Mode JS

Mode JS is a low-level interaction engine for the web. It belongs to the Microdom ecosystem.

It does not provide widgets, components, or behaviors. It provides a way to reason about movement, intent, and structure.

Mode JS is designed for developers who want to build interactions, not configure them.

What Mode JS is

• A low-level interaction primitive
• Pointer- and touch-aware
• Minimal by design
• Framework-agnostic
• DOM-friendly
• Data-binding ready

Mode JS helps you express how things move — not what they are.

What Mode JS is not

• ❌ A WebComponents library
• ❌ A UI framework
• ❌ A state machine
• ❌ A collection of ready-made behaviors

Those things can be built with Mode JS, but they do not belong inside it.

Install

npm install @microdom/mode

Usage

import µ from "@microdom/mode"
// or: import { µ } from "@microdom/mode"

CDN

<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/microdom/mode.js/dist/mode.min.js"></script>
<script>
  µ("body", { /* ... */ })
</script>

Why Mode JS exists

Most interaction libraries:

• abstract too early
• hide intent behind state
• grow uncontrollably
• break at the edges (touch, empty states, nested structures)

Mode JS takes a different approach:

Movement first.
Intent is explicit.
Structure matters more than features.

Why not X?

Modern UI stacks often require tens of kilobytes of code to express a simple interaction.

Mode JS asks a different question:

How much code do you actually need
to make something feel right?

A complete multi-list sortable with touch support
can be built in **~6 KB total**.

Read the full comparison in
docs/why-not-x.md.

Code weight in perspective

Characters © Team Cherry

The little one can rule the town.

Repository structure

If you’re looking for examples, start in /demos.
If you’re looking for ideas, start in /docs.

Demos

• Sortable (multi-list + touch)
  A complete sortable interaction built with ~6 KB of code. Demonstrates intent gating, empty container handling, and cross-list movement.

Each demo is intentionally self-contained. They are not plugins — they are proofs of thought.

Philosophy

Mode JS is opinionated:

“If an interaction cannot be expressed simply, the abstraction is probably wrong.”

Read more in docs/philosophy.md.

License

MIT