diff --git a/.cargo/config.toml b/.cargo/config.toml
index b148603255..a3dba95c4e 100644
--- a/.cargo/config.toml
+++ b/.cargo/config.toml
@@ -1,3 +1,26 @@
+[target.aarch64-unknown-linux-musl]
+rustflags = [
+    "-Zpre-link-args=-target aarch64-linux-musl",
+    "-Ctarget-feature=+lse,+crt-static",
+    "-Ctarget-cpu=neoverse-n1",
+]
+linker = "./zigcc"
+ar = "zig ar"
+
+[target.x86_64-unknown-linux-musl]
+rustflags = [
+    "-Zpre-link-args=-target x86_64-linux-musl",
+    "-Ctarget-feature=+crt-static",
+]
+linker = "./zigcc"
+ar = "zig ar"
+
 [unstable]
 build-std = ["core", "compiler_builtins", "alloc", "std", "panic_abort"]
 build-std-features = ["panic_immediate_abort"]
+
+[env]
+CC_aarch64_unknown_linux_musl = "zig cc -target aarch64-linux-musl"
+CXX_aarch64_unknown_linux_musl = "zig cc -target aarch64-linux-musl"
+CC_x86_64_unknown_linux_musl = "zig cc -target x86_64-linux-musl"
+CXX_x86_64_unknown_linux_musl = "zig cc -target x86_64-linux-musl"
diff --git a/.github/workflows/build.yml b/.github/workflows/build.yml
index 6121185f4e..ba64477c32 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build.yml
@@ -79,15 +79,12 @@ jobs:
           CARGO_TARGET_AARCH64_UNKNOWN_LINUX_MUSL_RUNNER: qemu-aarch64
         run: |
           sudo apt-get install -y \
-            libc6-arm64-cross \
-            libc6-dev-arm64-cross \
-            crossbuild-essential-arm64 \
             qemu-system-arm \
             qemu-efi-aarch64 \
             qemu-utils \
             qemu-user
 
-          make CURRENT_TARGET=aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu test-ci
+          make CURRENT_TARGET=aarch64-unknown-linux-musl test-ci
       - name: Build Linux binaries
         if: inputs.release && inputs.platform == 'linux'
         run: |
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index aa9f58d77c..a6e5946800 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,39 +1,4 @@
-* Over 2x faster JSON parsing & stringify:
-  
-        Size 2580:
-                parse: 49.333µs vs. 89.792µs
-                stringify: 31µs vs. 92.375µs
-        Size 51701:
-                parse: 494.458µs vs. 1.160125ms
-                stringify: 427.791µs vs. 1.097625ms
-        Size 517001:
-                parse: 4.932875ms vs. 11.911375ms
-                stringify: 3.925875ms vs. 10.853125ms
-        Size 5170901:
-                parse: 56.0855ms vs. 126.783833ms
-                stringify: 38.671083ms vs. 107.312875ms
-        Size 51718901:
-                parse: 731.7205ms vs. 1.285825541s
-                stringify: 395.82225ms vs. 1.39267225s
-        Size 517288901:
-                parse: 6.886183416s vs. 14.985707583s
-                stringify: 3.957781167s vs. 10.885577917s
-
-* 7x faster integer and float toString():
-        
-        Benchmark 1: target/release/llrt
-        Time (mean ± σ):      1.568 s ±  0.016 s    [User: 1.555 s, System: 0.007 s]
-        Range (min … max):    1.558 s …  1.610 s    10 runs
-        
-        Benchmark 2: target/release/llrt-next
-        Time (mean ± σ):     205.1 ms ±   3.1 ms    [User: 196.9 ms, System: 2.2 ms]
-        Range (min … max):   200.0 ms … 213.1 ms    14 runs
-        
-        Summary
-        target/release/llrt-next ran
-        7.65 ± 0.14 times faster than target/release/llrt
-
-* Improved logging:
-  * LLRT now supports [advanced logging controls](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/compute/introducing-advanced-logging-controls-for-aws-lambda-functions/) for AWS Lambda
-  * `requestId` is now captured and outputted with logging
-  * Console has some performance improvements by reusing String and avoiding allocations
+* Use MiMalloc allocator for improved performance.
+* Switch libc from gnu to musl
+* Bug fixes
+* Dependency upgrades
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index eaa9e37c33..da7cd37a23 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -739,9 +739,19 @@ version = "0.2.152"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "13e3bf6590cbc649f4d1a3eefc9d5d6eb746f5200ffb04e5e142700b8faa56e7"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "libmimalloc-sys"
+version = "0.1.35"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "3979b5c37ece694f1f5e51e7ecc871fdb0f517ed04ee45f88d15d6d553cb9664"
+dependencies = [
+ "cc",
+ "libc",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "llrt"
-version = "0.1.4-beta"
+version = "0.1.5-beta"
 dependencies = [
  "async-trait",
  "base64-simd",
@@ -758,6 +768,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "itoa",
  "jwalk",
  "libc",
+ "libmimalloc-sys",
  "md-5",
  "nanoid",
  "once_cell",
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 5648162583..8633bec9ef 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [package]
 name = "llrt"
-version = "0.1.4-beta"
+version = "0.1.5-beta"
 edition = "2021"
 
