Is "lack of documentation" what you really mean?
Do you mean something more like, needs more howtos and sample apps?
'Cause backbone's got some pretty extensive documentation both in terms of the API (http://backbonejs.org/ ), the annotated source itself (http://backbonejs.org/docs/backbone.html ) as well as a big pile of references as well as tutorials here: https://github.com/documentcloud/backbone/wiki/Tutorials%2C-...
In Backbone.js Fundamentalsjashkenas
backbone
JavaScript2010–2026
jashkenas / backbone
backbone
Give your JS App some Backbone with Models, Views, Collections, and Events
48Distinct people
55Mentions
1Explicit recommenders
28.1KGitHub stars
What to know before exploring
What it is
Give your JS App some Backbone with Models, Views, Collections, and Events
GitHub
Where it is used
No documented product use was verified in the last source check.
What people are saying
It's somewhat hidden on the project page, but I love the annotated source view: http://documentcloud.github.com/backbone/docs/backbone.html Edit: It looks like it's taken…
tkaemming used a recommendation phrase. One indexed comment matches. This is a phrase match, not a verdict.
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Also in these discussions
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This week on Hacker News
Nov 8–Nov 15 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/15/2026, 5:58:02 AM UTC.
No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.
Mentions over time
HN mentions by year55 dated mentions
Observed mentions: 2010-10-13 17:50:30 UTC to 2026-01-18 22:02:29 UTC.
* An incomplete calendar period is marked with an outlined bar. Its count is not directly comparable with a full period.
Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.
View mention counts and date ranges
| Period | Start (UTC) | End (exclusive, UTC) | Mentions | Submissions | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 2010-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2011-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 2011 | 2011-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2012-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 10 | 2 | 8 |
| 2012 | 2012-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2013-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 11 | 2 | 9 |
| 2013 | 2013-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2014-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 10 | 2 | 8 |
| 2014 | 2014-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 2015 | 2015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 5 | 3 | 2 |
| 2016 | 2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 2017 | 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 2018 | 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2020 | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2021 | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 2023 | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2024 | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2025 | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2026 (partial) | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2027-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
From the project README
An excerpt from the repository, fetched Nov 13, 2026.
Read the project’s introduction
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\ \ \ \ \ __ ___\ \ \/'\\ \ \____ ___ ___ __ /\_\ ____
\ \ _ <' /'__`\ /'___\ \ , < \ \ '__`\ / __`\ /' _ `\ /'__`\ \/\ \ /',__\
\ \ \ \ \/\ \ \.\_/\ \__/\ \ \\`\\ \ \ \ \/\ \ \ \/\ \/\ \/\ __/ __ \ \ \/\__, `\
\ \____/\ \__/.\_\ \____\\ \_\ \_\ \_,__/\ \____/\ \_\ \_\ \____\/\_\_\ \ \/\____/
\/___/ \/__/\/_/\/____/ \/_/\/_/\/___/ \/___/ \/_/\/_/\/____/\/_/\ \_\ \/___/
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Backbone supplies structure to JavaScript-heavy applications by providing models with key-value binding and custom events, collections with a rich API of enumerable functions, views with declarative event handling, and connects it all to your existing application over a RESTful JSON interface.
For Docs, License, Tests, pre-packed downloads, and everything else, really, see:
https://backbonejs.org
To suggest a feature or report a bug:
https://github.com/jashkenas/backbone/issues
For questions on working with Backbone or general discussions:
security policy,
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/backbone.js,
https://matrix.to/#/#jashkenas_backbone:gitter.im or
https://groups.google.com/g/backbonejs
Backbone is an open-sourced component of DocumentCloud:
https://github.com/documentcloud
Testing powered by SauceLabs:
https://saucelabs.com
Many thanks to our contributors:
https://github.com/jashkenas/backbone/graphs/contributors
Special thanks to Robert Kieffer for the original philosophy behind Backbone.
https://github.com/broofa
This project adheres to a code of conduct. By participating, you are expected to uphold this code.
Read the full README on GitHubWhat Hacker News says
10 sourcesThis seems like a useful addition. I hope it will gain traction (if the impl is sober, I haven't tried it out yet).
My main issue with backbone are the Collection shortcomings (like this one) which require just the kind of boilerplate-workarounds that are so easy to get subtly wrong.
Another example would be the lack of infrastructure for nested Collections (e.g. cf. https://github.com/documentcloud/backbone/issues/483#issueco...).
