How WebAssembly Components can replace JavaScript SDKs

Last week, we announced the Edgee Component Registry, a new way for developers to share and run WebAssembly components at the edge. Today, we're exploring why this shift from JavaScript SDKs to Edgee Components represents a fundamental evolution in web development.

For years, JavaScript SDKs have been the go-to solution for integrating third-party services into web applications: analytics, A/B testing, tracking, personalization, and more. But they come at a cost: slower performance, security risks, compliance headaches, and high resource consumption.

The WebAssembly Component Model, which reached stable release in January 2024, represents a breakthrough in addressing these challenges. While WebAssembly itself has been around for years, the Component Model introduces a crucial layer of standardization and interoperability that makes it practical for widespread adoption... in theory. But let's be honest, it's still far from easy to use! As we discussed recently in 5 things you didn't know about WebAssembly, we'll soon be publishing a deep dive analysis about the WebAssembly Component Model.

Unlike raw WebAssembly, which focuses on low-level binary code execution, WebAssembly Components act as modular building blocks that can be integrated inside applications with strong interoperability and reusability. When deployed at the edge, these components offer a compelling alternative to JavaScript SDKs, enabling seamless third-party integrations without bloated client-side code. By shifting these workloads to the network edge, we're paving the way for a web that is faster, more efficient, and more privacy-friendly.

In short, WebAssembly Components have the potential to revolutionize application architecture, making it more powerful and efficient. However, in their current state, they remain difficult to adopt.

That's why our mission at Edgee is to make this technology radically simpler. Edgee Component serves as an abstraction layer over the WebAssembly Component Model, designed to bridge the gap between potential and accessibility. Our goal? To help bring this promising concept into the mainstream.

The problem: Greedy JavaScript SDKs are holding us back

Modern web applications are increasingly burdened by the integration of numerous third-party JavaScript SDKs. While these SDKs facilitate functionalities like analytics, advertising, and social media integration, their extensive use introduces several critical challenges:

Slower performance: The average web page incorporates over 35 third-party scripts, with the top 10 most popular scripts contributing an average blocking time of 1.4 seconds. This accumulation significantly delays page rendering and degrades user experience.

High resource consumption: Each additional script consumes CPU cycles, memory, and bandwidth. This resource drain is particularly detrimental to users on lower-end devices or with limited internet connectivity, leading to sluggish interactions and potential application crashes.

Security risks: Including third-party scripts exposes applications to substantial security vulnerabilities. These scripts can introduce unpatched vulnerabilities and are susceptible to supply chain attacks, where malicious code is injected into trusted scripts, compromising the entire application.

Privacy compliance issues: Integrating third-party JavaScript SDKs can complicate adherence to privacy regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). These SDKs often collect user data without explicit consent, leading to potential non-compliance and erosion of user trust.

Inconsistent data: The widespread use of ad blockers and tracking prevention tools interferes with the execution of third-party scripts. This interference results in incomplete data collection, leading to inaccurate analytics and misguided business decisions.

In summary, while third-party JavaScript SDKs offer valuable functionalities, their unchecked proliferation hampers performance, escalates security and privacy risks, and undermines data reliability. Addressing these issues is crucial for optimizing web application efficiency and user trust.

Why Edgee Components can replace client-side workloads?

🚀 Better web performance

Unlike traditional JavaScript SDKs that run in the browser, Edgee Components run at the edge, reducing the client-side processing load. This results in:

• Faster page load times: No more blocking scripts or excessive client-side computations.
• Optimized resource usage: WebAssembly is compact and executes at near-native speed.
• Consistent experience across devices: Edge processing ensures fast, smooth interactions, even on low-powered devices.

⚡ More efficient & scalable workloads

Moving SDK logic to Edgee Components enables smarter data processing and reduces browser dependencies:

• Offload computations to the network edge: Reduce CPU/memory usage in the browser.
• Real-time processing: Run logic closer to the user, reducing latency.
• Simplified integration: Developers use lightweight components instead of embedding large SDKs.

🔒 Stronger security & compliance

With Edgee Components, third-party logic never runs directly in the user's browser, eliminating a major attack surface:

• Minimize security risks: No exposed JavaScript code that can be tampered with.
• Prevent supply chain attacks: Trusted components run in a controlled execution environment at the edge.
• Reduce client-side vulnerabilities: Edgee Components are sandboxed, making them safer than traditional JavaScript libraries.

