Leveraging Web APIs for Portable JavaScript Libraries

Just how far can today’s web APIs take us? JavaScript now offers APIs that handle data streams, manipulate buffers, and model state machines, yet they’re often overlooked. These powerful tools might not show up in everyday development, but they lay the groundwork for building faster, more versatile libraries.

In this session, we’ll dive into what I’ve learned by creating a Postgres client that runs entirely on native web APIs. We’ll discuss the challenges and trade-offs, and how it compares to traditional approaches. We’ll also explore portability across environments like Node.js, Deno, Bun, and even browsers. Come see how far web capabilities can go and what this means for the future of the JavaScript ecosystem.

This talk is designed for intermediate JavaScript developers, but developers of any experience level will learn something new. You’ll discover powerful APIs built into JavaScript runtimes, learn tips for authoring more flexible libraries, and, as a bonus, see how database wire protocols work.