Learn How wasmtime Works with WebAssembly Modules and Components
In this Shortcut, I am finally going to introduce you to the man behind the wasmtime curtain. OK, I’m using a metaphor; there is no man behind the curtain. But I am going to give you a deeper sense of what is going on to enable several of the wasmtime-based examples we have used in recent Shortcuts. Keep in mind that wasmtime is just one implementation of a WASI-enabled host environment. Other host environments will have similar ideas but may work slightly differently.
Also keep in mind that I am showing you a standalone, custom host application. You may have followed along as I previously ran the wasmtime executable on its own. The executable is able to invoke behavior in components and modules, a topic we will revisit in a future Shortcut. If you have followed any of the recent WASI-related Shortcuts, you will have seen the example-host application that I frequently used to run an add function from various WebAssembly components. We will return to that application’s implementation shortly, but for now I am just going to walk you through a standalone version of the wasmtime “Hello, World!” example.
In the GitHub repository for this Shortcut, enter the directory 26-Wasmtime-Dive. In it, you will find only a readme.md file describing the installation instructions for the tools so you can follow along. You will do everything else by hand.
Once you’ve installed ...
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