🎯 Better developer experience

Moving workloads to Edgee Components lets developers focus on what matters most:

• Reduced maintenance burden: No more wrestling with complex client-side dependencies and version conflicts.
• Simplified debugging: Clear separation between Edgee Components and application logic makes issues easier to isolate.
• Cleaner codebase: Replace tangled JavaScript SDK implementations with lightweight components that run at the edge.
• Faster development cycles: Spend time building features instead of managing front-end integration spaghetti.
• Improved testing: Components can be tested independently at the edge, without browser compatibility concerns.

The Component-centric future of web development

JavaScript SDKs won't disappear overnight, but the shift towards WebAssembly components at the edge seems inevitable. Developers are increasingly demanding faster, more secure, and privacy-compliant solutions, and WebAssembly Components are the answer.

At Edgee, we're pioneering this transformation with our open-source Edge Component Platform, making it easier than ever for developers to create, manage, and share components that are efficient and interoperable, so workloads can run where they perform best.

With the launch of our Component Registry, developers can now easily implement Wasm components, without even thinking about the underlying complexity.

Getting Started with Edgee Components

Scenario 1: Simply use components on your website

If you're looking to leverage the power of Edgee Components without building your own, getting started with Edgee is only four steps:

1. Create an Edgee account: Sign up, it's free.

2. Create a new project: From your dashboard, create a new project and configure your domain settings.

3. Add the Edgee SDK: Integrate Edgee SDK into your website automatically or manually

4. Activate components: Navigate to the Data Collection section of your project and click "Add a component." You'll find a variety of pre-built components for popular services:

   • Analytics components: Google Analytics, Amplitude, Segment, Piano Analytics
   • Conversion API components: Meta CAPI, LinkedIn CAPI, Snapchat CAPI, Pinterest CAPI
   • Data storage components: Amazon S3, Amazon Kinesis, Amazon Data Firehose
   • Consent mapping components: Axeptio, Didomi, OneTrust

That's it! Your website is now using Edgee Components instead of client-side JavaScript SDKs. Edgee automatically captures events and sends them to your preferred analytics solutions.

Learn more about these steps on our documentation

Scenario 2: Building your own components and using them at edge

If you need custom functionality or want to contribute to the component ecosystem, you can build your own Edgee Components:

1. Install the Edgee CLI

Start by installing the command-line interface:

curl https://install.edgee.cloud | sh

2. Log in to your account:

edgee login

3. Create a new component

Generate a starter template in your preferred programming language:

edgee components new

Follow the prompts to name your component and select a language (C, C#, Go, JavaScript, Python, Rust, or TypeScript).

4. Implement your component logic

The generated template includes the necessary structure and examples. Your component needs to implement three main functions:

• page: Handles page view events
• track: Handles custom event tracking
• user: Handles user identification events

Each function receives an event object and your component's settings, and returns an HTTP request that Edgee will make on your behalf, using the correct headers and body.

5. Define your component settings

In the edgee-component.toml file, specify what settings your component requires (API keys, endpoints, etc.):

[component.settings.api_key]
title = "API Key"
type = "string"
required = true
description = "Your service API key"

6. Build and test locally

Compile your component to Wasm and test it locally with sample events:

# Build your component
edgee components build

# Test with sample events
edgee components test --event-type page --settings "api_key=test123"

7. Push to the registry

Finally, push your component to the registry:

edgee components push

Choose whether to make your component public (available to all Edgee users) or private (only for your organization).

8. Use your component

Once published, your component will appear in the Edgee Component Registry. You can add it to any of your projects through the Edgee console.

The beauty of this approach is that you can create specialized components for your organization's needs or contribute to the broader ecosystem by publishing public components.

From SDKs to Components: A new chapter in web architecture

The shift from JavaScript SDKs to WebAssembly components at the edge represents a fundamental evolution in web development. By moving third-party functionality from the client to the edge, we're addressing the core issues that have plagued web applications for years:

• Performance: Edgee Components eliminate the performance penalties of client-side JavaScript SDKs
• Security: Sandboxed execution at the edge reduces attack surfaces and prevents supply chain attacks
• Privacy: Edge processing enables better compliance with privacy regulations
• Data integrity: Bypass ad blockers and tracking prevention for complete, accurate data
• Developer experience: Simplify integration and maintenance with a component-centric approach

The Edgee Component Registry makes this powerful technology accessible to all developers, whether you're using pre-built components or creating your own. As the ecosystem grows, we'll see an increasing variety of components addressing different use cases. And this is just the beginning of the component-centric web: we're already cooking new categories of component to do more than analytics!

Ready to join the movement? Sign up for Edgee today and start replacing your JavaScript SDKs with Edgee Components.