{"id":10751,"library":"director","title":"Director Router","description":"This library, Director Router, provides a routing solution for both client-side (browser) and server-side (Node.js HTTP and CLI) JavaScript applications. It is dependency-free, aiming for minimal differences in usage across environments. Key features include hash-based client-side routing, and traditional path-based routing for Node.js servers and command-line interfaces. The package's current stable version is 1.2.8, released nearly a decade ago. It primarily focuses on hash-based routing for the browser and traditional URL path matching for servers, predating widespread adoption of the HTML5 History API for client-side routing. Its release cadence is effectively stalled, with no updates in many years, making it unsuitable for new projects due to a lack of maintenance and modern feature support.","status":"abandoned","version":"1.2.8","language":"javascript","source_language":"en","source_url":"http://github.com/flatiron/director","tags":["javascript","URL","router","http","cli","flatiron","client side","ender"],"install":[{"cmd":"npm install director","lang":"bash","label":"npm"},{"cmd":"yarn add director","lang":"bash","label":"yarn"},{"cmd":"pnpm add director","lang":"bash","label":"pnpm"}],"dependencies":[],"imports":[{"note":"For Node.js environments, Director is primarily used via CommonJS `require()`. It does not officially support ESM, and direct ESM imports will likely fail without a transpilation step.","wrong":"import Router from 'director';","symbol":"Router","correct":"const Router = require('director');"},{"note":"When included via a script tag in the browser, Director exposes the `Router` constructor as a global variable. This can lead to naming collisions with other libraries.","symbol":"Router (browser global)","correct":"\n"}],"quickstart":{"code":"\n\n \n \n Director Client-Side Routing Example\n \n \n \n \n

Director Client-Side Router

\n \n

Check the console for route handler output.

\n \n","lang":"javascript","description":"Demonstrates basic client-side hash-based routing in an HTML file using Director, logging route events to the console."},"warnings":[{"fix":"Migrate to a actively maintained routing library like `react-router`, `vue-router`, or `express` (for server-side).","message":"The `director` package is abandoned and has not been updated in nearly a decade. Its dependencies are outdated, and it lacks modern features like official ESM support or the HTML5 History API. It is not recommended for new projects.","severity":"deprecated","affected_versions":">=1.2.8"},{"fix":"Do not use `rawgit.com` or direct GitHub raw links. For testing, download the script locally or use a proper CDN if one were available (which is not the case for Director).","message":"The provided quickstart examples use `rawgit.com` for CDN delivery, which has been deprecated since 2019. Directly linking to GitHub raw files for production is also a security risk and unreliable.","severity":"deprecated","affected_versions":"*"},{"fix":"If History API support is crucial, you will need to implement a custom solution or choose a different routing library. Director's core design is centered on hash-routing.","message":"Director primarily relies on hash-based routing (`#/path`) for client-side applications. It does not natively support the HTML5 History API (`pushState`, `replaceState`), which is the standard for modern single-page applications.","severity":"gotcha","affected_versions":"*"},{"fix":"Ensure `director.min.js` is loaded after any potential conflicting libraries, or rename the global `Router` if possible (which Director does not explicitly support out-of-the-box, making it a design limitation).","message":"In browser environments, Director exposes the `Router` constructor as a global variable. This can lead to naming collisions if other scripts on the page also define a global `Router`.","severity":"gotcha","affected_versions":"*"}],"env_vars":null,"last_verified":"2026-04-19T00:00:00.000Z","next_check":"2026-07-18T00:00:00.000Z","problems":[{"fix":"Ensure the `