Cross-compiling OCaml to JS and Wasm: How we made the Semgrep Playground Fast
Blog post from Semgrep
Semgrep, a fast and open-source static analysis tool, has significantly enhanced its Playground feature, allowing for real-time code scanning by executing Semgrep directly in the browser. This improvement, inspired by Authzed's SpiceDB, eliminates the need for a Run button and introduces "Turbo Mode," which re-scans code after every keystroke. The transition involved compiling Semgrep's OCaml code into JavaScript using the js_of_ocaml compiler and addressing challenges with dependent C libraries by leveraging Emscripten to create a WebAssembly module. A notable challenge was overcoming mismatched architectures between the 64-bit build environment and the 32-bit WebAssembly runtime, particularly affecting YAML parsing, which was resolved with a temporary workaround. This project underscores the importance of speed in enhancing user experience, offering a seamless and instantaneous code analysis tool for developers.
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