# jashkenas/backbone

Give your JS App some Backbone with Models, Views, Collections, and Events

Repository: https://github.com/jashkenas/backbone
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/backbone
Homepage: http://backbonejs.org
Language: JavaScript
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2026-07-29T15:01:32+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 75/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 95, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5816, "days_push": 35, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 28100, forks 5279 (observed 2026-08-28T04:11:48.103831+00:00)

## What it is
Backbone.js is a lightweight JavaScript library that gives structure to web applications by providing Models with key-value binding and custom events, Collections with a rich enumerable API, Views with declarative event handling, and Routers, all connected over a RESTful JSON interface. It was one of the original MVC-style frameworks for JavaScript-heavy single-page apps and remains small, dependency-light (Underscore, optionally jQuery), and stable.

## Use cases
- structure a JavaScript-heavy single-page application with models and views
- bind client-side models to a RESTful JSON backend
- manage collections of records with sorting, filtering, and fetching
- add client-side routing and history to a web app
- maintain or extend a legacy Backbone codebase
- build a lightweight app without a heavy framework like React or Angular

## When to choose
- you want a tiny, unopinionated MVC layer over plain JavaScript and jQuery
- your app talks to a RESTful JSON API and needs models, collections, and routing
- you are maintaining an existing Backbone application
- you prefer explicit, imperative code over a reactive component framework

## When to avoid
- you are starting a new modern frontend project - React, Vue, or Svelte have far larger ecosystems
- you want reactive data binding, virtual DOM rendering, or a component-based architecture
- you need TypeScript-first tooling and modern build integration
- you expect frequent updates and new features - the project is in maintenance mode

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: maintenance
- function: state-management, routing, frontend-framework, middleware
- domain: web-development, frontend
- platform: browser, cross-platform
- tags: mvc, models, collections, views, restful-json, events, spa, underscore, jquery, legacy-javascript, javascript, nodejs

## Member repositories
- jashkenas/backbone (main) score 75

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:11:48.103831+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 2026-08-29T16:54:27.438939+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/jashkenas/backbone (fetched 2026-08-28T04:11:48.103831+00:00, sha 0aa06711005a)
  - homepage: http://backbonejs.org (fetched 2026-08-29T07:51:29.701716+00:00, sha 795adb922fba)
  - site_page: http://backbonejs.org/docs/backbone.html (fetched 2026-08-29T07:51:29.708297+00:00, sha e8a849f6c8cf)
  - site_page: http://backbonejs.org/docs/examples/todos/todos.html (fetched 2026-08-29T07:51:29.712061+00:00, sha 2fd87b2d581b)
  - registry_npm: https://registry.npmjs.org/backbone (fetched 2026-08-29T07:51:29.713757+00:00, sha fac44363547e)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.