LoopBack joins the OpenJS Foundation

The OpenJS Foundation is getting a new incubating project thanks to a donation from IBM. It will be donating its Node.js and TypeScript framework for building APIs, LoopBack.

“We are thrilled to welcome LoopBack into the OpenJS Foundation. As the vendor-neutral home to almost 40 open source projects, The OpenJS Foundation exists to sustain the JavaScript ecosystem on a global scale,” said Robin Ginn, executive director of the OpenJS Foundation. “We look forward to providing resources and support to LoopBack to help their community grow.”

A major benefit of the project is that it requires minimal coding to create APIs and it provides a consistent method of designing and implementing them. 

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In addition to helping with the creation of APIs, LoopBack provides TypeScript packages that developers can use to create large-scale Node.js applications. It also offers built-in extensions for health checks, metrics collections, distributed tracing, and logging.

According to IBM, the framework also provides Dockerfile creation for new applications and supports cloud-native protocols, including gRPC and OpenAPI.

In addition, it provides easy SOAP integration and supports proprietary databases such as Oracle, Microsoft SQL, and IBM DB2. 

LoopBack was created in 2013 and since then it has grown significantly, and now gets around 180K monthly downloads, according to the OpenJS Foundation. It is currently in use by companies such as GoDaddy, Symantec, and IBM. 

“LoopBack joining as an incubating project is an important addition to the Foundation,” said Joe Sepi, developer at IBM and chairperson of the OpenJS Foundation Cross Project Council. “LoopBack is a great example of how interconnected JavaScript technologies can be and it’s always great to welcome new projects into the fold. On behalf of the OpenJS Foundation Cross Project Council, I am happy to welcome LoopBack to the foundation.”