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Limitations

Pikku is designed to be pragmatic and focused. Here are the current limitations you should be aware of.

JSON-Only Input/Output​

Pikku functions primarily work with JSON-serializable data:

  • Primitives: strings, numbers, booleans, null
  • Objects and arrays: Plain objects and arrays of JSON values
  • Binary data: Early support for ArrayBuffers and WebSocket data blobs (not fully tested yet)

File Uploads​

File uploads are not yet fully supported. See the content service documentation for our planned approach to file handling.

Not a Standalone Server​

Pikku is not a standalone HTTP server or runtime. It requires an adapter:

  • Express, Fastify, Bun, Next.js
  • AWS Lambda, Cloudflare Workers
  • And more...

This is by design - Pikku focuses on business logic and routing, not server concerns like connection handling or request parsing.

Runtime Support​

Current runtime support:

  • Supported: Node.js 18+, Bun
  • Planned: Deno support
  • Planned: Browser support for sharing logic between client/server (with serverless dependencies)

Pikku currently generates type-safe client wrappers for browsers, but running Pikku functions directly in the browser is planned for future releases.

Early Stage (v0.x)​

Pikku is in active development. While stable for production use:

  • Breaking changes possible - Follow semver within 0.x (0.1 → 0.2 may break)
  • API may evolve - Feedback shapes the framework
  • Documentation gaps - Some advanced features not fully documented yet

We take stability seriously, but version 0.x means we're still refining the API based on real-world usage.

TypeScript-First​

Pikku is built around TypeScript. The core features — automatic schema generation, type-safe clients, and tree-shaking — all rely on static analysis of your types. JavaScript projects can use Pikku, but without TypeScript you lose most of what makes it useful.

Next Steps​

Despite these limitations, Pikku handles most backend use cases effectively. Ready to get started?