Articles from Source: Grab-Tech

Scaling out Distroless adoption with AI

2026-06-12 00:00
Grab is transitioning from Ubuntu to Distroless images to enhance security by minimizing vulnerabilities. This strategic shift aims for 80% adoption by mid-2026, already covering over 900 services. However, this migration poses risks of runtime failures, requiring rigorous testing strategies. At Grab, Medium Tests are utilized to ensure services run smoothly with the new configurations while maintaining all dependencies. AI is being leveraged to automate the testing process, helping to...
Source: Grab Tech

From Decentralized Docs-as-Code to a Centralized Repository: Evolving Grab's Documentation Strategy

2026-05-29 00:00
Grab's documentation strategy has evolved from a decentralized Docs-as-Code approach to a centralized repository. Initially adopted in 2021, Docs-as-Code integrated documentation into engineering workflows, creating a single source of truth. After four years, the shift to a centralized system addresses scaling challenges, improving quality assurance and discoverability. This transition enhances documentation management and supports better integration with AI tools, ensuring consistency and...
Source: Grab Tech

The Hugo evolution: Engineering Grab's unified, one-click data ingestion platform with Apache Flink

2026-05-22 00:23
🚀 Grab's data platform, Hugo, has undergone significant changes to enhance data ingestion processes. With the introduction of Apache Flink, onboarding workflows are now unified, reducing setup time for data pipelines from days to just minutes. The new framework simplifies interactions, enabling one-click MySQL CDC and self-service Kafka ingestion, streamlining operations. These improvements support faster decision-making and empower teams across Grab. #DataIngestion #ApacheFlink #GrabTech...
Source: Grab Tech

Scaling Developer Experience: How We Improved Android Studio in a Large Monorepo

2026-05-15 00:23
🚀 At Grab, we've tackled slow IDE sync times in our large Android monorepo, which contains around 2,000 modules and 11 million lines of code. 🛠️ Developers reported syncs taking over 35 minutes, negatively impacting productivity. To address this, we built a custom Focus plugin that allows syncing only the relevant modules, significantly reducing sync time to under 2 minutes! 📊 A developer survey highlighted that 76% felt long sync times hindered their work, prompting us to find an efficient...
Source: Grab Tech

Enhancing Flink deployment with shadow testing

2026-05-07 00:23
🚀 Grab's data streaming team has introduced Shadow Testing for Apache Flink deployments, enhancing application reliability. This technique allows a new version (Shadow) to run alongside the current version (Main) without disruption. It identifies potential issues by comparing performance, minimizing downtime during updates. Users can opt for Shadow Testing during deployment, ensuring a seamless experience and increased confidence in production changes. #ApacheFlink #ShadowTesting...
Source: Grab Tech

Data Mesh at Grab Part II: The Foundational Tools behind Certification

2026-04-30 00:23
🚀 Grab continues to enhance its data culture through a data mesh, known as the Signals Marketplace. In Part II, the focus is on foundational platforms that support data certification: 🔹 **Hubble** facilitates metadata management and data discovery. 🔹 **Genchi** ensures data quality observability. 🔹 **Data Contract Registry** manages producer-consumer agreements. These tools enable reliable data reuse across various domains, enhancing trust in data assets. #DataMesh #DataQuality #GrabTech...
Source: Grab Tech

Record, generate, run: AI-powered UI test generation for iOS

2026-04-22 00:23
🚀 Exciting advancements in mobile testing! Our latest blog discusses how we automated iOS UI test generation using the AutoTrack SDK. Developers can now record app interactions and receive executable test code in minutes. This approach saves time and improves test coverage. Key features include: ✅ Test files generation ✅ API mocks and feature flag configurations ✅ Analytics verification This streamlined workflow enhances efficiency while maintaining quality through human review....
Source: Grab Tech

Record, generate, run: AI-powered UI test generation for iOS

2026-04-22 00:23
🚀 Exciting news in mobile development! Our latest blog post details the launch of the Mobile UI Testing AI Workflow for iOS. This system allows developers to record interactions with the app and quickly receive executable UI test code. The generated code includes essential components like mocks and analytics verification. Writing UI tests can be tedious and time-consuming, often leading to incomplete coverage. With our new workflow, developers can capture user journeys and generate tests in...
Source: Grab Tech

From firefighting to building: How AI agents restored our team’s core productivity

2026-03-19 00:23
🚀 Grab's Analytics Data Warehouse (ADW) team has successfully implemented a multi-agent AI system to enhance productivity. This system autonomously handles simple inquiries and collaborates on complex tasks, reclaiming significant engineering time. Key benefits include reduced response times and improved operational efficiency, allowing the team to focus on high-value projects. Learn more about our innovative approach! 📊🤖 #AI #Productivity #DataEngineering #Innovation #Automation
Source: Grab Tech

Enabling R8 optimization at scale with AI-assisted debugging

2026-03-12 00:23
🚀 Grab, Southeast Asia's leading superapp, has successfully implemented R8 optimization for its Android app, addressing rising Application Not Responding (ANR) rates. Through AI-assisted debugging and innovative testing strategies, Grab improved app size, startup time, and stability. Key achievements include a 25% reduction in ANR rates and a 16% decrease in download size. 💡 Discover how targeted innovations can overcome challenges at scale! #Grab #AndroidDevelopment #R8Optimization...
Source: Grab Tech

