jsan

Jsan, often written as JSAN, refers to an early JavaScript package registry and module management approach used to publish, locate, and install JavaScript libraries before the rise of modern package managers. It provided a centralized way for developers to share code and for projects to declare and resolve dependencies.

A typical JSAN workflow involved a registry that stored metadata about packages, including names, versions, and dependencies, along with downloadable archives or individual JavaScript files. A client tool could query the registry to resolve a project's dependency graph and fetch the needed modules, enabling reproducible builds across different environments. The system emphasized simplicity and a straightforward manifest describing what a package required to run.

History and status: JSAN emerged in the early days of JavaScript tooling as communities experimented with distributing libraries beyond manual copy-and-paste. As JavaScript ecosystems grew more complex, newer package managers with richer features, performance, and tooling—most notably npm—gained prominence. By the mid to late 2010s, JSAN had largely fallen out of mainstream use, though some projects and forks continued in niche or archival contexts. Its existence is often cited in discussions of the evolution of JavaScript packaging and dependency management.

Architecture and impact: JSAN represented an important step in moving JavaScript development toward centralized registries and automated dependency resolution. It influenced later systems by highlighting the value of metadata, versioning, and automated installation, even as the specific tooling evolved into modern registries and package formats.

See also: npm, Bower, CDNJS, package.json, module loading.