# nolanlawson/optimize-js

Optimize a JS file for faster parsing (UNMAINTAINED)

Repository: https://github.com/nolanlawson/optimize-js
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/optimize-js
Homepage: https://nolanlawson.github.io/optimize-js
Language: JavaScript
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2021-06-18T15:25:51+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 32/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3637, "days_push": 1902, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 3729, forks 100 (observed 2026-08-28T04:08:15.701441+00:00)

## What it is
A JavaScript optimization tool that wraps immediately-invoked and likely-to-be-invoked functions in parentheses to speed up initial parsing and execution in modern JS engines. It is available as both a CLI and a Node.js API, but is now explicitly unmaintained and discouraged by the V8 team.

## Use cases
- speed up initial parse time of a JavaScript bundle
- wrap eager IIFEs in parentheses for faster V8 execution
- optimize a minified JS file before deploying to production
- benchmark parse performance of common JS libraries across browsers
- process a JS file from stdin and write optimized output to stdout

## When to choose
- targeting legacy browsers like Chrome 55 or Edge 14 where pre-parse heuristics caused slowdowns
- experimenting with historical JS engine parsing behavior
- maintaining a very old build pipeline that already depends on it

## When to avoid
- modern web development - V8's preparser changes make it unnecessary or harmful
- you need a maintained tool with ongoing browser benchmark updates
- Safari is a primary target, where it showed a slight regression
- you cannot heavily benchmark your own site to verify benefit

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: abandoned
- function: build-tool, developer-tools
- domain: web-development, performance, developer-tools
- platform: cli, cross-platform
- tags: javascript-parsing, v8-optimization, unmaintained, performance-optimization, nodejs

## Member repositories
- nolanlawson/optimize-js (main) score 32

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:15.701441+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 2026-08-29T18:29:14.228522+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/nolanlawson/optimize-js (fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:15.701441+00:00, sha 6c383252f703)
  - homepage: https://nolanlawson.github.io/optimize-js (fetched 2026-08-29T09:24:07.448256+00:00, sha 0b4e603ab48f)
  - registry_npm: https://registry.npmjs.org/optimize-js (fetched 2026-08-29T09:24:07.450872+00:00, sha 7526f7adf548)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.