| Chakra | |
| Developer: | Microsoft |
| Latest Release Version: | 1.11.24 |
| Latest Release Date: | [1] |
| Programming Language: | C++ |
| Operating System: | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| Platform: | IA-32, x86-64, ARM, ARM64 |
| Genre: | JavaScript engine |
| License: | MIT License |
Chakra was a free and open-source JavaScript engine developed by Microsoft for its Microsoft Edge Legacy web browser. It is a fork of the same-named JScript engine used in Internet Explorer. As with the EdgeHTML browser engine, the declared intention was that it would reflect the "Living Web".[2] The core components of Chakra were open-sourced as ChakraCore. In 2021, Microsoft terminated support for the engine, citing its transition to a Chromium-based engine for Edge. Support has been transferred to the community, where it remains inactive.[3]
Chakra supports ECMAScript 5.1 with partial support for ECMAScript 2015.[4]
Following an initial announcement on December 5, 2015,[5] [6] Microsoft open sourced the Chakra engine as ChakraCore, including all the key components of the JavaScript engine powering Microsoft Edge [Legacy] on their GitHub page under the MIT License on January 13, 2016.[7] ChakraCore is essentially the same as the Chakra engine that powers the Microsoft Edge Legacy browser, but with platform-agnostic bindings, i.e., without the specific interfaces utilized within the Universal Windows App platform.
Microsoft has also created a project on GitHub that allows Node.js to use ChakraCore as its JavaScript engine instead of V8.[8]