# protobufjs/protobuf.js

High-performance Protocol Buffers for JavaScript and TypeScript. Conformant through Edition 2026, and unusually versatile. No protoc required.

Repository: https://github.com/protobufjs/protobuf.js
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/protobufjs
Language: JavaScript
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Topics: javascript, typescript, protobuf, protocol-buffers
Last push: 2026-08-27T00:01:49+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 95/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:39:23.370411+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 87, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4933, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 7, "gap_med": 0, "n_releases_24m": 70}
- flags: no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 10583, forks 1822 (observed 2026-08-28T04:10:42.474579+00:00)

## What it is
A high-performance, conformant JavaScript/TypeScript implementation of Protocol Buffers that works with .proto schemas without requiring protoc. It supports runtime reflection, static code generation with TypeScript declarations, and runs in both Node.js and browsers.

## Use cases
- encode and decode protobuf messages in javascript
- parse .proto schemas without installing protoc
- generate typescript types from proto files
- use protocol buffers in the browser
- build grpc-like services with protobuf in node
- serialize structured data for websockets or apis

## When to choose
- you need protobuf support in JavaScript or TypeScript without a protoc toolchain
- you want runtime reflection to load .proto files dynamically
- you need browser-compatible protobuf encoding/decoding
- you want generated static code with TypeScript declarations

## When to avoid
- you need official Google protobuf support in a non-JS language
- you require gRPC transport out of the box (this library is transport-agnostic)
- you need features beyond Edition 2026 conformance

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: active
- function: serialization, parser, cli, sdk
- domain: developer-tools, web-development, apis, backend
- platform: browser, cross-platform
- tags: protobuf, protocol-buffers, proto3, code-generation, runtime-reflection, no-protoc, message-encoding, nodejs, javascript, typescript

## Member repositories
- protobufjs/protobuf.js (main) score 95

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:42.474579+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 2026-08-29T17:18:30.606104+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/protobufjs/protobuf.js (fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:42.474579+00:00, sha d47aa8976b6c)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.