# FoalTS/foal

Full-featured Node.js framework 🚀

Repository: https://github.com/FoalTS/foal
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/foal
Homepage: https://foalts.org/
Language: TypeScript
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: typescript, framework, dependency-injection, api, foal, nodejs, nodejs-framework, auth, express, orm, rest, security, typeorm, foalts, typescript-framework, node, web-framework, foalts-cli, sdk, jwt
Last push: 2026-07-29T14:49:29+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 95/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 95, release rhythm 92, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3272, "days_push": 35, "days_rel": 55, "gap_med": 17.0, "n_releases_24m": 11}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1934, forks 142 (observed 2026-08-28T04:05:56.433631+00:00)

## What it is
Foal (FoalTS) is a full-featured, TypeScript-based Node.js web framework that bundles a CLI, ORM (TypeORM), authentication, testing tools, GraphQL, and OpenAPI/Swagger generation into one coherent environment. It emphasizes simplicity through three core concepts—controllers, services, and hooks—while remaining extensible with third-party libraries.

## Use cases
- build a REST API in TypeScript with Node.js
- create a full-stack web application with auth and ORM included
- generate OpenAPI/Swagger docs from my controllers
- set up JWT or session-based authentication for a Node app
- scaffold a new TypeScript backend project with a CLI
- write unit and e2e tests for a web server
- handle file uploads and store them in S3
- add roles and permissions to control route access

## When to choose
- you want a batteries-included TypeScript Node.js framework instead of assembling Express plus many packages
- you need built-in auth, ORM, testing, and API documentation out of the box
- you value a simple architecture (controllers, services, hooks) with strong documentation and LTS releases

## When to avoid
- you prefer minimal, unopinionated micro-frameworks like Express or Fastify
- your team is standardized on another ecosystem such as NestJS, Django, or Rails
- you need a framework with a very large community and plugin ecosystem

## Facets
- artifact type: framework
- maturity: active
- function: web-framework, api-framework, auth, orm, cli, testing, graphql, routing, middleware, file-upload
- domain: web-development, backend, apis, developer-tools
- platform: cross-platform
- tags: all-in-one-framework, typeorm, jwt, openapi, swagger, dependency-injection, rest, session-authentication, aws-s3, nodejs, typescript

## Member repositories
- FoalTS/foal (main) score 95

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:56.433631+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 2026-08-30T03:08:28.426679+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/FoalTS/foal (fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:56.433631+00:00, sha 4331e98bb493)
  - homepage: https://foalts.org/ (fetched 2026-08-29T10:48:13.735802+00:00, sha 2d4990792df8)
  - site_page: https://foalts.org/docs (fetched 2026-08-29T10:48:13.744738+00:00, sha 9ec3f2c7169e)
  - site_page: https://foalts.org/docs/4.x (fetched 2026-08-29T10:48:13.746689+00:00, sha cd14e2cbb6f9)
  - site_page: https://foalts.org/docs/3.x (fetched 2026-08-29T10:48:13.748339+00:00, sha ea906cdf048d)
  - site_page: https://foalts.org/docs/2.x (fetched 2026-08-29T10:48:13.750046+00:00, sha 8ebd6ffc080f)
  - site_page: https://foalts.org/docs/1.x (fetched 2026-08-29T10:48:13.752566+00:00, sha ba394f7b1efe)
  - site_page: https://foalts.org/docs/tutorials/simple-todo-list/1-installation (fetched 2026-08-29T10:48:13.755136+00:00, sha e0c4eca87c5b)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.