Encore is a backend development framework and infrastructure automation platform designed to simplify building distributed systems and APIs. It lets developers define services, APIs, databases, cron jobs, and event-driven workflows directly in code, while automatically handling infrastructure provisioning, wiring, and deployment.

Instead of manually configuring cloud resources like databases, message queues, and observability stacks, Encore uses static analysis of your codebase to generate and manage the required infrastructure. This includes local development environments, staging previews, and production deployments across cloud providers such as AWS and GCP.

Encore is built around the idea of “infrastructure from code,” where declaring services in TypeScript or Go automatically produces service discovery, API routing, database setup, Pub/Sub systems, and distributed tracing without additional configuration files or DevOps glue code.

The framework includes a built-in development environment that runs everything locally with a single command, automatically spinning up databases, event systems, and dashboards. It also provides auto-generated documentation, service catalogs, architecture diagrams, and tracing tools to help developers understand system behavior in real time.

Performance-wise, Encore uses a Rust-based runtime layer for request handling and validation, enabling high throughput while maintaining developer-friendly abstractions. It is designed to reduce operational overhead and speed up development for teams building microservices or event-driven systems.

Key features include:

• Infrastructure-as-code directly from TypeScript or Go
• Automatic provisioning of databases, queues, and services
• Built-in Pub/Sub, cron jobs, and background tasks
• Local dev environment with full production parity
• Auto-generated docs, service catalog, and architecture diagrams
• Distributed tracing and observability built in
• Multi-cloud deployment support (AWS, GCP, etc.)
• Rust-accelerated runtime for performance

Common use cases include:

• Building distributed backend systems
• Microservices architectures
• Event-driven applications
• APIs with integrated infrastructure
• Internal developer platforms
• Production systems requiring strong observability and minimal DevOps overhead

Encore is developed by Encore (encore.dev) as an open-source backend framework with an accompanying cloud platform for managed deployments.