Fastify v5 is Here!

As a proud sponsor and active contributor to the Fastify project, we're thrilled to announce the release of Fastify v5.

Fastify has rapidly become an essential framework for modern Node.js development, offering developers the speed, efficiency, and scalability they crave. This latest release marks a major step forward for the open-source community, and we're excited to be a part of it.

My first encounter with Fastify

My journey with Fastify began in 2016 when I met Matteo Collina, the co-author of Fastify and my future Platformatic co-founder. At the time, I was a software development consultant and entrepreneur, constantly seeking innovative tools to streamline our development process.

Around the same time, I co-founded a startup called LetzDoIt. As myself and my co-founder began looking for a tool to accelerate our development efforts, Matteo introduced me to the then-primitive idea of Fastify. The framework's promise of speed, efficiency, and a plugin-based architecture immediately caught my attention.

Driven by our belief in the framework's potential, LetzDoIt decided to invest in Fastify's growth. We dedicated a portion of our resources to support the project via its co-author, Tomas Della Vedova’s, work.

This investment was not just about financial backing; it was a commitment to the Open Source community.

From User to Contributor

My passion for Fastify grew further as I recognized its alignment with best practices in building Node.js applications at scale.

One of my proudest moments was contributing to the development of Fastify Hooks. While on a plane ride to Vancouver, I wrote the code for this essential feature. Seeing my contribution become a valuable part of the framework was a truly rewarding experience.

Fastify Today

In August 2024 alone, Fastify reached an astounding 7.8 million monthly downloads.

Fastify's growth is a testament to the hard work of its 22 maintainers, 400 active contributors, and the dedication of the community at large. With over 4,000 commits, 285 releases, and 296 officially recognized plugins, Fastify has proven its staying power.

Why Sponsoring Open Source Projects Matters

At Platformatic, we believe that Open Source projects like Fastify are the backbone of innovation. Sponsoring Fastify allows us to contribute directly to the tools we rely on, ensuring that they remain sustainable, secure, and future-proof. These projects are critical to the developer community and the broader tech industry, enabling teams to build and scale applications with greater efficiency.

So what’s new with v5?

This release had 2 main objectives:

1. Simplify long-term maintenance by dropping support for outdated Node.js versions, with Fastify v5 now targeting Node.js v20 and above.

2. Streamline the framework by removing all deprecated APIs that have accumulated over the past two years of improvements

For detailed information on upgrading to v5, check out the migration guide here.

See the full release announcement here.