Fastly deployment candidates

Pulse produces separate Fastly Native and Fastly JavaScript Compute candidates. Local conformance, target building, external provider reality, remote deployment, and service activation are different proof levels.

This guide does not claim that a local simulation or offline build is a production deployment.

Configure bindings and target

The config/secret example is source-bound to a Fastly Native profile:

import { defineConfig } from '@pulse-compute/pulse'

export default defineConfig((scope) => ({
  pulse: {
    entry: 'src/index.ts',
    tests: 'tests/pulse.harness.ts',
    defaultProfile: 'local',
    strict: true,
  },
  local: {
    host: 'fastly',
    target: 'native',
    outDir: 'dist',
    apiBase: scope.config('API_BASE'),
    apiToken: scope.secret('API_TOKEN'),
    dev: {
      config: { API_BASE: 'https://api.example.com' },
      secrets: {
        API_TOKEN: 'local-example-secret',
        GRIP_TOKEN: 'local-grip-secret',
      },
      kv: {
        sessions: { 'session:123': { userId: 123 } },
      },
      fetches: {
        'https://api.example.com/users/7': {
          value: { id: 7, name: 'Ada' },
        },
        'POST https://publisher.example.com/publish': {
          status: 202,
          value: { accepted: true, messageId: 'message-1' },
        },
      },
    },
    fastly: {
      bindings: {
        configStore: 'app_config',
        secretStore: 'app_secrets',
        kv: { sessions: 'app_sessions' },
        backends: {
          'https://api.example.com': 'api_backend',
          'https://publisher.example.com': 'publisher_backend',
        },
        dynamicBackends: false,
        grip: {
          publishEndpoint: 'https://publisher.example.com/publish',
          publishBackend: 'publisher_backend',
          authentication: {
            scheme: 'bearer',
            secretRef: 'GRIP_TOKEN',
          },
        },
      },
      build: { name: 'pulse-fastly-capabilities-example' },
    },
  },
}))

Select the JavaScript candidate explicitly with target: 'javascript'.

The dev values and fixtures are local conformance inputs. They do not create or populate Fastly Config Stores, Secret Stores, KV Stores, backends, Fanout resources, or services. Deployment resource names belong under fastly.bindings.

Validate locally

pulse doctor
pulse test
pulse dev

For both Fastly targets, test and dev use provider-owned local execution. Fastly JavaScript identifies this as provider emulation. Fastly Native uses the canonical local runtime. Neither path contacts or proves a deployed service.

Build Fastly Native

pulse build

With target: 'native', Pulse compiles the provider-neutral plan and emits generated src/main.as.ts plus compact direct-host-ABI:

bin/main.wasm

The Wasm imports the required fastly_* hostcalls directly. It does not contain the Fastly JavaScript runtime, pulse_host, or a WASI dependency. The build manifest records exact provider bindings, required capabilities, target identity, compiler identity, and artifact hashes.

Build Fastly JavaScript

With target: 'javascript', pulse build emits a deterministic source and deployment closure:

src/index.js
src/application.js
fastly.toml
package.json
pulse-esbuild.config.js
pulse-fastly-javascript-candidate.json
pulse-fastly-javascript-deployment.json
pulse-fastly-javascript-source-package.json

The closure pins esbuild and @fastly/js-compute, bundles the reachable Pulse application and supported package implementations, and contains no Pulse Native artifact. Its downstream build produces bin/main.wasm; the candidate and deployment manifests bind that runtime artifact by SHA-256 and retain automaticFallback: false.

Pulse claims deterministic bytes for its source closure and deployment metadata. It does not claim byte-identical Wizer-owned runtime snapshots.

Provider reality is a separate gate

The external Native reality lane discovers the Fastly CLI and invokes:

fastly compute serve --file <candidate>/bin/main.wasm

and sends real HTTP requests through the generated module. It covers schemas, config, secrets, KV persistence, named-backend fetch, opaque bytes, repeated headers, and GRIP hold/publish.

The Fastly JavaScript offline candidate lane runs the exact pinned downstream compiler and validates the resulting runtime Wasm. It does not currently claim the same fastly compute serve reality execution.

The Sprint 7 final candidate must pass its mandatory external reality gate in the later packed/provider-reality checkpoint. Checkpoint 5 documents the boundary; it does not mark that external gate complete.

Remote deployment and activation

pulse build never runs fastly compute deploy. After candidate review, a human deployment owner must:

1. create or select the Fastly service and required resources;
2. ensure every configured binding names the intended resource;
3. supply account, service, and token authority outside the handler;
4. run the provider deployment command against the reviewed candidate;
5. verify the deployed service and external origins;
6. decide activation, traffic migration, and rollback.

Remote deployment and activation require explicit human authorization. A successful local conformance run, offline build, downstream JavaScript compile, or Native reality serve does not authorize those actions.

Proof-level checklist

Proof level	What it establishes	What it does not establish
pulse test / pulse dev	Canonical behavior and configured local mapping	Remote resources or deployed service health
pulse build	Deterministic provider candidate and metadata	External provider execution or deployment
Native reality gate	Real Fastly CLI-managed host-ABI execution	Remote service deployment or activation
JavaScript offline candidate gate	Exact downstream runtime compilation	Fastly serve, remote deployment, or activation
Human remote verification	Deployed service/resource behavior	Permission to publish or promote other release surfaces

See Project lifecycle, Fastly config, secrets, and KV, @pulse-compute/provider-fastly, Managed handler TypeScript and JavaScript, Provider and target compatibility, and Release acceptance.