# Sails.js

Realtime MVC Framework for Node.js

Repository: https://github.com/balderdashy/sails
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/sailsjs
Homepage: https://sailsjs.com
Language: JavaScript
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2026-05-27T22:29:55+00:00
Link (homepage): https://sailsjs.com
Link (site_page): https://sailsjs.com/whats-that
Link (site_page): https://sailsjs.com/documentation
Link (site_page): https://sailsjs.com/get-started
Link (site_page): https://sailsjs.com/about

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 61/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 84, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5281, "days_push": 98, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 22804, forks 1915 (observed 2026-08-28T04:11:34.123908+00:00)

## What it is
Sails.js is a realtime MVC web framework for Node.js, built on Express and Socket.io, designed to resemble Ruby on Rails. It bundles the Waterline ORM with adapters for MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis, and more, and auto-generates REST APIs via blueprints.

## Use cases
- build a realtime chat app with websockets in node.js
- generate a REST API backend without writing boilerplate
- build an MVC web application in javascript like rails
- use one ORM across mysql, postgres, and mongodb
- build a data-driven API for react or mobile frontends
- add websocket support to an express-style node app

## When to choose
- you want a batteries-included, convention-over-configuration Node.js backend
- your app needs realtime WebSocket features alongside HTTP APIs
- you want database-agnostic ORM with cross-database associations
- you're migrating from Rails-style MVC patterns to JavaScript

## When to avoid
- you prefer a minimal, unopinionated framework like Express or Fastify
- you need a large ecosystem of modern middleware and tooling
- your team prefers TypeScript-first frameworks like NestJS
- you only need a lightweight microservice with a few endpoints

## Facets
- artifact type: framework
- maturity: stable
- function: web-framework, orm, websocket, routing, api-framework, middleware, cli
- domain: web-development, backend, apis, databases
- platform: cross-platform
- tags: mvc, rails-like, waterline, blueprints, socket-io, express-based, convention-over-configuration, real-time, nodejs, web-server

## Member repositories
- balderdashy/sails (main) score 61
- balderdashy/waterline (backend) score 23

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:11:34.123908+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 2026-08-29T16:56:55.052358+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/balderdashy/sails (fetched 2026-08-28T04:11:34.123908+00:00, sha da55a5423de0)
  - homepage: https://sailsjs.com (fetched 2026-08-29T07:55:45.781041+00:00, sha 37987ac93b66)
  - site_page: https://sailsjs.com/documentation (fetched 2026-08-29T07:55:45.790553+00:00, sha 8cb99b5096c9)
  - site_page: https://sailsjs.com/features (fetched 2026-08-29T07:55:45.794932+00:00, sha fb186ba63d97)
  - site_page: https://sailsjs.com/about (fetched 2026-08-29T07:55:45.819734+00:00, sha 227cc8b1226b)
  - site_page: https://sailsjs.com/documentation/contributing (fetched 2026-08-29T07:55:45.823866+00:00, sha 7fcf903b5241)
  - registry_npm: https://registry.npmjs.org/waterline (fetched 2026-08-29T07:55:45.827038+00:00, sha 62eab0c40123)
  - site_page: https://sailsjs.com/whats-that (fetched 2026-08-29T07:55:45.792907+00:00, sha dd0f125dffc0)
  - site_page: https://sailsjs.com/get-started (fetched 2026-08-29T07:55:45.797392+00:00, sha 699cca9cf11f)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.