Ross ROSS = Recommend OSS · open-source software intelligence for agents

instantdb/instant

Instant is the best backend for AI-coded apps. You get auth, permissions, storage, presence, and streams — everything you need to ship apps your users will love. observed · 2026-08-28

github.com/instantdb/instant · homepage · TypeScript · Apache-2.0 (permissive) observed · 2026-08-28

Health v2 · maintenance only

67/100

  • Activity 99
  • Release rhythm 35
  • Longevity 53

Flags: no_releases

How is this computed?

round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10) — computed 2026-09-03. Adoption (stars, forks) is never an input.

  • gap_med: n/a
  • age_days: 744
  • days_rel: n/a
  • days_push: 8
  • n_releases_24m: 0

Full methodology

Adoption not part of the score

10493 stars · 389 forks observed · 2026-08-28

What it is AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, 2026-08-29, confidence not recorded

Instant is an open-source backend platform (the 'Modern Firebase') providing a real-time relational database, auth, permissions, storage, presence, and streams for frontend apps. It offers JavaScript, React, and React Native SDKs with declarative relational queries, optimistic updates, offline caching, and CLI-first tooling aimed at AI-coded apps.

Use cases

  • build a real-time multiplayer chat app with react
  • firebase alternative with relational queries
  • add auth and permissions to a next.js app
  • offline-first todo app with optimistic updates
  • backend for ai-generated apps from the cli
  • presence and ephemeral updates like cursors
  • spin up a database and push schema from the terminal

When to choose

  • you want a batteries-included backend with real-time, auth, storage, and permissions in one data model
  • you're building multiplayer or offline-capable frontends in React or React Native
  • you want an agent/CLI-friendly backend that LLMs already know how to use

When to avoid

  • you need a backend with long-term support — Instant is sunsetting with services ending August 31st, 2027
  • you need heavy server-side processing, custom backend logic, or non-JavaScript SDKs
  • you require self-hosting as a primary supported path or strict data-residency compliance

Facets

service · maturity maintenance

database auth caching websocket sdk cli file-upload databases web-development backend developer-tools large-language-models cloud self-hosted cli cross-platform backend-as-a-service firebase-alternative realtime-database relational-queries optimistic-updates offline-first multiplayer triple-store react react-native ai-coded-apps sunsetting real-time nodejs web-server

4 sources

Member repositories

RepositoryRoleHealth v2
instantdb/instantmain67

For agents

markdown · JSON · MCP: product_card(name="instantdb/instant")

Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00 · Report a problem