swc: @swc/core vs @swc/wasm

[cspotcode]

Using our "swc" option can greatly improve startup time because we use the SWC transpiler to transform code and we skip expensive typechecking.

SWC publishes two versions of the transpiler. We will automatically use whichever you have installed.

• @swc/core: native build
• @swc/wasm: WASM

I recommend trying @swc/core first. If that does not work, you can use @swc/wasm instead.

@swc/core

Pros

• Probably a tiny bit faster than @swc/wasm. Native modules have the potential to be a bit faster than WASM (citation needed)

Cons

• native module; may affect cross-platform situations where dependencies are installed on one platform and executed on another
• bigger install size, since it installs multiple versions for different OSes and processor architectures

@swc/wasm

Pros

• smaller install size: WASM is cross-platform; a single package works on all OSes and processor architectures

Cons

• Affected by tiered WebAssembly compilation broken nodejs/node#36616
  • Note that this bug is highly technical and it may not affect you. Test on your project to find out.