surrealism

Surrealism -- WASM Extensions for SurrealDB

New in SurrealDB 3. Write custom functions in Rust, compile them to WebAssembly (WASM), and deploy them as native database modules callable from SurrealQL.

Prerequisites

• Rust toolchain (stable) with wasm32-unknown-unknown target
• SurrealDB CLI v3.1.4+ (surreal binary with surreal module subcommand)
• Familiarity with SurrealQL DEFINE MODULE and DEFINE BUCKET

Development Workflow

1. Annotate   -- surrealism.toml + #[surrealism] on Rust functions
2. Compile    -- surreal module compile  (produces .wasm binary)
3. Register   -- DEFINE BUCKET + DEFINE MODULE in SurrealQL

Quick Start

# Create a new Surrealism project
cargo new --lib my_extension
cd my_extension

# Add the WASM target
rustup target add wasm32-unknown-unknown

# Create surrealism.toml (required manifest)
cat > surrealism.toml << 'TOML'
[package]
name = "my_extension"
version = "0.1.0"
TOML

# Write your extension (annotate with #[surrealism])
cat > src/lib.rs << 'RUST'
use surrealism::surrealism;

#[surrealism]
fn greet(name: String) -> String {
    format!("Hello, {}!", name)
}
RUST

# Compile to WASM using SurrealDB CLI
surreal module compile

# Register in SurrealDB
surreal sql --endpoint http://localhost:8000 --user root --pass root --ns test --db test

-- Grant access to the WASM file
DEFINE BUCKET my_bucket;

-- Register the module functions
DEFINE MODULE my_extension FROM 'my_bucket:my_extension.wasm';

-- Use the function in queries
SELECT my_extension::greet('World');

Use Cases

• Custom scalar functions callable from SurrealQL
• Fake/mock data generation for testing
• Domain-specific logic (language processing, quantitative finance, custom encoding)
• Access to niche Rust crate functionality too specific for core SurrealDB
• Custom analyzers for full-text search

Status

Surrealism is actively in development and not yet stable. The API may change between SurrealDB 3.x releases. File feedback via GitHub issues/PRs on the surrealdb/surrealdb repository.