 [features]
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ md-5 = { version = "0.10.6", features = ["asm"] }
 rquickjs = { git = "https://github.com/DelSkayn/rquickjs", rev = "60696e88dfb903d8f5cd81b2667fb3f64f9e9f67", features = [
     "full-async",
     "parallel",
+    "rust-alloc",
 ], default-features = false }
 tokio = { version = "1", features = ["full"] }
 tracing = { version = "0.1.40", features = ["log"] }
@@ -66,10 +67,12 @@ tokio-rustls = { version = "0.25.0", features = [
     "ring",
 ], default-features = false }
 ring = "0.17.7"
+libmimalloc-sys = "0.1.35"
 
 [build-dependencies]
 rquickjs = { git = "https://github.com/DelSkayn/rquickjs", rev = "60696e88dfb903d8f5cd81b2667fb3f64f9e9f67", features = [
     "full-async",
+    "rust-alloc",
 ], default-features = false }
 relative-path = "1.9.0"
 tokio = { version = "1", features = ["full"] }
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 6724879c8a..6867134f7c 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-TARGET_linux_x86_64 = x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
-TARGET_linux_arm64 = aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu
+TARGET_linux_x86_64 = x86_64-unknown-linux-musl
+TARGET_linux_arm64 = aarch64-unknown-linux-musl
 TARGET_darwin_x86_64 = x86_64-apple-darwin
 TARGET_darwin_arm64 = aarch64-apple-darwin
 RUST_VERSION = nightly
@@ -7,7 +7,10 @@ TOOLCHAIN = +$(RUST_VERSION)
 BUILD_ARG = $(TOOLCHAIN) build -r
 BUILD_DIR = ./target/release
 BUNDLE_DIR = bundle
-ZSTD_LIB_ARGS = -j lib-nomt CC="$(CURDIR)/zigcc -s -O3 -flto" AR="zig ar" UNAME=Linux ZSTD_LIB_COMPRESSION=0 ZSTD_LIB_DICTBUILDER=0
+ZSTD_LIB_ARGS = -j lib-nomt UNAME=Linux ZSTD_LIB_COMPRESSION=0 ZSTD_LIB_DICTBUILDER=0 AR="zig ar"
+ZSTD_LIB_CC_ARGS = -s -O3 -flto
+ZSTD_LIB_CC_arm64 = CC="zig cc -target aarch64-linux-musl $(ZSTD_LIB_CC_ARGS)" 
+ZSTD_LIB_CC_x64 = CC="zig cc -target aarch64-linux-musl $(ZSTD_LIB_CC_ARGS)"
 
