from several factors:

• Rust implementation: Compiled to native code for optimal performance
• Parallel processing: Utilizes multiple CPU cores efficiently
• Minimal runtime overhead: Less JavaScript runtime needed
• Optimized parser: Highly efficient parsing algorithms
• Memory efficient: Better memory management compared to JavaScript

Yes! SWC is production-ready and used by many large-scale projects. It has been thoroughly tested and is:

• Stable and reliable: Used in production by companies like Vercel, ByteDance, and others
• Actively maintained: Regular updates and improvements
• Well-tested: Comprehensive test suite
• Battle-tested: Used in high-traffic applications

Contributions are welcome! Here are several ways to help:

• Code contributions: Fix bugs, implement new features, or improve performance
• Documentation: Help improve our documentation and guides
• Testing: Write tests or help with existing test coverage
• Community support: Help others on Discord or GitHub Discussions

Start by reading our contributing guidelines.

Bugs and feature requests can be submitted through:

• GitHub Issues: Report bugs here
• GitHub Discussions: Feature requests and discussions
• Discord: Join our community for real-time discussions

Please provide detailed information when reporting issues, including steps to reproduce, expected behavior, and actual behavior.

SWC is built with a modular architecture:

• Parser: Converts source code to an AST
• Transformer: Applies transformations to the AST
• Code Generator: Transforms AST back to code
• Plugin System: Extensible architecture for custom transformations
• Bindings: JavaScript bindings for easy integration

For detailed architecture information, see our architecture documentation.

There are several ways to get help:

• Documentation: Official documentation
• Discord: Join our Discord server for community support
• GitHub Discussions: Ask questions and share ideas
• Stack Overflow: Tag questions with swc

You can support SWC development through:

• OpenCollective: Become a sponsor on OpenCollective
• GitHub Sponsors: Sponsor individual maintainers
• Direct contributions: Contribute code or documentation
• Community support: Help others in the community

All sponsors are recognized on our website and GitHub repository.

SWC is primarily distributed under the Apache License 2.0, which is a permissive open-source license that allows:

• Commercial use
• Modification
• Distribution
• Private use

For full license details, see the LICENSE file in the repository.