# jakiestfu/Behave.js

A lightweight, cross browser library for adding IDE style behaviors to plain text areas

Repository: https://github.com/jakiestfu/Behave.js
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/behavejs
Homepage: http://jakiestfu.github.com/Behave.js/
Language: JavaScript
License Family: other
Last push: 2017-12-02T19:11:47+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 32/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4969, "days_push": 3196, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases, no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1730, forks 110 (observed 2026-08-28T04:05:28.599735+00:00)

## What it is
Behave.js is a lightweight, dependency-free JavaScript library that adds IDE-style editing behaviors to plain HTML textareas, such as tab handling, auto-indentation, and paired-character auto-completion. It works across browsers including older versions of IE, Firefox, Safari, Chrome, and Opera.

## Use cases
- add tab and auto-indent support to a plain textarea
- auto-close brackets and quotes in a browser-based code input
- make a textarea feel like a lightweight code editor without a full editor library
- support multi-line indent and unindent in a text area
- delete paired characters together on backspace in a code textarea

## When to choose
- you want IDE-like typing behaviors in a plain textarea with zero dependencies
- you need a tiny library that works in legacy browsers like IE6/IE7
- a full editor like CodeMirror or Ace is overkill for your use case

## When to avoid
- you need syntax highlighting, line numbers, or a full code editor experience
- you need a library that is actively maintained with modern browser guarantees
- you need mobile or accessibility-focused editing features

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: abandoned
- function: editor, developer-tools
- domain: developer-tools, text-editors, web-development, frontend
- platform: browser, cross-platform
- tags: textarea, ide-behaviors, code-editor, vanilla-javascript, no-dependencies

## Member repositories
- jakiestfu/Behave.js (main) score 32

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:28.599735+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 2026-08-30T03:31:45.208008+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/jakiestfu/Behave.js (fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:28.599735+00:00, sha 799e33ae1502)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.