 TS_SOURCES = $(wildcard src/js/*.ts) $(wildcard src/js/@llrt/*.ts) $(wildcard tests/*.ts)
 STD_JS_FILE = $(BUNDLE_DIR)/@llrt/std.js
@@ -27,29 +30,8 @@ else
 	ARCH := $(shell uname -m)
 endif
 
-ifeq ($(DETECTED_OS),darwin)
-	export AR = $(CURDIR)/zigar
-	export CC_aarch64_unknown_linux_gnu = $(CURDIR)/zigcc
-	export CCX_aarch64_unknown_linux_gnu = $(CURDIR)/zigcc
-	export CARGO_TARGET_AARCH64_UNKNOWN_LINUX_GNU_LINKER = $(CURDIR)/zigcc
-	export CARGO_TARGET_AARCH64_UNKNOWN_LINUX_GNU_RUSTFLAGS = -Ctarget-feature=+crt-static,+lse -Ctarget-cpu=neoverse-n1
-
-	export CC_x86_64_unknown_linux_gnu = $(CURDIR)/zigcc
-	export CXX_x86_64_unknown_linux_gnu = $(CURDIR)/zigcc
-	export CARGO_TARGET_X86_64_UNKNOWN_LINUX_GNU_LINKER = $(CURDIR)/zigcc
-else ifeq ($(DETECTED_OS),linux)
-	export CARGO_TARGET_X86_64_UNKNOWN_LINUX_GNU_RUSTFLAGS = -Ctarget-feature=+crt-static
-	export CARGO_TARGET_X86_64_UNKNOWN_LINUX_GNU_LINKER = x86_64-linux-gnu-gcc
-
-	export CARGO_TARGET_AARCH64_UNKNOWN_LINUX_GNU_RUSTFLAGS = -Clink-arg=-Wl,--allow-multiple-definition -Ctarget-feature=+crt-static,+lse -Ctarget-cpu=neoverse-n1
-	export CARGO_TARGET_AARCH64_UNKNOWN_LINUX_GNU_LINKER = aarch64-linux-gnu-gcc
-
-endif
-
 CURRENT_TARGET ?= $(TARGET_$(DETECTED_OS)_$(ARCH))
 
-export COMPILE_TARGET = $(CURRENT_TARGET)
-
 lambda-all: libs $(RELEASE_ZIPS)
 release-all: | lambda-all llrt-linux-x64.zip llrt-linux-arm64.zip llrt-darwin-x64.zip llrt-darwin-arm64.zip
 release: llrt-$(DETECTED_OS)-$(ARCH).zip
@@ -73,8 +55,8 @@ llrt-linux-arm64.zip: | clean-js js
 	zip -j $@ target/$(TARGET_linux_arm64)/release/llrt
 
 define release_template
-release-${1}: js
-	COMPILE_TARGET=$$(TARGET_linux_$$(RELEASE_ARCH_NAME_${1})) cargo $$(BUILD_ARG) --target $$(TARGET_linux_$$(RELEASE_ARCH_NAME_${1})) --features lambda -vv
+release-${1}: | clean-js js
+	cargo $$(BUILD_ARG) --target $$(TARGET_linux_$$(RELEASE_ARCH_NAME_${1})) --features lambda -vv
 	./pack target/$$(TARGET_linux_$$(RELEASE_ARCH_NAME_${1}))/release/llrt target/$$(TARGET_linux_$$(RELEASE_ARCH_NAME_${1}))/release/bootstrap
 	@rm -rf llrt-lambda-${1}.zip
 	zip -j llrt-lambda-${1}.zip target/$$(TARGET_linux_$$(RELEASE_ARCH_NAME_${1}))/release/bootstrap
@@ -132,13 +114,6 @@ run: export _HANDLER = index.handler
 run: | clean-js js
 	cargo run -r -vv
 
