Design it. Build it. Deploy it.

Create object-oriented software that's stable, easy to maintain, and deploys smoothly — all from the same comprehensive development environment.

VAST 2025 - Foundation: Abstract Illustration

What is the VAST Platform?

The VAST Platform is a comprehensive integrated development environment (IDE) that works with a Smalltalk language runtime. Because it's Smalltalk-based, the IDE and the runtime are essentially a development 'image' that's executed by a virtual machine (VM).

First released as IBM® VisualAge® Smalltalk in 1993, the VAST Platform has built upon this original foundation starting in 2005 and has continued to grow in power and flexibility through ongoing research and development.

VAST has evolved beyond what the original VisualAge developers could have foreseen, and allows developers to quickly iterate new ideas with proven Smalltalk-based live programming methodologies and deploy to a variety of desktop, cloud, Internet of Things (IoT), and on-premise server hardware.

The visual evolution of VAST

"The dynamic nature of Smalltalk plus the rich and stable toolset of the VAST Platform — paired with the pace of innovation at Instantiations — puts everything in your hands that's needed to build and maintain sustainable systems."

Joachim Tuchel

Founder, objektfabrik

Proven by the Enterprise. Available to Everyone.

For more than 15 years, VAST has been setting the standard for software stability and maintainability for businesses of all sizes.

Stability with Innovation

Maintaining stability with software is easy if it never changes. While we know stability is essential, continued innovation and keeping pace with ever-evolving standards cannot be overlooked.

Speed plus Efficiency

With low memory usage, and fast just-in-time (JIT) compilation, Instantiations' VAST virtual machine (VM) has been optimized for decades at this point, and is now much faster than IBM's original VM.

Built-in Security

VAST includes the latest cryptographic libraries, like OpenSSL® 3.0 (with FIPS support), and other advanced frameworks to help developers keep their software secure and meeting current standards.

Cross-Platform Development

The VAST Platform is available for the latest versions of Windows® and various Linux® distributions. VAST can develop and deploy on both 32 and 64-bit Intel®/AMD® and ARM® -based hardware.

Code Once. Deploy Anywhere.

Develop your software from a single development machine and easily deploy to on-premise servers, cloud services, and IoT devices with deployment image sizes that can be less than 1MB. VAST works well with Docker®, Kubernetes®, and OpenShift® containers too.

VAST is powered by Smalltalk

Smalltalk was ahead of its time, and its characteristics still prove to be best-in-class with dynamic languages.

Powerful, Simple Syntax

There are only 6 reserved keywords in the VAST Platform (Smalltalk) and the language itself is one of the most human-readable programming languages. VAST works through message sends between objects and those messages are implemented as methods.

Fully Object-Oriented

Literally everything in VAST is an object. Use a consistent and powerful model for building programs without having to switch between objects and non-objects. Our virtual machine does a tremendous amount of optimizations to improve the speed of this approach.

Efficiency with Snapshots

VAST uses development images that are run by a virtual machine. It's like having your own operating system that you can save, rollback, and distribute all from the same place. Snapshots enable resuming work exactly where you left off at a later point...even on a different computer.

Live & Remote Debugging

VAST is able to run your program, debug it, and modify it while it's running in a live environment. Fine-tune the behavior on-the-fly without needing to recompile or stop execution. Stack traces can be snapshotted to resume debugging later, even from remote locations.

Exceptional Productivity

Smalltalk programmers have touted exceptional productivity in the language for years, and a recent study has indicated that Smalltalk can be more productive than languages like Java, Python, Ruby, and C#.

Comprehensive Development Platform

VAST is not just another IDE and language runtime. Included within VAST are hundreds of libraries and tools to help improve stability, productivity, and security within your application.

I have built significant software systems in several different languages. And so, I can say with experience and conviction that Smalltalk is the most productive development language I have ever used.

Heather Kirk

President/Lead Developer, SpinnakerWare Inc.

Hundreds of Features, Frameworks, Libraries

All are included in the platform to improve stability, productivity, and security within your application.

Type Analysis & Enhanced Code Completion

Asynchronous Programming

OsProcess code example using Ruby, Dart, Python, and Smalltalk

Multi-CPU Capable with FFI & OsProcess

Advanced Unicode Capabilities

What's NEW Features

Support when you need it.

When you have a support plan with Instantiations, you get expert support to suit your specific needs.

SUPPORT PLANS

Engineer-Staffed Support

There's no outsourced support at Instantiations. Get supported directly by the engineers developing and maintaining VAST.

Get Support

Software Updates

Updates that include bug fixes and new features are available to all VAST customers with active support plans.

Licensed Downloads

Support Plan Options

Choose the support plan that's best for your needs.

Support Plans

Regular Software Releases

Keep up to date with Instantiations' yearly major releases, and multiple other releases per year in most cases.

Version History of VAST

ECAP Benefit

With our Early Customer Access Program (ECAP) benefit, you get access to pre-release versions of VAST and can provide feedback to our development team prior to the official release.

Learn more

Premier Support Available

For those with greater support needs, we offer enhanced Premier Support which includes a host of extra services.