alfast

Alfast is an open-source software framework designed to enable ultra-fast data processing and low-latency networked services. It provides an event-driven runtime, a modular plugin system, and language bindings for C++, Rust, and Python, enabling users to build high-performance services without sacrificing developer productivity.

The project originated from a collaboration among researchers and engineers in distributed systems and low-latency networking communities. The first public release appeared in 2023, with subsequent major releases focusing on portability, improved tooling, and broader language support.

At its core, Alfast comprises a scheduler, an I/O subsystem, and a plugin layer. It uses a coroutine-based concurrency model, zero-copy buffers, and memory pools to minimize overhead. The runtime can run on multi-core CPUs and leverages hardware acceleration where available, such as SIMD for data processing.

Key features include asynchronous task execution, high-throughput networking, efficient data serialization, protocol adapters, and built-in observability (metrics, tracing). Common use cases include real-time analytics, streaming services, and microservices backends requiring low tail latency.

Alfast is released under an open-source license and maintains a community-driven governance model. It supports interoperability with existing frameworks and services through adapters and standard interfaces, and invites contributions from developers, researchers, and operators.