-run-release: export _HANDLER = fixtures/local.handler
-run-release: js
-	cargo build
-	time target/release/llrt
-	time target/release/llrt
-	time target/release/llrt
-
 run-ssr: export AWS_LAMBDA_RUNTIME_API = localhost:3000
 run-ssr: export TABLE_NAME=quickjs-table
 run-ssr: export AWS_REGION = us-east-1
@@ -175,13 +150,13 @@ lib/zstd.h:
 lib/arm64/libzstd.a: 
 	mkdir -p $(dir $@)
 	rm -f zstd/lib/-.o
-	cd zstd/lib && make clean && COMPILE_TARGET="aarch64-unknown-linux-musl" make $(ZSTD_LIB_ARGS)
+	cd zstd/lib && make clean && make $(ZSTD_LIB_ARGS) $(ZSTD_LIB_CC_arm64)
 	cp zstd/lib/libzstd.a $@
 
 lib/x64/libzstd.a:
 	mkdir -p $(dir $@)
 	rm -f zstd/lib/-.o
-	cd zstd/lib && make clean && COMPILE_TARGET="x86_64-unknown-linux-musl" make $(ZSTD_LIB_ARGS)
+	cd zstd/lib && make clean && make $(ZSTD_LIB_ARGS) $(ZSTD_LIB_CC_x64)
 	cp zstd/lib/libzstd.a $@ 
 
 bench:
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 9fdf83768e..d41dc6dce1 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -178,6 +178,11 @@ B) Without the JIT overhead, LLRT conserves both CPU and memory resources that c
 
 ## Building from source
 
+Clone code and cd to directory
+
+    git clone git@github.com:awslabs/llrt.git --recursive
+    cd llrt
+
 Install rust
 
     curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | bash -s -- -y
@@ -189,17 +194,9 @@ Install dependencies
     brew install zig make zstd node corepack
 
     # Ubuntu
-    sudo apt -y install make zstd gcc \
-      libc6-arm64-cross \
-      libc6-dev-arm64-cross \
-      crossbuild-essential-arm64
+    sudo apt -y install make zstd
     sudo snap install zig --classic --beta
 
-Clone code and cd to directory
-
-    git clone git@github.com:awslabs/llrt.git --recursive
-    cd llrt
-
 Install Node.js packages
 
     corepack enable
@@ -209,12 +206,16 @@ Install generate libs and setup rust targets & toolchains
 
     make stdlib && make libs
 
-Build release
+Build release for Lambda
 
     make release-arm64
     # or for x86, use
     make release-x86
 
+Optionally build for your local machine (Mac or Linux)
+
+    make release
+
 You should now have a `llrt-lambda-arm64.zip` or `llrt-lambda-x86.zip`. You can manually upload this as a Lambda layer or use it via your Infrastructure-as-code pipeline
 
 ## Running Lambda emulator
diff --git a/example/functions/src/ssr.ts b/example/functions/src/ssr.ts
index ff09515b7d..a1dc0275d6 100644
--- a/example/functions/src/ssr.ts
+++ b/example/functions/src/ssr.ts
@@ -147,7 +147,8 @@ const assetResponse = async (path: string) => {
 };
 
 export const handler = async (event: any) => {
-  const { method, path: eventPath } = event?.requestContext?.http || {};
+  const { method = "GET", path: eventPath = "/" } =
+    event?.requestContext?.http || {};
 
