The most upvoted idea on the InterSystems Ideas Portal—garnering 74 votes—requests a lightweight version of IRIS. While the platform has grown into a powerful data engine, many projects require only its SQL database capabilities. This article demonstrates how to build an unofficial, compact IRIS Community Edition image focused solely on core database functionality, reducing the image size by over 80%.

⚠️ Disclaimer

This project produces an unofficial, experimental image of InterSystems IRIS Community Edition.

• Not supported or endorsed by InterSystems.
• Use at your own risk. The modifications remove core platform features and may break compatibility with tools, APIs, and expected behaviors.
• No warranties or guarantees apply, including fitness for production use.
• Intended only for educational and experimental purposes by advanced users.

Why a Lightweight IRIS?

While IRIS today includes rich functionality—interoperability, analytics, machine learning, system management, etc.—many projects only require its core SQL capabilities. The official Community Edition Docker image is approximately:

• Disk usage: 3.5–3.8 GB
• Compressed size: ~1.1 GB

IRIS Light reduces that to:

• Disk usage: ~575–583 MB
• Compressed size: ~144–148 MB

This makes it suitable for:

• Microservice or containerized SQL use
• CI pipelines with faster startup and pull
• Horizontal scaling where full features are unnecessary

Hi Developers,

Following the resounding success of last year's new contest, we decided to repeat it. Please welcome

🏆 Bringing Ideas to Reality Contest 🏆

Submit an application that implements an idea from the InterSystems Ideas Portal that has status Community Opportunity or Future Consideration, created before the publication of this announcement, and requires doing the actual programming 😉

Duration: November 17 - December 7, 2025 December 14, 2025 (the submission period extended until December 7)

Prize pool: $12,000

Hallo, I am new on programming Object Script.

My problem: How can I use a String variable in embedded SQL?

The below example does not work by using: namevar with ' '

set namevar = 'Ali'

In some cases, it's necessary to manipulate data from one namespace to another. For example, a routine in the "N1" namespace needs data from the "N2" namespace. In legacy systems (using only globals), it's common to make the global universal, but what about persistent classes? Is this type of globalization also possible?

Hey Developers,

Enjoy the new video on InterSystems Developers YouTube

⏯ Integrating AI Agents into InterSystems IRIS - Patterns and Techniques @ READY 2025

https://www.youtube.com/embed/B-oDn75NJ2c
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Since the introduction of Embedded Python there has always been doubt about its performance compared to ObjectScript and on more than one occasion I have discussed this with

Using %get() function, getting error <INVALID OREF>

set iter = identifiers.%GetIterator()
while iter.%GetNext(.key, .value, .type ) {
set type = value.%Get("type")
set text = type.%Get("text")

getting <INVALID OREF> at line set text = type.%Get("text")

How

The Interoperability user interface project has continued from 2025.1 and has incorporated many of the items that you – our customers and partners – have suggested and observed. We are continuing to invest in feedback and updating this important user experience. In the latest relea

Embedded SQL is a tool that allows us to execute SQL statements in Caché Object Script. For example, to select the name of a person with a particular SSN from the Sample.Person class we can do the following:

Hey Developers,

Enjoy the new video on InterSystems Developers YouTube

⏯ Generative AI in InterSystems Data Studio @ READY 2025

https://www.youtube.com/embed/OCGF-5kr4Xs
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Inevitably, you will eventually need to move your code up from one version of IRIS or Cache to a more recent version of IRIS. There are a few good steps you can take to set yourself up for success in that process.

I am trying to add some validation to an existing Record Map, because recently we had some wrong data get consumed into the System and is causing all kinds of havoc.

Using the AI on the Developer community it suggested that I use PATTERN within the Datatype Parameters to force some validation on some fields. I have never used PATTERN before...

When I go to generate the updated Record Map, I am getting the following...

The 2025.3 release of InterSystems IRIS® data platform, InterSystems IRIS^® for Health, and HealthShare^® Health Connect is now Generally Available (GA). This is a Continuous Delivery (CD) release.

Release Highlights:

Overview

Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) is a standardized framework developed by HL7 International to facilitate the exchange of healthcare data in a flexible, developer-friendly, and modern way. It leverages contemporary web technologies to ensure seamless integration and communication across healthcare systems.

Key FHIR Technologies

• RESTful APIs for resource interaction
• JSON and XML for data representation
• OAuth2 for secure authorization and authentication