{"data":{"slug":"esbuild","name":"esbuild","tagline":"MIT Go bundler and minifier for JavaScript, TypeScript and CSS","category":"libraries","categoryName":"Libraries","url":"https://esbuild.github.io","github":"https://github.com/evanw/esbuild","pricing":"open-source","hook":"esbuild is a single native binary that bundles, transpiles and minifies JavaScript, TypeScript, JSX and CSS in a fraction of the time older JS-based tools take — the tool to reach for when you need to turn a TS entry point into a bundle for Node, a browser, a Lambda or a CLI without a big config.","whatsGood":"MIT (evanw/esbuild), release v0.28.2 (2026-08-08), around since 2016. CLI plus JavaScript and Go APIs, a plugin API, watch mode, a dev server, tree shaking, source maps and a metafile for bundle analysis. Almost all of the code is first-party (its only dependency is golang.org/x/sys), npm packages are built with trusted publishing from GitHub Actions, and builds are reproducible. Many other tools use it as a library under the hood. ★~40.1k.","theCatch":"Still 0.x: the author calls it late-stage beta and asks you to pin the exact version or at least the minor, since minor releases can break. It does no type checking, so run tsc --noEmit next to it. Code splitting is still a work in progress — it only works with ESM output and has a known import-ordering issue across chunks. No HMR or module federation, and the author says those will not be added. It is mostly one maintainer. For full app dev with HMR, use Vite.","verdict":"The fastest way to bundle a TypeScript library, server, function or CLI — let Vite handle full apps.","addedAt":"2026-10-17","featured":false,"domain":"Libraries","subSpecialty":"Bundler","subcategory":"Bundler","tags":["cli","self-host","permissive","active"],"capabilities":["bundler","minifier","typescript"],"surfaces":["CLI","Self-host"],"ecosystem":["Node.js","Go"],"licenseModel":"OSS/MIT","githubStars":40098,"starsPerWeek":74,"access":"free","archived":false,"repo":{"createdAt":"2016-06-14","pushedAt":"2026-08-09","license":"MIT","archived":false,"checkedAt":"2026-10-19"}},"related":[{"slug":"hono","name":"Hono","tagline":"Tiny TypeScript web framework that runs on every runtime"},{"slug":"phaser","name":"Phaser","tagline":"MIT HTML5 2D game framework with scenes, physics, and tilemaps"},{"slug":"pixijs","name":"PixiJS","tagline":"MIT 2D WebGPU/WebGL renderer, not a game engine"},{"slug":"babylonjs","name":"Babylon.js","tagline":"Apache-2.0 3D engine for the web, now on v9"},{"slug":"playcanvas","name":"PlayCanvas","tagline":"MIT WebGL2/WebGPU engine plus an optional hosted Editor"}],"links":{"self":"/api/gems/esbuild","html":"/gems/esbuild","markdown":"/gems/esbuild.md","category":"/api/gems?category=libraries","categoryPage":"/stacks/libraries"}}