# google/incremental-dom

An in-place DOM diffing library

Repository: https://github.com/google/incremental-dom
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/incremental-dom
Homepage: http://google.github.io/incremental-dom/
Language: TypeScript
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Archived: true
Last push: 2024-06-19T05:44:46+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": 4101, "days_push": 805, "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 3538, forks 178 (observed 2026-08-28T04:08:09.159693+00:00)

## What it is
Incremental DOM is a Google library for building DOM trees and updating them in-place when data changes, avoiding the intermediate tree of traditional virtual DOM approaches. It is primarily designed as a compilation target for templating languages, with a low-level API that minimizes heap allocations and GC pressure.

## Use cases
- diff and patch DOM updates in-place without a virtual DOM tree
- compile a templating language down to efficient DOM updates
- reduce memory allocation and GC thrashing in rendering hot paths
- build a higher-level rendering API or framework on top of a low-level DOM primitive
- render templates with unbalanced HTML tags split across templates

## When to choose
- you are building a templating language compiler that needs a DOM output target
- memory usage and GC pauses during DOM updates matter more than API ergonomics
- you need fine-grained control over DOM mutations with a tiny low-level API
- you must support older browsers like IE9

## When to avoid
- you want a batteries-included component framework with state management and developer tooling
- you prefer a declarative virtual DOM API like React or a modern framework
- you need an actively evolving project with frequent releases and community activity
- you want a high-level API for direct human consumption rather than a compilation target

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: maintenance
- function: frontend-framework, ui-components, templating
- domain: web-development, frontend, developer-tools
- platform: browser, cross-platform
- tags: dom-diffing, virtual-dom, in-place-updates, compilation-target, templating-languages, nodejs

## Member repositories
- google/incremental-dom (main) score 10

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:09.159693+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 2026-08-29T18:34:39.612892+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/google/incremental-dom (fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:09.159693+00:00, sha 08aece79e9b5)
  - homepage: http://google.github.io/incremental-dom/ (fetched 2026-08-29T09:29:02.392963+00:00, sha 8d965406df64)
  - registry_npm: https://registry.npmjs.org/incremental-dom (fetched 2026-08-29T09:29:02.402229+00:00, sha 564affa4d958)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.