Reclaiming Terabytes: Optimizing Android image caching with TLRU

2026-03-06 00:23
🚀 Grab has enhanced its Android app's image caching by evolving the traditional LRU cache into a Time-Aware Least Recently Used (TLRU) cache. This new approach helps reclaim valuable storage space while ensuring users still enjoy optimal performance. By implementing time-based evictions, TLRU effectively manages outdated images, reducing the app's disk footprint without compromising user experience or increasing server costs. With this improvement, Grab has achieved significant storage...
Source: Grab Tech

Cursor at Grab: Adoption and impact

2026-01-29 00:23
🚀 Grab has rapidly adopted the AI tool, Cursor, which has significantly enhanced software development across teams. With a multi-tool strategy, 98% of tech Grabbers are now active users, with suggestions being accepted at a remarkable 50%. This surpasses industry norms and shows effective integration into daily workflows. Cursor is not just for engineers; non-technical teams are also benefiting, streamlining their work processes. Stay tuned for more insights on productivity impacts! 📈💻 #AI...
Source: Grab Tech

Docker lazy loading at Grab: Accelerating container startup times

2026-01-21 00:23
At Grab, we focused on reducing container startup times for our data platforms. By implementing Docker lazy loading with eStargz and Seekable OCI (SOCI), we achieved significant improvements. Our tests showed that SOCI maintained startup times similar to standard images while reducing image pull times. This led to 30-40% faster startup for services like Airflow and Spark Connect, enhancing scalability and user experience. 📊🚀 Configuring SOCI settings based on AWS recommendations led to a 60%...
Source: Grab Tech

From deployment slop to production reality: How BriX bridges the gap with enterprise-grade AI infrastructure

2026-01-16 00:23
🚀 Struggling to deploy your AI tools across your organization? You're not alone. Many face "deployment slop," where prototypes fail due to security, reliability, and version inconsistencies. BriX offers a solution by transforming prototypes into production-ready tools without needing extensive coding skills. It handles security, scaling, and data connections, allowing domain experts to focus on innovation. With BriX, you can quickly switch AI models, connect securely to data, and ensure...
Source: Grab Tech

Kinabalu AI SRE - Leveraging AI for scalable diagnostics and alert management (Part 1)

2026-01-06 00:23
Introducing Kinabalu AI SRE! 🚀 This innovative tool aims to enhance the on-call experience by consolidating alerts and context into one accessible platform. It utilizes AI to analyze data and facilitate quicker responses during incidents. Key features include automated triage, static diagnostics, and dynamic conversations through Slack and a Web UI. This streamlines incident management, reduces cognitive load, and supports collaboration. Stay tuned for insights on challenges and design...
Source: Grab Tech

Demystifying user journeys: Revolutionizing troubleshooting with auto tracking

2025-12-23 00:23
🔍 Troubleshooting user journeys on the Grab app can be complex, akin to finding a needle in a haystack. Developers face challenges in accurately tracking user interactions due to numerous UI components. 📊 The traditional approach often led to incomplete data, hindering effective issue resolution and increasing operational costs. 💡 The introduction of the AutoTrack SDK marks a significant advancement. This system tracks application states, user interactions, and UI screens in real-time,...
Source: Grab Tech

How Grab is accelerating growth with real-time personalization using Customer Data Platform scenarios

2025-12-18 00:23
🚀 Grab is enhancing user experiences through real-time personalization with its Customer Data Platform (CDP). The CDP enables targeted campaigns, including mall offers and travel recommendations, by utilizing user data and event triggers. This innovative approach overcomes previous engineering limitations and promotes agility in marketing efforts. Key features include event-driven personalization, predictive modeling, and an easy-to-use interface for marketers. Early implementations show...
Source: Grab Tech

A Decade of Defense: Celebrating Grab's 10th Year Bug Bounty Program

2025-12-01 00:00
🎉 Celebrating 10 years of Grab's Bug Bounty Program with HackerOne! From a small group of 23 researchers, we've grown into a global community of over 850 security experts. Together, we protect 187 million users across Southeast Asia. Our program adapts to new threats and includes initiatives like mobile security and exclusive global campaigns to enhance collaboration. Here’s to continued partnerships and a secure digital future! 🌏🔐 #Cybersecurity #BugBounty #Collaboration #Grab #HackerOne
Source: Grab Tech

Real-time data quality monitoring: Kafka stream contracts with syntactic and semantic test

2025-11-26 00:00
Monitoring data quality is crucial in today's data-driven world. The article discusses the challenges in ensuring reliable data within Kafka streams, which are essential for real-time processing. The Coban platform introduces a solution that allows users to define data contracts, enabling automated quality checks. This helps identify issues in real-time and notifies stakeholders promptly. Key components include data contract definitions, automated test execution, and result observability. 📊📈...
Source: Grab Tech

