Reference

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The binary

Kiln ships as a 22 MB binary for macOS, Linux and Windows. In containers, the image is 22 MB and cold start is 11 ms.

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What it runs

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Files Kiln reads

• package.json — dependencies, scripts and workspaces
• tsconfig.json — compiler options
• node_modules — your installed tree
• npm, yarn and pnpm lockfiles — dependency versions
• eslint config — rules for kiln lint
• Makefile — targets for kiln task
• kiln.toml — task definitions for kiln task

Each file stays in place. There is no migration step and no config file to write first.

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Isolation

Every route, worker and test file runs in its own isolate with its own heap. A panic in one is a stack trace and a restart, not a dead process.

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Channels

You can pin a channel per project. Rolling back is kiln pin, not a reinstall. Stable ships with a two-year support window.

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Verified numbers

Every number comes out of kiln bench on the reference bench: Linux x64, AMD EPYC 9R14, 64 vCPU, a T3-stack app with 25 direct dependencies and 220 packages in the lockfile, node_modules removed before each run. Install numbers are medians of 3 runs, hot reload medians of 20. Node 26.12.0, Bun 1.4.3, Deno 2.9.7, npm 12, pnpm 11.21 and yarn 1.22 run at defaults.