---
layout: changelog
title: "Faster cold starts for Appwrite Sites and Functions with SquashFS"
date: 2026-08-12
cover: /images/blog/announcing-deployment-retention/cover.avif
tags: functions, sites, performance
---

New [Appwrite Sites](/docs/products/sites) and [Functions](/docs/products/functions) deployments on Appwrite Cloud now use **SquashFS**. Appwrite mounts the compressed, read-only artifact instead of extracting every file, which removes the extraction step from cold starts.

- **Up to 51% faster** on the format-dependent cold-start path for larger deployments.
- **Near-constant mount time** as a deployment grows, where extraction time climbed with archive size.
- **More predictable startup**, with less pressure on the cold-start timeout.

Sites typically have larger artifacts than Functions, so they will see the more substantial improvements.

Existing Sites and Functions keep running normally and are not rewritten in place. To migrate one, open its **Deployments** tab and redeploy the active deployment, or create a new deployment through your existing Git, CLI, or manual workflow. No source-code or configuration change is required.

[Read the announcement to learn more](/blog/post/appwrite-sites-squashfs-migration)