SpellVault’s evolution: Beyond LLM apps, towards the agentic future

2025-11-21 00:00
🌟 Exciting developments at Grab with SpellVault! Originally a no-code platform for building LLM apps, SpellVault has evolved into a powerful tool for creating intelligent AI agents. Its journey highlights a focus on accessibility, allowing users to integrate external data sources easily. Key features now include dynamic plugins and a unified tools framework, enabling apps to reason and act intelligently. This evolution positions SpellVault as a leader in the agentic future of AI. 🤖💡...
Source: Grab Tech

Grab's Mac Cloud Exit supercharges macOS CI/CD

2025-11-06 00:00
🚀 Grab has successfully relocated its macOS CI/CD infrastructure from a US cloud vendor to a colocation cluster in Southeast Asia. This move has significantly improved build performance and reduced operational costs. With a transition from 1 Mac Pro to over 250 Mac minis, Grab is now better equipped to meet growing demands. The new setup has led to estimated savings of $2.4 million over three years. Explore how this strategic decision enhances efficiency and supports Grab's mission in the...
Source: Grab Tech

How We Built a Custom Vision LLM to Improve Document Processing at Grab

2025-11-04 00:00
🚀 Exciting advancements in document processing at Grab! We've developed a specialized Vision LLM to tackle the challenges of extracting information from diverse documents in Southeast Asia. Traditional OCR systems faced limitations, especially with local languages. Our journey included fine-tuning the Qwen2-VL 2B model and creating a lightweight Vision LLM from scratch, resulting in significant accuracy improvements for various document types. This custom model outperforms existing solutions...
Source: Grab Tech

Machine-learning predictive autoscaling for Flink

2025-10-30 00:00
🚀 Grab is enhancing its Flink applications to meet growing demands for stream processing. With a 2.5x increase in Flink applications, the internal team is focusing on efficient, self-service CPU provisioning. Current reactive autoscaling methods face challenges like restart spikes and resource waste, leading to a need for a predictive solution. The new Predictive Resource Advisor optimizes CPU usage by forecasting workload and adjusting resources proactively, resulting in significant cost...
Source: Grab Tech

Modernising Grab’s model serving platform with NVIDIA Triton Inference Server

2025-10-21 00:00
🚀 Grab is enhancing its machine learning model serving platform, Catwalk, by integrating NVIDIA Triton Inference Server. This upgrade addresses performance issues caused by maintaining multiple legacy inference engines. Key benefits of Triton include multi-framework support, a unified API, and optimized hardware performance. Early results show over 50% of online deployments successfully migrated with improved latency and cost savings. Stay tuned for more updates on this transformation! 🌟...
Source: Grab Tech

Highly concurrent in-memory counter in GoLang

2025-10-06 00:00
🚨 Facing high database CPU utilization during heavy traffic? This article explores a scenario where migrating from SQL to NoSQL seemed easy but tackling the problem through optimization proved more effective. The focus was on real-time usage count tracking for marketing campaigns, utilizing highly concurrent in-memory caching to reduce database load. By periodically flushing data, the team achieved significant efficiency improvements. The implementation of GoLang's Sync.Map led to a 68%...
Source: Grab Tech

User foundation models for Grab

2025-09-26 00:00
🌟 Grab is enhancing user experiences through a custom AI foundation model designed to understand individual preferences across Southeast Asia. This model combines both tabular and time-series data to create user embeddings, leading to improved personalization and performance in various applications like ad targeting and fraud detection. By leveraging diverse data types, Grab aims for a unified understanding of user behavior, ultimately driving better services. #AI #MachineLearning #Grab...
Source: Grab Tech

Powering Partner Gateway metrics with Apache Pinot

2025-09-23 00:00
🌐 Grab is enhancing its Partner Gateway with Apache Pinot to provide real-time analytics and insights for its partners. 🔍 The integration supports API management, offering advanced metrics tracking through time-series charts. This allows partners like Alpha, a perishable goods distributor, to optimize operations by monitoring API performance and response times. 📊 Key features include a dashboard for real-time insights and Star-tree indexing for improved query performance. This ensures...
Source: Grab Tech

Taming the monorepo beast: Our journey to a leaner, faster GitLab repo

2025-09-16 00:23
🚀 At Grab, our engineering team tackled the challenges of a massive Go monorepo that had become a bottleneck over the years. We discovered that replication delays and a hefty repository size were crippling our developer workflows. With 12.7 million commits and 22.1 million Git trees, performance suffered significantly. To address this, we implemented a custom migration strategy that reduced commits by 99.9%, improving replication time from minutes to seconds! This transformation not only...
Source: Grab Tech

Data mesh at Grab part I: Building trust through certification

2025-08-19 00:23
At Grab, we are evolving our data ecosystem to better serve our diverse operations, including ride-hailing, food delivery, and financial services. 🚀 In 2024, we initiated the Signals Marketplace, a data mesh journey aimed at enhancing data quality and accessibility. This decentralized approach allows domain-specific teams to take ownership of their data, fostering reliability and trust. 📊 Key challenges included high data volume, unclear ownership, and communication gaps. We introduced data...
Source: Grab Tech