   try {
     const reqSegments: string[] = (eventPath as string)
diff --git a/src/allocator.rs b/src/allocator.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b3b41f1f69
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/allocator.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+use libmimalloc_sys as ffi;
+
+use core::alloc::{GlobalAlloc, Layout};
+use core::ffi::c_void;
+use core::sync::atomic::AtomicUsize;
+use ffi::*;
+use std::sync::atomic::Ordering;
+
+pub static USED_MEM: AtomicUsize = AtomicUsize::new(0);
+
+pub struct TrackingMiMalloc;
+
+unsafe impl GlobalAlloc for TrackingMiMalloc {
+    #[inline]
+    unsafe fn alloc(&self, layout: Layout) -> *mut u8 {
+        let size = layout.size();
+        USED_MEM.fetch_add(size, Ordering::Relaxed);
+        mi_malloc_aligned(size, layout.align()) as *mut u8
+    }
+
+    #[inline]
+    unsafe fn alloc_zeroed(&self, layout: Layout) -> *mut u8 {
+        let size = layout.size();
+        USED_MEM.fetch_add(size, Ordering::Relaxed);
+        mi_zalloc_aligned(size, layout.align()) as *mut u8
+    }
+
+    #[inline]
+    unsafe fn dealloc(&self, ptr: *mut u8, layout: Layout) {
+        USED_MEM.fetch_sub(layout.size(), Ordering::Relaxed);
+        mi_free(ptr as *mut c_void);
+    }
+
+    #[inline]
+    unsafe fn realloc(&self, ptr: *mut u8, layout: Layout, new_size: usize) -> *mut u8 {
+        let size = layout.size();
+        if new_size > size {
+            USED_MEM.fetch_add(new_size - size, Ordering::Relaxed);
+        } else {
+            USED_MEM.fetch_sub(size - new_size, Ordering::Relaxed);
+        }
+        mi_realloc_aligned(ptr as *mut c_void, new_size, layout.align()) as *mut u8
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/js/@llrt/runtime.ts b/src/js/@llrt/runtime.ts
index 9856e0ed4e..1ef892a95b 100644
--- a/src/js/@llrt/runtime.ts
+++ b/src/js/@llrt/runtime.ts
@@ -198,6 +198,7 @@ const startProcessEvents = async (
       }
       iterations++;
     }
+    global.__gc();
   }
 };
 
diff --git a/src/main.c b/src/main.c
index 1437eb8f6f..81cb1b2628 100644
--- a/src/main.c
+++ b/src/main.c
@@ -298,8 +298,27 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
   char startTimeStr[16];
   sprintf(startTimeStr, "%lu", startTime);
 
+  char *memorySizeStr = getenv("AWS_LAMBDA_FUNCTION_MEMORY_SIZE");
+  int memorySize = memorySizeStr ? atoi(memorySizeStr) : 128;
+  double memoryFactor = 0.8;
+  if (memorySize > 512)
+  {
+    memoryFactor = 0.9;
+  }
+  if (memorySize > 1024)
+  {
+    memoryFactor = 0.92;
+  }
+  if (memorySize > 2048)
+  {
+    memoryFactor = 0.95;
+  }
+
+  char mimallocReserveMemoryMb[16];
+  sprintf(mimallocReserveMemoryMb, "%iMiB", (int)(memorySize * memoryFactor));
+
   setenv("_START_TIME", startTimeStr, false);
-  setenv("MIMALLOC_RESERVE_OS_MEMORY", "120m", false);
+  setenv("MIMALLOC_RESERVE_OS_MEMORY", mimallocReserveMemoryMb, false);
   setenv("MIMALLOC_LIMIT_OS_ALLOC", "1", false);
 
   logInfo("Starting app\n");
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 7e68b1099c..d18d7a35af 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 
 #[macro_use]
 mod macros;
+mod allocator;
 mod buffer;
 mod bytearray_buffer;
 mod child_process;
@@ -32,6 +33,7 @@ mod uuid;
 mod vm;
 mod xml;
 
+use allocator::TrackingMiMalloc;
 use minimal_tracer::MinimalTracer;
 use rquickjs::{AsyncContext, Module};
 use std::{
@@ -57,6 +59,9 @@ use crate::{
 
 const VERSION: &str = env!("CARGO_PKG_VERSION");
 
+#[global_allocator]
+pub static ALLOCATOR: TrackingMiMalloc = TrackingMiMalloc;
+
 #[tokio::main]
 async fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn Error + Send + Sync>> {
     MinimalTracer::register()?;
diff --git a/src/vm.rs b/src/vm.rs
index b57426323c..92ddbcbff5 100644
--- a/src/vm.rs
+++ b/src/vm.rs
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ use std::{
     path::{Component, Path, PathBuf},
     process::exit,
     result::Result as StdResult,
-    sync::{Arc, Mutex},
+    sync::{atomic::Ordering, Arc, Mutex},
 };
 
 use once_cell::sync::Lazy;
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ use zstd::{bulk::Decompressor, dict::DecoderDictionary};
 include!("./bytecode_cache.rs");
 
 use crate::{
+    allocator::USED_MEM,
     buffer::BufferModule,
     child_process::ChildProcessModule,
     console,
@@ -94,6 +95,14 @@ create_modules!(
     "uuid" => UuidModule
 );
 
