OpenJS Foundation
The Linux Foundation’s home for JavaScript projects, from Node.js, Electron and webpack to jQuery, ESLint and Jest, each at an incubating, at-large or impact stage.
What it is
The OpenJS Foundation is part of the non-profit Linux Foundation. It was announced on March 12, 2019, when the Node.js Foundation (formed in June 2015 to bring Node.js and its io.js fork back together) merged with the JS Foundation (formed in October 2016 from the jQuery and Dojo foundations). It started with 31 projects and 30 corporate and end-user members, among them Google, IBM, Microsoft and PayPal. In October 2026 its projects page listed 35 hosted projects: seven at the Impact stage (Appium, Dojo, Electron, Express, jQuery, Node.js and webpack), 23 at large, among them ESLint, Fastify, Jest, Lodash, Mocha and Node-RED, and five in incubation, including Lit, which Google donated in October 2025, plus seven archived ones.
The foundation doesn’t write the code. Projects are self-governing: each one’s own maintainers set its release dates, technical direction and list of collaborators, under the foundation’s IP policy. The foundation holds the names (Node.js, Electron and webpack all print “Copyright OpenJS Foundation and contributors”), pays for shared work and runs a security programme funded by Alpha-Omega. In 2025 that programme completed security assessments for six projects and became a CVE Numbering Authority for its hosted projects. Through its Ecosystem Sustainability Program, companies such as HeroDevs sell paid security fixes for end-of-life versions of Node.js and Express and pass part of the revenue back.
For someone choosing a technology, the badge says the project’s name and governance don’t belong to a single company and that its maintainers have a neutral place to go for legal, security and infrastructure help. The stage matters more than the badge: Impact projects have shown production use and maintainers from at least three organisations, while an at-large project need not meet any bar beyond the CPC thinking it matters. Membership doesn’t mean funding either. webpack’s 2026 roadmap describes it as maintained “primarily by volunteers”, with no full-time engineering team.
Its projects in this catalog
Impact3
Mature projects used in production that have met a growth plan, with maintainers from at least three organisations; each can name up to two voting members of the CPC.
ElectronOpen sourceA framework for Windows, macOS and Linux apps written in HTML, CSS and JavaScript, which ships its own copy of Chromium and Node.js inside every app; Visual Studio Code runs on it.
Node.jsOpen sourceA founding project, from the Node.js Foundation formed in 2015The JavaScript runtime for servers and command-line tools: Google’s V8 engine plus libuv’s event loop, so one thread serves many connections while I/O happens in the background.
webpackOpen sourceA founding project, from the JS Foundation it joined in 2016The JavaScript bundler built around code splitting, loaders and plugins: written in JavaScript, highly configurable, and still downloaded tens of millions of times a week.In depth
From incubation to impact, and out again#
The Cross Project Council (CPC) moves projects between stages. At Large, Impact and Feature complete count as graduated, and a project can move between them.
Incubating
joiningA project applies by email to the new-projects list with an application template. If there are no objections the CPC gives it incubation status, and it works through the onboarding checklist before graduating. Electron spent December 2019 to June 2020 here.
At Large
graduatedA neutral home for projects that matter, or could matter, to the JavaScript ecosystem, including early ones. There are no requirements on community size, governance or production readiness, which is why at-large projects range from ESLint and Jest to small libraries.
Impact
graduatedFor mature projects used in production. An at-large project that wants to move up writes a growth plan the CPC approves and is expected to meet its goals within about two years. Impact projects need representatives from at least three organisations and get binding votes on the CPC.
Feature complete, Sunsetting, Archived
winding downA feature-complete project only gets bug and security fixes; a sunsetting one is maintained until a published end-of-life date; an archived one is no longer maintained, but its code stays available. Archived projects include jQuery UI, jQuery Mobile, Sizzle and RequireJS.
Who decides and who pays#
The Board of Directors sets policy and the budget. Each Platinum member appoints a director, and Gold and Silver members elect directors from among themselves; the CPC elects three Community Directors. In July 2026 the board chose Abigail Cabunoc Mayes of GitHub as chair, with Jordan Harband, Matteo Collina and Joe Sepi as the Community Directors.
The CPC is the technical body. It approves new projects and decides on archiving or removing them, mediates technical conflicts between projects, prepares the yearly budget for the board and runs programmes such as mentorship. Each Impact project can nominate up to two voting members; from autumn 2026, up to five Community Voting Members are also elected from the council’s regular members. No more than a quarter of the voting members may work for the same employer.
Beyond member dues, the security work is paid for by grants, chiefly from Alpha-Omega. In 2026 the foundation started a Node.js LTS Upgrade and Modernization Program (March) to help companies move off end-of-life Node.js versions, and a Security Stewardship Program (September) to pay for bug bounties, CVE coordination and maintainer support.
