Wax Just Lost Weight - And It Feels Great!

# Wax Just Lost Weight - And It Feels Great! 🏋️ Hey Hive community! 👋 We hope you've had a chance to read about the major improvements we've made recently in the [Denser](https://gitlab.syncad.com/hive/denser) project, particularly regarding signer support — if not, here is the [source](/hive-139531/@thebeedevs/google-login-arrives-on-denser)... Honestly, the above changes would have been impossible without a huge amount of work done in a place far less exposed and glamorous than a frontend application — deep inside a low-level, quietly living library. The [Wax](https://gitlab.syncad.com/hive/wax) library, which we hope will become the standard way to interact with the Hive blockchain, thanks to its very tight integration with the Hive protocol's C++ code and its clean, modern TypeScript interface. This short story, which I hope we'll expand in a future post with a detailed, "nerd-like" description of *how we did it*, actually covers roughly the last year (or perhaps even longer) of work to make things better, simpler, and cheaper in everyday maintenance. That's why we decided to release a new version of Wax with a HUGE *versioning* leap (even though, honestly, the last few releases contained no major breaking changes to the public interface): **TWO** at the beginning just looks much more mature — or so we hope... But enough about that — let's see what we actually changed. It is already published on [npmjs](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@hiveio/wax). This version also comes with documentation, which you can find [here](https://doc.openhive.network/wax/2.0.0/). I hope the above (perhaps a bit boring, written by yours truly — @small.minion) along with the enthusiastic words below from Wax's "daddy," @mtyszczak, will bring you a few moments of joy. You know how we've been pushing performance optimizations for our libraries? Well, this time we went the other direction - **size optimization** - and the results are absolutely wild! 🤯  ## 📉 The Numbers Don't Lie | Metric | Before | After | Reduction | | ------ | ------ | ----- | --------- | | WASM binary | 4.6 MB | 2.5 MB | **46%** | | Package size (compressed) | 2.5 MB | 1.1 MB | **56%** | | Unpacked size | 5.5 MB | 3.4 MB | **38%** | That's right - **more than half** of the package size just... gone! 💨 And before you ask - no, we didn't remove any features. Everything still works exactly as before. We just taught the build system some new tricks 😎  ## 🔧 How We Did It ### 1. Better Crypto Library Compilation 🔐 We upgraded our emsdk toolchain to version 4.0.22 with **-Oz optimized libraries**. The secp256k1 cryptographic library (responsible for all the signature magic ✍️) is now pre-built with aggressive size optimizations. This alone made a HUGE difference! ### 2. Additional wasm-opt Pass 🪓 We added an extra optimization phase using `wasm-opt`. Think of it as a second round of compression, specifically designed for WebAssembly binaries. This shaved off another **~500kB** ### 3. Smarter Exception Handling in fc 🧠 Here's a nerdy one: The fc library had exception handling code (`FC_RETHROW_EXCEPTIONS`) that was being duplicated across every template instantiation. We introduced an `unpack_error_handler` class that centralizes this logic into a single non-template function. Translation: Instead of having ~3 catch handlers per template (and there are A LOT of templates), we now have one shared handler. Less code = smaller binary! ### 4. Excluding Virtual Operations from WASM Build 🚫 Virtual operations are blockchain-generated events (like `author_reward_operation`, `curation_reward_operation`, etc.) - users never create or sign them. So why include **43 extra operation types** in the WASM build? We added a compiler flag `HIVE_PROTOCOL_SKIP_VOPS` that excludes all virtual operations from the `hive::protocol::operation` type definition. Less types in the variant = less template instantiations = smaller binary! ### 5. Stripped-Down OpenSSL Build 🔓 OpenSSL is a beast of a library - but we don't need 90% of it for WASM! We built a minimal OpenSSL with only the crypto primitives we actually use: - Disabled: SSL/TLS/DTLS protocols, DSA, DH, RC2/4/5, Blowfish, CMS, OCSP, compression, sockets, error strings - Enabled: Only the bare minimum for our cryptographic needs Combined with `-fvisibility=hidden` and `--gc-sections` linker flags, this stripped away tons of unused code!  ## ⚡ Same Speed, Less Weight The best part? **Zero performance impact**. All those size optimizations are purely at the compilation level - the code that actually runs is still as fast as ever. This means: - ⬇️ Faster downloads for your users - ⬇️ Less bandwidth for your servers - ⬇️ Quicker cold starts in serverless environments - ✅ Same blazing fast execution  ## 📊 How Does Wax Compare to Other Hive Libraries? You might be thinking: *"But wait, isn't WASM still bigger than pure JavaScript libraries?"* Let's talk about that. We bundled simple scripts using popular Hive libraries to see the **real** JavaScript bundle sizes: | Library | What It Does | Bundle Size | Gzipped | | ------- | ------------ | ----------- | ------- | | **@hiveio/wax** | Create foundation, format coins | **169 KB** | **43 KB** | | @hiveio/dhive | Create client, iterate blocks | 927 KB | 211 KB | | hive-js | Broadcast Vote | 1.2 MB | 257 KB | | keychain-sdk | Encode a memo message | 2.3 MB | 483 KB | Yes, you read that right. The Wax **JavaScript bundle alone** is **5.5x smaller** than dhive and **13.5x smaller** than keychain-sdk! 🤯 ### But What About the WASM File? Fair point! Wax also needs to download the WASM binary (~2.5 MB, ~1 MB gzipped). But here's the thing: 1. **Browser Caching** 🗄️ - The WASM file is downloaded **once** and cached. Subsequent page loads only need the tiny 43 KB JS bundle. 2. **CDN-Friendly** 🌐 - WASM files are perfectly suited for CDN distribution with long cache headers. 3. **Parallel Loading** ⚡ - Modern browsers fetch and compile WASM in parallel with JavaScript execution. ### The Real Difference: What's Inside Here's what really matters - **what are you actually downloading?** | Aspect | @hiveio/wax | dhive / hive-js | | ------ | ----------- | -------------------- | | **Protocol Implementation** | Actual C++ hive code | JavaScript reimplementation | | **Serialization** | **HF26 format** (modern, preferred) | Legacy format (obsolete) | | **Crypto** | Native secp256k1 via WASM | JS crypto libraries | | **Correctness** | Verified against hived | "Should work" 🤞 | | **API Types** | Auto-generated from protocol | Manually maintained | The other libraries essentially **reinvent the wheel** in JavaScript - reimplementing serialization, crypto, and protocol logic that already exists in the official hive C++ codebase. And they're stuck with the **legacy serialization format** from the pre-HF26 era. Wax takes the **actual hive protocol implementation**, compiles it to WASM, and wraps it with a modern TypeScript interface. You get: - ✅ **Guaranteed correctness** - same code that runs on hived - ✅ **HF26 serialization** - the modern, preferred format - ✅ **Native performance** - WASM crypto is faster than JS - ✅ **Future-proof** - protocol updates come from the source  ## 🚀 What's Next? Ready to try the slimmer Wax? Getting started is simple: ```bash npm install @hiveio/wax ``` 📦 **NPM Package**: https://www.npmjs.com/package/@hiveio/wax 📚 **Documentation**: https://hive.pages.syncad.com/wax-doc ## 🔮 But Wait, There's More! We're not done yet! 😏 There are still a few optimization opportunities we're exploring. The goal? Making Wax as lean as possible without compromising on functionality or speed. Stay tuned for more updates - the optimization journey continues! 🚀  --- Happy building! 🐝 @mtyszczak from @thebeedevs