+static GC_THRESHOLD: Lazy<usize> = Lazy::new(|| {
+    let gc_threshold_mb: usize = env::var("LLRT_GC_THRESHOLD_MB")
+        .unwrap_or("20".into())
+        .parse()
+        .unwrap_or(20);
+    gc_threshold_mb * 1024 * 1024
+});
+
 struct ModuleInfo<T: ModuleDef> {
     name: &'static str,
     module: T,
@@ -344,6 +353,9 @@ impl Vm {
             .fill(&mut [0; 8])
             .expect("Failed to initialize SystemRandom");
 
+        //inited lazy
+        let _ = *GC_THRESHOLD > 0;
+
         let mut file_resolver = FileResolver::default();
         let mut binary_resolver = BinaryResolver::default();
         let mut paths: Vec<&str> = Vec::with_capacity(10);
@@ -467,9 +479,24 @@ fn json_parse_string<'js>(ctx: Ctx<'js>, value: Value<'js>) -> Result<Value<'js>
     json_parse(&ctx, bytes)
 }
 
+fn run_gc(ctx: Ctx<'_>) {
+    if USED_MEM.load(Ordering::Relaxed) < *GC_THRESHOLD {
+        return;
+    }
+
+    trace!("Running GC");
+
+    unsafe {
+        let rt = qjs::JS_GetRuntime(ctx.as_raw().as_ptr());
+        qjs::JS_RunGC(rt);
+    };
+}
+
 fn init(ctx: &Ctx<'_>, module_names: HashSet<&'static str>) -> Result<()> {
     let globals = ctx.globals();
 
+    globals.set("__gc", Func::from(run_gc))?;
+
     let number: Function = globals.get(PredefinedAtom::Number)?;
     let number_proto: Object = number.get(PredefinedAtom::Prototype)?;
     number_proto.set(PredefinedAtom::ToString, Func::from(number_to_string))?;
diff --git a/zigar b/zigar
deleted file mode 100755
index 4a5011d578..0000000000
--- a/zigar
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,4 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-set -e
-
-zig ar "$@"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/zigcc b/zigcc
index 7b274676b1..e024d48882 100755
--- a/zigcc
+++ b/zigcc
@@ -1,26 +1,10 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 set -e
 
-if [ -z ${COMPILE_TARGET+x} ]; then
-    COMPILE_TARGET="${CARGO_CFG_TARGET_ARCH}-${CARGO_CFG_TARGET_VENDOR}-${CARGO_CFG_TARGET_OS}-${CARGO_CFG_TARGET_ENV}"
-fi
-
-CC_TARGET=""
-
-if [[ $COMPILE_TARGET == "x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu" ]]; then
-    CC_TARGET="x86_64-linux-gnu"
-elif [[ $COMPILE_TARGET == "aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu" ]]; then
-    CC_TARGET="aarch64-linux-gnu"
-elif [[ $COMPILE_TARGET == "x86_64-unknown-linux-musl" ]]; then
-    CC_TARGET="x86_64-linux-musl"
-elif [[ $COMPILE_TARGET == "aarch64-unknown-linux-musl" ]]; then
-    CC_TARGET="aarch64-linux-musl"
-fi
-
 new_array=()
 for value in "$@"
 do
     [[ $value != *self-contained/*crt* ]] && new_array+=($value)
 done
 
-zig cc -target $CC_TARGET "${new_array[@]}"
\ No newline at end of file
+zig cc "${new_array[@]}"
\ No newline at end of file