Where it came from2015–2026
JavaScript’s best-known projects grew up under two separate foundations. Node.js came first: after contributors unhappy with how Joyent ran the project forked it as io.js in late 2014, the Linux Foundation set up the Node.js Foundation on June 16, 2015, as a neutral place for the two communities to merge their code, which they did in Node.js 4.0 that September. The jQuery Foundation, which also looked after other front-end libraries, joined the Dojo Foundation to form the JS Foundation, launched by the LF on October 17, 2016, with Appium, Interledger.js, JerryScript, Mocha, Moment.js, Node-RED and webpack among its first projects.
Running two foundations for one language’s ecosystem duplicated boards, budgets and events, and from 2018 the two held a joint Node+JS Interactive conference. On March 12, 2019, after about six months of discussion with their communities, they announced the merger into the OpenJS Foundation. Electron, created at GitHub in 2013, was the first big project to join afterwards: it entered incubation in December 2019 and graduated straight to Impact in June 2020.
Since then the foundation has spent more on security and on keeping old versions safe. It launched the Ecosystem Sustainability Program with HeroDevs in May 2024, became a CVE Numbering Authority in 2025, and took in Lit from Google and Perspective from FINOS in October 2025. In 2026 Node.js, its largest project, announced it would move to one major release a year from Node.js 27, citing the load of security releases on volunteers.
Why it’s built this way
- One foundation instead of two
- Merging the Node.js and JS foundations put server-side and front-end JavaScript under one board and one technical council, so shared costs such as events, security and infrastructure are paid for once.
- Self-governing projects
- Node.js, Electron and the rest already had their own steering committees and release processes. The foundation holds names and pays for shared services but leaves technical decisions to each project.
- An at-large stage with no entry bar
- Many important JavaScript projects are small libraries run by a few volunteers. At Large gives them a neutral home without requiring the multi-company governance expected of Impact projects.
- Paid support for end-of-life versions
- Companies keep running Node.js and Express versions long after the projects stop patching them. The Ecosystem Sustainability Program lets partners sell those fixes and pay part of the revenue back, instead of the volunteers doing it.
Timeline
- 2015
The Node.js Foundation forms on June 16 to reunite Node.js and io.js
- 2016
The JS Foundation launches on October 17 with webpack, Mocha, Node-RED and Appium
- 2019
The two merge into the OpenJS Foundation on March 12; Electron enters incubation in December
- 2020
Electron graduates to Impact in June
- 2024
Ecosystem Sustainability Program launches with HeroDevs in May
- 2025
Becomes a CVE Numbering Authority; Lit and Perspective join in October
- 2026
Node.js LTS upgrade programme in March; Security Stewardship Program in September
- Linux Foundation: Node.js Foundation opens up with industry and community-wide support (June 16, 2015)
- eWeek: Linux Foundation launches Node.js Foundation (io.js fork and Joyent)
- Linux Foundation: The Linux Foundation unites JavaScript community for open web development (JS Foundation, October 17, 2016)
- Linux Foundation: Node.js Foundation and JS Foundation merge to form OpenJS Foundation (March 12, 2019)
- Electron blog: Electron joins the OpenJS Foundation (December 11, 2019)
- Electron blog: Electron becomes an OpenJS Foundation Impact Project (June 23, 2020)
- OpenJS Foundation: Ecosystem Sustainability Program
- OpenJS Foundation: Lit moves to the OpenJS Foundation (October 2025)
- Node.js: Evolving the Node.js release schedule
Sources · facts checked 2026-10-28
- OpenJS Foundation: Projects (Impact, At-Large, Incubation and Archived projects)
- OpenJS CPC: Project progression (stages and the growth plan)
- OpenJS CPC: Charter (voting members, responsibilities, project autonomy)
- Linux Foundation: Node.js Foundation and JS Foundation merge to form OpenJS Foundation (March 12, 2019)
- OpenJS Foundation: Meet our 2026 board of directors (July 22, 2026)
- OpenJS Foundation: Security program annual report 2025 (January 29, 2026)
- OpenJS Foundation CNA (CVE Numbering Authority for hosted projects)
- OpenJS Foundation: Ecosystem Sustainability Program
- HeroDevs: HeroDevs joins OpenJS Foundation’s Ecosystem Sustainability Program as first partner (May 2024)
- OpenJS Foundation: Lit moves to the OpenJS Foundation (October 2025)
- OpenJS Foundation: Perspective joins the OpenJS Foundation as an incubating project
- OpenJS Foundation blog (Node.js LTS Upgrade and Modernization Program, Security Stewardship Program, 2026)
- webpack blog: Roadmap 2026 (maintained primarily by volunteers)