# flickr/yakbak

Record and playback HTTP responses

Repository: https://github.com/flickr/yakbak
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/yakbak
Language: JavaScript
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2022-02-11T23:24:53+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 23/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3814, "days_push": 1664, "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 1099, forks 82 (observed 2026-08-28T04:03:34.961189+00:00)

## What it is
yakbak is a Node.js library that records and replays HTTP responses, inspired by Ruby's VCR. It proxies requests to a target host, saving responses to disk as tape files that can be replayed in tests or via a standalone CLI server.

## Use cases
- record http responses for tests
- replay http interactions in node tests
- mock external api responses in integration tests
- vcr-style http recording for javascript
- proxy and record api calls during development
- play back a recorded http response on a local server

## When to choose
- you want VCR-style record/replay of real HTTP traffic in Node.js tests
- you need recorded responses stored as plain files in version control
- you want a simple handler that plugs into http.Server or express middleware

## When to avoid
- you need request/response matching beyond simple hashing or flexible stubbing
- you prefer snapshot libraries like nock or Polly.js with richer APIs
- the project is unmaintained and you need active support for modern Node versions

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: maintenance
- function: http-server, mocking, testing, middleware
- domain: testing, developer-tools, apis
- platform: cli
- tags: http-recording, vcr, cassette, proxy-mock, tapes, nodejs

## Member repositories
- flickr/yakbak (main) score 23

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:34.961189+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 2026-08-30T06:46:03.035346+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/flickr/yakbak (fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:34.961189+00:00, sha f2b37fde10bc)
  - registry_npm: https://registry.npmjs.org/yakbak (fetched 2026-08-29T12:49:09.878986+00:00, sha 26c2fc99548b)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.