RequireJS loads plain JavaScript files as well as more defined modules. It is optimized for in-browser use, including in a Web Worker, but it can be used in other JavaScript environments, like Rhino and Node. It implements the Asynchronous Module API.
RequireJS uses plain script tags to load modules/files, so it should allow for easy debugging. It can be used simply to load existing JavaScript files, so you can add it to your existing project without having to re-write your JavaScript files.
RequireJS includes an optimization tool you can run as part of your packaging steps for deploying your code. The optimization tool can combine and minify your JavaScript files to allow for better performance.
If the JavaScript file defines a JavaScript module via define(), then there are other benefits RequireJS can offer: improvements over traditional CommonJS modules and loading multiple versions of a module in a page. RequireJS also has a plugin system that supports features like i18n string bundles, and text file dependencies.
RequireJS does not have any dependencies on a JavaScript framework. It is dual-licensed -- new BSD or MIT.
The standard require.js file is around 5.5KB when minified via Closure Compiler and gzipped.
RequireJS works in IE 6+, Firefox 2+, Safari 3.2+, Chrome 3+, and Opera 10+.
- dist: Scripts and assets to generate the requirejs.org docs, and for generating a require.js release.
- docs: The raw HTML files for the requirejs.org docs. Only includes the body of each page. Files in dist are used to generate a complete HTML page.
- tests: Tests for require.js.
- testBaseUrl.js: A file used in the tests inside tests. Purposely placed outside the tests directory for testing paths that go outside a baseUrl.
- updatesubs.sh: Updates projects that depend on require.js Assumes the projects are siblings to this directory and have specific names. Useful to copy require.js to dependent projects easily while in development.