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fastify/fast-json-stringify

Analysis updated 2026-07-03

3,696JavaScriptAudience · developerComplexity · 2/5LicenseSetup · easy

TLDR

JavaScript library that serializes objects to JSON up to 2.5x faster than JSON.stringify by using a pre-declared JSON Schema to generate a specialized serializer function for your data shape.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((repo))
    What it does
      Fast JSON serialization
      Schema-based generation
      Field filtering
    Tech stack
      JavaScript
      Node.js
      JSON Schema Draft 7
    Use cases
      Speed up API responses
      Strip unknown fields
      Fastify integration
    Audience
      Backend developers
      Performance engineers
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What do people build with it?

USE CASE 1

Speed up JSON serialization in a high-throughput Node.js API by replacing JSON.stringify with a schema-generated function tailored to your object shape.

USE CASE 2

Automatically strip unknown or sensitive fields from API responses by defining a schema that lists only the fields you want to expose.

USE CASE 3

Serialize objects containing BigInt, Date, or RegExp fields to JSON without writing custom replacer functions.

USE CASE 4

Integrate natively with the Fastify web framework for fast route response serialization with no extra setup.

What is it built with?

JavaScriptNode.jsJSON Schema

How does it compare?

fastify/fast-json-stringifyswiip/generator-gulp-angulartechxuexi/techxuexi-js
Stars3,6963,6943,698
LanguageJavaScriptJavaScriptJavaScript
Setup difficultyeasyeasyeasy
Complexity2/52/51/5
Audiencedeveloperdevelopergeneral

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you get it running?

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min
MIT licensed, use freely for any purpose including commercial, as long as you keep the copyright notice.

In plain English

fast-json-stringify is a JavaScript library that converts objects to JSON text faster than the built-in JSON.stringify function. The speed gain comes from a trade-off: instead of inspecting the object at runtime to figure out its structure, you describe the structure in advance using a JSON Schema, and the library uses that description to generate a specialized serializer function. That generated function skips the type-checking work that JSON.stringify does every time it runs. The performance benefit is most pronounced for small objects. The benchmark numbers in the README show short strings serializing at around 29 million operations per second compared to 12 million for JSON.stringify, and plain objects at around 7 million versus 4.5 million. For large arrays the advantage disappears, the library is actually slower than JSON.stringify on those, and the README states this limitation plainly. Usage follows a two-step pattern: call the library with your schema to get back a stringify function, then call that function on your data. The schema describes the types of each field using JSON Schema Draft 7 format. Fields not present in the schema are omitted from the output. Required fields that are missing will throw an error. The library also handles JavaScript-specific types that do not have direct JSON equivalents: Date objects are converted to ISO 8601 strings, RegExp values are converted to strings, and BigInt values are serialized as integers. Additional features documented in the README include support for schema references (so you can reuse sub-schemas), anyOf and oneOf for fields that can hold more than one type, a configurable rounding mode for numbers that are supposed to be integers but arrive as floats, and a large-array mode that changes the internal mechanism for arrays above 20,000 items. A standalone mode can write the generated function to a file so it can be loaded without the library at runtime. The library is part of the Fastify web framework ecosystem and is licensed under the MIT license.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
Show me how to use fast-json-stringify to serialize a User object with id (integer), name (string), and createdAt (Date). Include the schema definition and the two-step call pattern.
Prompt 2
I have a Fastify route that returns a list of user objects. How do I attach a fast-json-stringify schema to the route response so serialization is faster?
Prompt 3
Using fast-json-stringify, how do I define an anyOf field that can be either a string or null? What error is thrown if the value doesn't match?
Prompt 4
How do I use fast-json-stringify's standalone mode to write the generated serializer to a file and load it at runtime without the library installed?

Frequently asked questions

What is fast-json-stringify?

JavaScript library that serializes objects to JSON up to 2.5x faster than JSON.stringify by using a pre-declared JSON Schema to generate a specialized serializer function for your data shape.

What language is fast-json-stringify written in?

Mainly JavaScript. The stack also includes JavaScript, Node.js, JSON Schema.

What license does fast-json-stringify use?

MIT licensed, use freely for any purpose including commercial, as long as you keep the copyright notice.

How hard is fast-json-stringify to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated easy, with roughly 5min to a first successful run.

Who is fast-json-stringify for?

Mainly developer.

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