# chaplinjs/chaplin

HTML5 application architecture using Backbone.js

Repository: https://github.com/chaplinjs/chaplin
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/chaplin
Homepage: http://chaplinjs.org
Language: CoffeeScript
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Archived: true
Last push: 2022-12-30T06:52:38+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 10/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5317, "days_push": 1342, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases, archived, no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 2829, forks 222 (observed 2026-08-28T04:07:24.287923+00:00)

## What it is
Chaplin is an application architecture library for JavaScript single-page web applications built on top of Backbone.js. It adds structure on top of Backbone with a router, dispatcher, controllers, and memory management patterns, originally written in CoffeeScript.

## Use cases
- structure a large Backbone.js single-page application
- add memory management and disposal to Backbone views
- build scalable SPAs with controllers and a dispatcher
- organize URL routing with Rails-style route declarations
- avoid global state in a Backbone app

## When to choose
- you are maintaining or extending an existing Backbone.js or Chaplin-based codebase
- you want a lightweight MVC structure on Backbone rather than a full framework like Ember

## When to avoid
- starting a new project - Backbone and Chaplin are legacy technologies with minimal recent development
- you want a modern framework with an active ecosystem like React, Vue, or Svelte
- you need TypeScript support or modern tooling

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: maintenance
- function: frontend-framework, routing, state-management, middleware
- domain: web-development, frontend
- platform: browser
- tags: backbonejs, coffeescript, single-page-applications, mvc, spa-architecture, requirejs, javascript, nodejs

## Member repositories
- chaplinjs/chaplin (main) score 10

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:24.287923+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 2026-08-29T18:48:41.024819+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/chaplinjs/chaplin (fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:24.287923+00:00, sha 2f956d7d8b0e)
  - homepage: http://chaplinjs.org (fetched 2026-08-29T09:53:39.419124+00:00, sha e2260c80620a)
  - site_page: http://docs.chaplinjs.org (fetched 2026-08-29T09:53:39.428521+00:00, sha 1405d3f47b9b)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.