# spine/spine

Lightweight MVC library for building JavaScript applications

Repository: https://github.com/spine/spine
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/spine
Homepage: http://spine.github.io
Language: JavaScript
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2020-04-04T23:20:46+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": 5636, "days_push": 2342, "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 3692, forks 424 (observed 2026-08-28T04:08:14.778668+00:00)

## What it is
Spine is a lightweight MVC library for building JavaScript web applications, written in CoffeeScript and under 700 lines of core code. It provides Model-View-Controller structure while staying minimal and readable, complementing decoupled components and CommonJS modules.

## Use cases
- build a lightweight single-page JavaScript app with MVC structure
- structure a small web app without a heavy framework
- learn how an MVC framework works by reading approachable source code
- organize models, views, and controllers in a CoffeeScript project
- maintain an existing legacy Spine-based web application

## When to choose
- you want a tiny, readable MVC library you can fully understand in days
- you are maintaining or extending an existing Spine application
- you prefer minimal structure over a large framework with many conventions

## When to avoid
- you are starting a new modern frontend project - React, Vue, or similar are actively maintained
- you need TypeScript support, a modern build ecosystem, or community plugins
- you need long-term support - the latest release dates to 2020 and development is dormant

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: maintenance
- function: web-framework, state-management, routing
- domain: web-development, frontend
- platform: browser, cross-platform
- tags: mvc, coffeescript, lightweight, frontend-framework, legacy, javascript, nodejs

## Member repositories
- spine/spine (main) score 32

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:14.778668+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 2026-08-29T18:31:07.263225+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/spine/spine (fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:14.778668+00:00, sha 8cb6532347c2)
  - homepage: http://spine.github.io (fetched 2026-08-29T09:25:08.432111+00:00, sha 2905671bfea6)
  - registry_npm: https://registry.npmjs.org/spine (fetched 2026-08-29T09:25:08.441488+00:00, sha 8eee70961df6)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.