Explanation

Which workflows benefit

accrete helps when an agent runs the same pure CLI many times. The first call pays for a build. Every call after that is a function call.

Measured

Each workflow ran the real CLI with npx on a laptop (cache warm), then through the Pi extension client against accrete: once cold, then repeated. Every accrete output was compared with the npx output.

Workflow	Laptop `npx`	accrete, 1st call	accrete, repeat	Faster
Compile SCSS on every save `sass@1.80.6`	582 ms	5785 ms	177 ms	3×
Minify a bundle before each commit `terser@5.36.0`	488 ms	4493 ms	87 ms	6×
Format SQL migrations `sql-formatter@15.4.5`	515 ms	4222 ms	82 ms	6×
Convert YAML config to JSON `js-yaml@4.1.0`	462 ms	3702 ms	69 ms	7×
Render Markdown docs to HTML `marked@14.1.4`	482 ms	2854 ms	26 ms	19×
Check versions against a range `semver@7.6.3`	476 ms	3121 ms	69 ms	7×

Output identical to npx on every call: yes. Container time across all repeat calls: 0.00 s. Times are p50.

Receipt: bench/workflows/latest.json · 10 repeats per workflow · darwin, Node v22.22.2 · accrete on local wrangler dev · digest 3a652668518c

How to read this

Repeat vs laptop. A warm npx call still starts Node and loads the package: about half a second. A lifted tool is already loaded in an isolate.
First call. The first call to a tool and version is slower than npx, because it builds the tool and checks it against the real CLI. It happens once per tool version, for every agent that shares your Worker.
Container time on repeat. It is 0.00 s on every row. No repeat call started a container.
Where it ran. These numbers are from accrete on local wrangler dev. A deployed Worker adds your network round trip and removes laptop CPU from the path.

Good fits

Compile on every save: sass, lessc, tsc type checks.
Format before every commit: sql-formatter, js-yaml normalization.
Minify or transform build output: terser, marked, markdown-it, mustache.
Many agents, same tools: a team or a fleet shares one registry, so only the first agent anywhere pays the build.
Agents that run in the cloud with no local Node at all.

Poor fits

One-off commands. The first call costs more than npx.
Tools that need the network, native binaries, or code generation at run time. prettier is an example: it loads its CLI with new Function, so accrete rejects it and it stays a container tool.
Tools that read files you do not send. accrete only sees inputs.

Edit this page