I understand that backbone doesn't want to grow fat in the core. However it would be nice to see a standard library emerge to cover these very common requirements (perhaps call it "ribcage"?).
In Identity Map for Backbone.js ModelsThis lil' app really has some legs on it...
For the (historical) record, it was originally introduced by Nick Fitzgerald in this commit:
https://github.com/documentcloud/backbone/pull/29
... and then later styled up by Jérôme Gravel-Niquet.
In TodoMVC - A common demo application for popular JavaScript MVC frameworksThis is more like what you would write by hand for the above code if the core constructors had a Backbone-style .extend function [1], which it likely would have if normal JavaScript usage was considered for the initial release (which I recognise is what this is - you can't expect everything first time):
var Shopify = Batman.App.extend()
Shopify.root('products#index')
Shopify.resources('products')
Shopify.Product = Batman.Model.extend()
Shopify.Product.persist(Batman.RestStorage)
// I'm never sure about how much I'm expected to mimic CoffeeScript code
// when using libraries written in CoffeeScript and the source code is
// written in a language I'm not practiced at reading - I've been bitten in
// the past by CoffeeScript-only examples which *assume* you're transpiling
// to JS in your head to ins
Read the rest
ert the implicit return of the result of the
// last expression.
Shopify.ProductsController = Batman.Controller.extend({
index: function() {
return this.redirect({action: 'show', id: 1})
}
, show: function(params) {
return this.product = Shopify.Product.find(params.id)
}
})
If there's common boilerplate associated with each constructor, you could also go further and customise the extend method for each one to take care of it if provided with certain configuration details, e.g.:
var Shopify = Batman.App.extend({
root: 'products#index'
, resources: 'products'
})
It always puzzles me that people look at some of the implementation details CoffeeScript shields programmers from and throw their hands up in the air and admit defeat [2] when we have a language as flexible as JavaScript at our disposal to hide some of the uglier implementation details in APIs we define.
[1] https://github.com/documentcloud/backbone/blob/master/backbo...
[2] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2923694
Thanks for the tip. How does this look to you?
https://github.com/documentcloud/backbone/commit/3a56d366865...
In Backbone.js 0.5.0 Released (with pushState)Thanks for reporting that. Here's a commit that improves the hash-to-pushState upgrade by using replaceState instead:
https://github.com/documentcloud/backbone/commit/c39ddd0c16e...
Now, if you click on the first link, and then go back once, you should end up back here.
In Backbone.js 0.5.0 Released (with pushState)further reading: 'Would it be more secure if API endpoints for Collections would wrap the JSON serialized Arrays inside an Object literal?'
https://github.com/documentcloud/backbone/issues/201
ultimately you should use tokens to verify the request was not forged.
In JSON users: Avoid CSRFs by not using top-level arraysYup, I agree. I recently submitted a pull request for changes I made to expose a primitive Base class in Backbone:
https://github.com/documentcloud/backbone/pull/276
In Simple JavaScript Inheritance with BackboneAjax URLs and breaking the back button
What's up with named-anchor URLs breaking the back button?
I was reading a different thread (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2161405), and when I followed it, I was taken through a series of redirects: https://github.com/documentcloud/backbone/issues#issue/201 -> https://github.com/documentcloud/backbone/issues/201/find -> https://github.com/documentcloud/backbone/issues/issue/201
The redirect form the URL with the named anchor redirects to the find URL via JavaScript's window.location property, and the find URL redirects to the final URL via a HTTP Location header.
When I reach the final page and click my back button, I'm taken to the named-anchor URL, which initiates the series of redirects, taking me back to the final page.
I know the named-anchor URLs are used so that Ajax interactions are reflected in the address bar, but it's an
Read the rest
noying when they break expected behavior when used to link directly to a page. (In fairness, this doesn't appear to be a problem in Chrome; I'm using FF)
Twitter's also been bad about this recently. (Their URLs look like they're tailored for Google, to me: http://code.google.com/web/ajaxcrawling)
Companies should make sure their code doesn't end up trapping users in a redirect loop.
In GitHub's case, I believe using location.replace instead of window.location for the first redirect would solve the problem, although I'm not sure because I haven't tried it.
Is it possible to have these types of redirects without breaking the back button? If so, why are large sites making this mistake?
A Question about CSRF JSON hijacking
27 points · Open discussion