# jvilk/BrowserFS

BrowserFS is an in-browser filesystem that emulates the Node JS filesystem API and supports storing and retrieving files from various backends.

Repository: https://github.com/jvilk/BrowserFS
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/browserfs
Language: TypeScript
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Last push: 2024-07-12T00:46:27+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 23/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4885, "days_push": 783, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 3164, forks 231 (observed 2026-08-28T04:07:46.638742+00:00)

## What it is
BrowserFS is a TypeScript library that provides an in-browser filesystem emulating the Node.js fs API, with swappable backends such as HTTPRequest, LocalStorage, IndexedDB, and Dropbox, and integration with the Emscripten file system. The project was deprecated in March 2024 in favor of its active successor fork, ZenFS.

## Use cases
- access a filesystem from JavaScript running in the browser
- emulate the Node.js fs API in a web app
- store web app files in IndexedDB or localStorage
- read files on demand from a web server into the browser
- give an Emscripten/WebAssembly program a usable filesystem
- mount a user's Dropbox account as a filesystem in a web app
- run Node.js code that uses fs inside the browser

## When to choose
- you maintain an existing project already built on the browserfs npm package and cannot migrate yet
- you need the exact legacy BrowserFS backend behavior in an archived or pinned Emscripten build

## When to avoid
- you are starting a new project - use the actively maintained ZenFS fork instead
- you need bug fixes, security patches, or new backends, since upstream development has stopped
- you are writing server-side Node.js code, where the native fs module is the right choice

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: abandoned
- function: file-system
- domain: web-development, frontend, files
- platform: browser, cross-platform
- tags: in-browser-filesystem, node-fs-api, emscripten, indexeddb, localstorage, dropbox-backend, http-request-backend, deprecated, zenfs-fork, nodejs

## Member repositories
- jvilk/BrowserFS (main) score 23

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:46.638742+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 2026-08-29T18:45:32.165107+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/jvilk/BrowserFS (fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:46.638742+00:00, sha 77ec010eca77)
  - registry_npm: https://registry.npmjs.org/browserfs (fetched 2026-08-29T09:39:59.381991+00:00, sha d5b6642c1b7b)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.