# GoogleChromeLabs/critters

🦔 A Webpack plugin to inline your critical CSS and lazy-load the rest.

Repository: https://github.com/GoogleChromeLabs/critters
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/critters
Homepage: https://npm.im/critters-webpack-plugin
Language: JavaScript
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Topics: webpack, webpack-plugin, critical-css, css, inlining-critical-fonts
Archived: true
Last push: 2024-10-25T18:27:06+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 10/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3017, "days_push": 677, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: archived
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 3431, forks 108 (observed 2026-08-28T04:08:04.081408+00:00)

## What it is
Critters is a Webpack plugin that inlines critical CSS into HTML and lazy-loads the remaining stylesheets. It eliminates render-blocking CSS to improve first-paint performance.

## Use cases
- inline critical css in webpack build
- eliminate render-blocking stylesheets
- improve first contentful paint score
- lazy-load non-critical css
- optimize lighthouse performance score

## When to choose
- you use Webpack and want automated critical CSS extraction
- you need to reduce render-blocking CSS for better Core Web Vitals

## When to avoid
- your build uses Vite, Rollup, or other non-Webpack bundlers
- you need a maintained project with active development

## Facets
- artifact type: plugin
- maturity: maintenance
- function: css-framework, build-tool, middleware
- domain: web-development, frontend, performance
- platform: -
- tags: critical-css, webpack-plugin, css-inlining, page-speed, render-blocking-css, nodejs, web-server

## Member repositories
- GoogleChromeLabs/critters (main) score 10

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:04.081408+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 2026-08-29T18:37:46.008165+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/GoogleChromeLabs/critters (fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:04.081408+00:00, sha 9610afa14a61)
  - registry_npm: https://registry.npmjs.org/critters (fetched 2026-08-29T09:31:59.389611+00:00, sha 6416f58c7315)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.