# Babel

🐠 Babel is a compiler for writing next generation JavaScript.

Repository: https://github.com/babel/babel
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/babel
Homepage: https://babel.dev
Language: TypeScript
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: babel, javascript, ast, compiler, flavortown, es6, es2015
Last push: 2026-08-25T12:57:57+00:00
Link (homepage): https://babel.dev
Link (site_page): https://babel.dev/docs
Link (site_page): https://babel.dev/docs/learn

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 98/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 96, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4357, "days_push": 8, "days_rel": 26, "gap_med": 11.0, "n_releases_24m": 43}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 43987, forks 5980 (observed 2026-08-28T04:12:09.196876+00:00)

## What it is
Babel is a widely used JavaScript compiler (transpiler) that converts modern ECMAScript 2015+ code, JSX, and TypeScript syntax into backwards-compatible JavaScript for older browsers and environments. It is a plugin-based toolchain with an ecosystem of presets, parsers, and integrations for webpack, browserify, gulp, and ESLint.

## Use cases
- transpile es6 javascript to es5 for older browsers
- compile jsx for react projects
- use the latest javascript features before browser support
- run codemods to refactor code across a codebase
- polyfill missing features for target environments
- parse javascript into an ast for custom tooling
- integrate babel into webpack builds

## When to choose
- you need to support older browsers or environments with modern JavaScript syntax
- you are building React or other JSX-based applications
- you want a plugin-based compiler with a mature ecosystem and integrations
- you need AST tooling for writing custom transforms or codemods

## When to avoid
- you only target modern browsers and runtimes that natively support the syntax you use
- you want maximum build speed for pure TypeScript without Babel-specific plugins (consider esbuild or swc)
- you need type-checking, which Babel strips rather than verifies

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: stable
- function: compiler, parser, build-tool, developer-tools
- domain: web-development, frontend, compilers, developer-tools
- platform: browser, cross-platform
- tags: transpiler, es6, es2015, jsx, ast, source-to-source-compilation, polyfill, codemods, webpack-loader, javascript, nodejs

## Member repositories
- babel/babel (main) score 98
- babel/babel-loader (plugin) score 89
- babel/minify (plugin) score 23
- babel/babel-preset-env (mirror) score 10
- babel/babel-sublime (plugin) score 23
- babel/babel-eslint (plugin) score 10
- babel/babylon (mirror) score 10
- babel/babelify (plugin) score 23
- babel/gulp-babel (plugin) score 82

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:12:09.196876+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T16:22:15.988274+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/babel/babel (fetched 2026-08-28T04:12:09.196876+00:00, sha d6459173c63f)
  - homepage: https://babel.dev (fetched 2026-08-29T07:48:30.365291+00:00, sha 70ed8e66ea86)
  - site_page: https://babel.dev/docs (fetched 2026-08-29T07:48:30.374251+00:00, sha 85f4ebf80614)
  - site_page: https://babel.dev/docs/learn (fetched 2026-08-29T07:48:30.377149+00:00, sha c975b5d17a2b)
  - registry_npm: https://registry.npmjs.org/babel-eslint (fetched 2026-08-29T07:48:30.419170+00:00, sha aa918fe6bd4c)
  - registry_npm: https://registry.npmjs.org/babel (fetched 2026-08-29T07:48:30.379650+00:00, sha dd40cff4105e)
  - registry_npm: https://registry.npmjs.org/babel-loader (fetched 2026-08-29T07:48:30.387889+00:00, sha 5c9672be35e9)
  - registry_npm: https://registry.npmjs.org/babel-preset-env (fetched 2026-08-29T07:48:30.411175+00:00, sha 0c74bfd24df5)
  - registry_npm: https://registry.npmjs.org/babylon (fetched 2026-08-29T07:48:30.421510+00:00, sha 7128dd331ffa)
  - registry_npm: https://registry.npmjs.org/babelify (fetched 2026-08-29T07:48:30.423532+00:00, sha db401b6c0698)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.