Acorn-loose is a tolerant parser for JavaScript, designed to handle non-standard or slightly broken code. It's built as a variant of the Acorn parser, relaxing some of its strictness to allow parsing code that Acorn would normally reject. This makes it useful for applications that need to analyze or process user-generated code or code that may not adhere perfectly to JavaScript syntax rules. While forgiving, it still aims to provide meaningful syntax tree output.
Acorn-loose releases have been sporadic. Initial releases occurred between September 2018 and August 2021 with versions 6.0.0 to 8.3.0. After a period of inactivity, version 8.4.0 was released in October 2023. In 2025, versions 8.5.0, 8.5.1 and 8.5.2 released in April, June and July respectively. The package has not had a new release in August and September of 2025.
Acorn-loose downloads show a generally increasing trend from March 2024 to August 2025, peaking in July 2025. Downloads accelerated significantly in Q4 2024 and continued rising into 2025. September 2025 data is incomplete, showing a sharp decline compared to the previous month.
