Rivet Engine

What is Rivet Engine?

Rivet Engine is the backend engine that powers Rivet Actors at scale. It's an optional component of the Rivet ecosystem that provides enterprise-grade infrastructure for running stateful workloads with long-lived processes, durable state, and realtime capabilities.

While you can use RivetKit (the TypeScript library) with a file system or memory driver for development, Rivet Engine provides production-ready infrastructure for:

Automatic scaling from zero to millions of concurrent actors
Distributed state management with fast, in-memory state storage
Actor lifecycle management with hibernation and instant wake-up
Built-in resilience with automatic failover and recovery
Edge deployment for low-latency global distribution

Think of it as the production runtime that takes your RivetKit actors and scales them effortlessly across distributed infrastructure.

Key Features

Production-Ready Scaling: Automatically scale from zero to millions of concurrent actors with no cold starts
Distributed State Storage: State is stored on the same machine as your compute for ultra-fast reads and writes with no database latency
Actor Lifecycle Management: Actors automatically hibernate when idle and wake instantly on demand, only consuming resources when active
Built-In Realtime: Native support for WebSockets and SSE for realtime state updates and broadcasting
Resilient Infrastructure: Automatic failover and recovery with state integrity preservation
Edge-Ready: Deploy actors close to users for instant interactions
Multi-Runtime Support: Works with Node.js, Bun, Deno, and Cloudflare Workers
API Integration: RESTful API for managing runners, actors, and namespaces
Built on Web Standards: Uses standard HTTP, WebSockets, and SSE protocols

Use Cases

Rivet Engine powers applications that require:

AI Agents: Durable AI assistants with persistent memory and realtime streaming capabilities
Realtime Collaboration: Collaborative documents, whiteboards, and tools with CRDTs and realtime synchronization
Durable Workflows: Multi-step workflows with automatic state management and recovery
Local-First Applications: Offline-first apps with server-side synchronization and conflict resolution
Chatbots & Automation: Discord, Slack, or autonomous bots with persistent conversation state
Per-User Databases: Isolated data stores for each user with zero-latency access
Multiplayer Games: Authoritative game servers with realtime state synchronization
Background Processing: Scheduled and recurring jobs without external queue infrastructure
Rate Limiting: Distributed rate limiting with in-memory counters and state

How It Works

Rivet Engine provides a backend runtime that:

Manages Actors: Coordinates actor lifecycle, hibernation, and wake-up across distributed infrastructure
Handles State: Stores actor state in memory for fast access, with persistent backup to storage backends
Routes Requests: Efficiently routes client requests to the correct actor instance
Scales Dynamically: Automatically spawns and destroys actor instances based on demand
Ensures Resilience: Monitors health and automatically recovers failed actors with state preservation

Integration with RivetKit

Rivet Engine works seamlessly with RivetKit, the TypeScript library for building actors:

Development: Use RivetKit with file system or memory drivers for local development
Production: Deploy to Rivet Engine for automatic scaling and enterprise features
Self-Hosted: Run Rivet Engine on your own infrastructure for full control
Managed: Use Rivet Cloud for 1-click deployment with managed infrastructure

Deployment Options

Deploy Rivet Engine on:

Self-Hosted (Coolify, Docker, Kubernetes)
Cloud Platforms (Vercel, Railway, AWS ECS, Google Cloud Run, Hetzner)
Rivet Cloud (Managed, 1-click deployment)

Storage Backends

Rivet Engine supports multiple storage backends for actor state:

PostgreSQL
File System
Memory (development/testing)
Custom storage adapters